Bryn Mawr softball coach James Brown thought it was time to remind his players how they reached the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference championship with an unbeaten record.
"I told them, 'We have been beating everybody by double digits,'" said Brown, whose team outscored opponents, 246-66, this season. "We had to hit and the next thing you know, we start waking up and hitting."
Brown's players responded to his words, erupting for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on the way to a 13-6 victory over Chapelgate Christian in the IAAM final at Stevenson University's Weinberg-Fine Stadium in Owings Mills on Saturday.
Sisters Sydney (4-for-5, RBIs) and Auburn Stephenson (2-for-5, RBI) hit back-to-back home runs to key the decisive fourth.
Junior catcher Robin Brocato (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) also had a standout hitting performance for the Mawrtians, who finished the season 17-0 to capture their first softball championship since 2010.
Senior pitcher Bethanne Venkatesan (4-for-4, RBI), senior first baseman Gabby Rowan (2 hits) and senior catcher Phoebe Cleaver (2 hits, RBI) led Chapelgate's offense.
Sydney Stephenson, a freshman pitcher, picked up the victory, giving up nine hits and five earned runs in seven innings while striking out four.
She appeared nervous in the first inning, throwing four wild pitches.
Leadoff batter Hyeji Cho walked and Venkatesan followed with a single to left field. The runners advanced on a wild pitch and Hyeji scored on Rowan's single to center field.
But Stephenson managed to wiggle out of further trouble by getting Cleaver to pop up, striking out Jennifer Wolinski and getting Amanda Rickett to ground out.
Bryn Mawr responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Sydney Stephenson tripled down the left-field line inning to highlight the inning. The hit scored Quichey Johnson, who reached on an error.
After Stephenson struck out the side in the second, the Yellow Jackets (12-7) pushed across two runs in the third to make it 3-2. Rowan doubled to left-center field to knock in courtesy runner Christine Lee and Rowan scored later on a wild pitch.
Then in the fourth, the Mawrtians sent 11 batters to the plate and they produced six hits to boost the lead to 9-3. The Yellowjackets had two of their six errors in the inning.
Chapelgate trimmed the advantage to 9-5 in the top of the fifth before Bryn Mawr added two runs in the bottom of the inning.
"That one big inning was the difference in the game," said Yellowjackets coach John Isaac, whose team lost to Bryn Mawr, 8-7, on April 29. "We played them even other that that one inning. Walks and errors hurt us in that inning."
Chapelgate also lost in the final last year, but Isaac considered making it that far again an accomplishment.
"I am ecstatic we made it to the championship game two years in a row," he said. "We had a lot of injuries this year. Literally every starter on expect our center fielder (Kristen Eisenreich) has spent at least a week of two on the disabled list."