It may be a new season, but River Hill's shutout playoff loss from last spring against Reservoir was still very fresh in the mind of Hawks' coach Marni Rosenbaum when the two teams met up again on Wednesday in the 3A East region semifinals.
So, as River Hill got off to a fast start with five runs through the first three innings this time around against the Gators, Rosenbaum knew just how important that early offense was.
"When you look back at last year, we just came out completely flat and were never able to get any runs on the board," Rosenbaum said. "So to me, coming out and getting those runs right away, was a really big thing. It showed that this wasn't going to be like last time."
Reservoir ended up making several comeback attempts, getting on the board with multiple runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but River Hill ultimately never lost its initial lead on the way to earning an 8-5 victory.
The Hawks will now play for the region championship on Friday at home against Mt. Hebron, an 11-0 winner over Long Reach in the other region semifinal.
River Hill set the tone right away against Reservoir, with starting pitcher Sabrina Curtiss setting the Gators down quickly in the top of the first. Then Courtney Colosimo led off the bottom half of the inning with a single before Kinsey Johnson and Kristy Selby both drew walks.
That set up Kallan Dirmeyer to plate the first run with a SAC fly and then Curtiss to increase the lead to 2-0 with an RBI single.
Curtiss pitched a 1-2-3 second inning, including two strikeouts, to again set things up for the Hawks offense to keep their momentum going. This time, in the bottom of the second, it was a 2-run home run by Colosimo that did the major damage en route to a 4-0 lead. It was Colosimo's first home run of the season.
River Hill ended up increasing its lead to five in the third inning when an RBI fielder's choice by Colosimo plated Curtiss.
But just as the game seemed to be getting out of hand, Reservoir showed its resiliency. In the top of the fourth inning, the Gators generated four hits — from Carly Clarke, Emily Wang (3-4), Anna Bennett (2-4) and Breann Smith (2-4) — on the way to scoring three runs.
"This team, they definitely showed that they are fighters," Reservoir coach Julie Frisvold said. "They rallied themselves after we fell behind and we got ourselves close. We had opportunities and that's all you can ask for in a game like this."
River Hill answered very quickly in the bottom of the fourth with three more runs of its own. A lead-off home run from Johnson, her county-leading 11th home run of the season, kicked things off. Curtiss and Emily Hazzard picked up the other two RBI, driving in Selby (single) and Dirmeyer (double).
However, even with a five-run deficit once again, the Gators weren't done. Reservoir got itself two runs back in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from Wang and an RBI groundout from Bennett.
Rosenbaum said the comebacks from a "good Reservoir team" were to be expected and she said her squad needed to just worry about what it could control — particularly cleaning up the four errors it had committed between the fourth and fifth innings.
"Reservoir, as you've seen throughout the entire season … they don't give up until that very last out is recorded," Rosenbaum said. "They did a tremendous job of fighting back and taking advantage of what we were giving them. There were some hard hit balls there that we couldn't quite make the plays on. As I talked to the girls about, though, we had to take a deep breath and stay in the moment.
"We still had the lead and we had to put those miscues behind us."
Reservoir was threatening for more in that fifth inning, when River Hill made a pitching change to bring Selby in for Curtiss.
And, following Selby walking Sophia Sommerkamp with two outs, the Gators had the bases loaded.
But Selby dug down and got a huge strikeout to keep River Hill ahead 8-5.
"It's always a little nerve-wracking when you have runners in scoring position, but you just have to be calm and know the situation," Selby said. "You have to read the hitters … and know how important those runs are to you to finish off the game."
Selby continued to shine over the final two innings, pitching a 1-2-3 sixth inning with two strikeouts and then allowing just a one-out single to Bennett in the seventh.
The game eventually ended with a ground-out to River Hill shortstop Jalyn Cox, securing the three-run victory.
In terms of the match-up against Mt. Hebron, the game will be a rematch of the region championship game from two years ago that the Hawks won in walk-off fashion. This year, River Hill swept the Vikings during their two regular-season meetings, but Selby says she expects a great game with a berth in the state semifinals on the line.
"Definitely looking forward to seeing Hebron again," Selby said. "They are always a tough team to play and I think we always come out our best against them."
River Hill 8, Reservoir 5
123 456 7 R-H-E
Re 000 320 0 5-8-2
RH 221 300 x 8-12-4
Other scores:
Mt. Hebron 11, Long Reach 0 (3A East)
The Vikings advanced to the region finals against River Hill courtesy of its shutout victory over the Lightning, which saw Maddie Bennett pitch a no-hitter.
Bennett struck out 13 of the 19 batters she faced in six innings of work, allowing just one base runner courtesy of an error. She also added two doubles and two RBI at the plate.
Other offensive standouts for Mt. Hebron were Rylee Kinsella (3 hits, 4 RBI), Rachel Cadigan (4-4) and Evvie Buehlman (3 hits, double).
Mt. Hebron took advantage of a big third inning to grab the lead, scoring five times. Kelsey Albert started the inning with a single and then Buehlman and Cadigan followed with singles as well. Kinsella and Bennett knocked everyone home with bases-clearing doubles and then Kamden Lloyd accounted for the final RBI with a single.
In the fifth, the Vikings scored three more times on doubles by Kelsey Albert, Buehlman and Meghan Holquist.
Later, in the sixth, it was Holquist that ended the game with a 2-RBI home run over the left field fence.
Among the highlights for Long Reach was a pair of outstanding defensive plays by shortstop Rachel Jacavage.
123 456 R-H-E
LR 000 000 0-0-1
MH 005 132 11-17-1
Sherwood 11, Howard 0 (4A North)
The Lions saw their season end against the defending state champs in the region semifinals. Howard kept things close early, sitting in a scoreless game heading to the bottom of the third. But, ultimately, Sherwood's Marisa Mancini and McKenzie Bina each produced 3 RBI the rest of the way as the team's bats heated up en route to the five-inning win.
Howard managed just two hits against Sherwood pitcher Jaime Schmier. The win marks the 80th consecutive win for the Warriors' softball program, dating back over the last few years.
123 45 R-H-E
Ho 000 00 0-2-4
S 004 16 11-11-1
Patuxent 7, Marriotts Ridge 3 (2A South)