During a regional playoff semifinal game, Laurel softball coach Jen McGillin huddled with her team in the bottom of the third inning after the first six Spartans had been retired by the opposing pitcher.
"Can we please get on the board?" pleaded McGillin, a former high school pitcher at DuVal in Lanham.
Laurel did get its first hit a few minutes later, but the Spartans didn't get on the board until the bottom of the fourth, when they scored two runs to tie the game at 2-2 against High Point of Beltsville.
Laurel eventually won, 8-7, with a walk-off triple in the last of the seventh by catcher Michelle Craft on May 13.
That propelled Laurel into the Class 4A South Region title game for the second year in a row, but the season came to a crashing halt with a 19-0 setback to Eleanor Roosevelt on May 14 in Greenbelt.
"It was awful. I don't know what happened. I think some of it was nerves," said McGillin, whose team allowed 18 unearned runs that day.
Laurel had just one hit, by senior second baseman Odalis Delacruz, and one walk, by junior first baseman Dominga Jones. Ashley Woodall was charged with the loss, even though she did not pitch nearly as poorly as the score indicated.
"We had a lot of errors," said Katie Cardinal, a standout junior third baseman this year for Laurel. "I think we were kind of stressed because (May 13 against High Point) was a close game. We just didn't bring it."
It was third loss to Roosevelt this year for Laurel.
Laurel finished 14-6 and advanced to the region title game for the second year in a row. Before last year, the previous time that Laurel made the regional final in softball was the early 1990s.
"I'm proud to have made it this far for the second year in a row," said McGillin, in her second season as varsity coach. "It is definitely something that makes me proud. Hopefully next year will be our year."
Cardinal said the biggest difference this year was interior defense. "I want to say it was our infield more than anything. I felt like our infield was stronger this year," she said.
She noted Laurel beat Flowers this season – something the Spartans did not do in 2014 – and played much better in a 5-1 loss to Bowie, one of the top teams in the county along with Roosevelt.
Cardinal said the Spartans will have to replace three starters next year: shortstop Jamie Snider, second baseman Delacruz and catcher Craft. "I think we will be OK for the most part," said Cardinal, a travel club teammate with Craft in Glen Burnie. "We have enough girls that know how to play to take over at short and second. Finding a catcher is a concern."
Notes: Craft, the catcher, hopes to play in college and has talked to Bowie State coaches, according to McGillin. Laurel resident and freshman Alex Herschman pitched in six games, with one start, for Division III McDaniel this spring in softball. The Atholton High graduate was 0-1 with an ERA of 6.77 for a team that was 29-12 overall.