The Manchester Valley softball team didn't waste any time getting back to the Class 1A state championship game, looking primed to defend last year's crown with a dominating performance in Tuesday's semifinal round against Douglass.
A 15-run first inning to go with strong starting pitching from senior standout Madison Grimm led the No. 6 Mavericks to a 37-2 win over the Ducks in a five-inning game at Bachman Softball Complex.
Manchester Valley (18-4) will meet Sparrows Point — a 5-4 winner over Colonel Richardson in Tuesday's other semifinal — in a rematch of last year's title game, set for Friday or Saturday at the University of Maryland.
Last year, the Mustangs came away with a 9-0 win over the Pointers for their first state crown, Grimm tossing a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts.
"It's very exciting. We've played very well and worked very hard as a team and are ready for the competition. It's going to take more hard work, staying into the game the whole time and playing as a team," said Grimm, who added a homer and an RBI single in the Mavs' 12-run second.
Manchester Valley overwhelmed the competition to win the West region — outscoring Smithsburg, Clear Spring and Allegany by a 20-1 margin — and things stayed that way on Tuesday.
The Mavericks pounded out 11 hits in the first inning with their first 10 batters scoring. Taylor Brown doubled and singled and drove in two runs and scored twice; Grimm, and Karina Robinson both had two singles, two RBIs and two runs scored; and Kayla Geho added a run-scoring triple and scored twice in the big inning.
Douglass coach Marcus Thompson Jr. was proud of his team despite being overmatched on Tuesday. The Ducks had only 10 players on the roster, but managed to capture the program's first region title. They won the South region with a 24-23 win over Maritime Academy in the title game. On Tuesday, Tinaya Kelly singled and scored the team's second run in the bottom of the fourth.
"This is great. The girls played wonderful. They did everything they had to do this season to get here," Thompson said. "We were hitting the ball, the pitching was tremendous, not a lot of errors and the seniors came through for us."
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