John Carroll holds off Spalding in eight innings to repeat in A Conference softball

By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com

By definition, John Carroll’s softball team produced a mediocre regular season, splitting 10 games against A Conference competition.

The Patriots (14-6, 8-5 league) were swept by Archbishop Spalding (14-4, 11-1) and Mount de Sales Academy (10-6, 8-3) while also dropping one of two encounters with McDonogh (8-10, 4-7).

The playoffs, on the other hand, were an entirely different matter for coach Sherry Hudson’s squad.

John Carroll’s 15-5 verdict over Mercy in the quarterfinal round was a preview of how things might be different in the postseason after scoring just 11 runs in four games against the top-seeded Cavaliers and No. 2 Sailors in league play.

Following the win over the Magic, the Patriots topped Mount de Sales, 7-3, in a semifinal before meeting the Cavaliers for the title Thursday afternoon at the Ripken Memorial Stadium Ball Field at the Weinberg Y in Waverly.

Although it took John Carroll awhile to get its power game going, a six-run outburst in the eighth inning was enough to hold off hard-charging Spalding, 7-5, to earn the program’s second straight and third overall championship.

The game ended with another sparkling play by senior catcher Julia Aragon, who cut down Spalding sophomore second baseman Jalayah Jones trying to steal. She also nipped Emily Ford in the third after the sophomore right fielder’s single.

Aragon is no stranger to making big plays with her arm, considering that her throw to nab a Spalding baserunner to curtail a sixth-inning rally in last year’s final was a key moment in that 6-3 JC triumph.

“My teams always show up for me,” Aragon said. “So I have to show up for my team every single day, every single game that I can. We practice for moments like this.”

The Patriots jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI single by sophomore pitcher Emily Hildt after junior center fielder Savannah Claycomb opened the inning with a single, swiped second and was bunted to third by sophomore second baseman Mia Anderson.

Spalding answered with a run of its own in the opening frame when junior third baseman Taylor Codi scored on a throwing error after her infield single.

The game remained deadlocked, even after sophomore left fielder Lily Davey blasted a triple to center to open the fourth.

However, Hildt bore down and retired the next three hitters on a strikeout, grounder and liner to second to keep the standoff intact.

Spalding senior hurler Cecilia Prince was just as effective with a runner (Codi) on third and one out in the fifth. A strikeout and a fine fielding play by Jones on senior right fielder Katie Hemphill’s grounder to second stranded the runner.

Prince retired the side in order in the sixth and then yielded a single to Kallissa Coats to open the seventh before the senior shortstop was doubled off first after Davey snared Aragon’s fly and threw a strike to freshman Cayleigh Spear.

With the international runner on second, the JC hitters went to work in the eighth. With the bases loaded and one out, Claycomb’s grounder to short plated one run before Anderson brought in another run across on a grounder to second.

Hildt then helped her own cause with a two-run double to left before Coats stepped to the plate.

Having made a pair of base running miscues, one swing of the bat — a 250-foot rocket to dead center — made the mistakes pale in comparison to what would become the decisive runs as the Patriots’ lead ballooned to 7-1.

“Whenever anybody’s down, we always pick each other up,” Aragon said.

“She’s got a lot of guts and a lot of grit, and she’s been there for us the last four years,” Hudson said about Coats. “Kallissa is a great player, and she steps up when she has to.”

Nevertheless, Spalding conceded nothing in its half of the inning, scoring four runs on a Codi single, sophomore center fielder Olivia Rowley’s triple to center and Davey’s single to left.

With two outs, Jones then became the tying run after her infield single. She was close to reaching scoring position until Aragon’s throw ended the game.

“They’re an aggressive team and they have a lot of aggressive baserunners,” Aragon said. “I know that their coach is confident in their girls and I know I’m more confident in myself to throw them out. So I was ready for the runner to go.”

Hudson was taking no chances in the eighth against a tough Spalding lineup.

“They all can hit,” she said. “So we don’t take anything for granted. We were just trying to get one out at a time.”

Spalding coach Delaney Bell said that the late four-run rally “proves everything about them. They never give up. They’re always there for each other. They were rooting for every single person. We’re normally super aggressive with the bats and they’re great baserunners and they like to take extra bases. They’re ready to fight.”