GLEN BURNIE - The first batter for Bohemia Manor gave her team a 1-0 lead on a towering home run, but Fort Hill responded with two big innings and earned a spot in the championship game for just the second time in school history after a 7-3 win in the Maryland Class 1A softball state semifinals on Wednesday.
The Sentinels improved to 19-3 with the win, and will return to the state finals for the first time since 2004. Fort Hill reached the state tournament in 2006 but lost in the semifinals that year.
Fort Hill will play Colonel Richardson, which improved to 19-4 by beating Western Tech 10-1 in the other semifinal, on Saturday at the University of Maryland College Park. The time for Saturday's title game has yet to be announced.
Bohemia's Crather gave the Eagles the earliest lead possible when she led off the top of the first inning with a home run. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth when the Sentinels were able to string together enough hits to score three runs.
Destiny James got the inning started with a single and scored on a double by Shari Beavers. An Alex Schupfer single put runners on first and third before Olivia Stanley hit the first of two, two-run doubles.
The Eagles trimmed the Fort Hill advantage to 3-2 with a run in the top of the fifth, but the Sentinels got the gears going again in the sixth.
Beavers singled to start the sixth, and an error and a walk loaded the bases. Stanley delivered her second double of the day to bring in the first two runs of the inning. The third run scored on an error and made it 6-2. Lindsey Fisher brought in the final run on a suicide squeeze.
Coach Mike Bittner talked about the he resourcefulness the Sentinels have shown in the playoffs. "It seems we bend, but don't break. We just keep coming back, and that's rare for a team as young as we are."
Bohemia Manor was led by Crather with a solo home run and a triple. Howard and Taylor had two singles.
Beavers earned the win, scattering nine hits, striking out eight and walking only two in a complete game.
"I know we will be competitive Saturday, we have all season long," said Bittner.
"The girls come to compete every day, and have done it as a team every time."
High School Girls Softball
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Fort Hill roars by Bohemia Manor
Stanley's doubles spark 7-3 win; Sentinels play Col. Richardson in state final Saturday
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