CUMBERLAND — Shari Beavers pitched a two-hitter and started a big game-ending double play in the seventh inning as top-seeded Fort Hill held on to edge Catoctin, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the Maryland Class 1A West Region playoffs on Monday at Long Field.
The Sentinels, who beat Catoctin 5-4 in the semifinals last year en route to their state championship, lifted their record to 17-1 with their 16th straight win. They will be hosting unranked Clear Spring, a 4-1 winner over No. 4 Poolesville, on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
“The whole thing in the playoffs is win and survive,” said Fort Hill coach Mike Bittner. “Catoctin had a very good team. I told our girls after the game that they showed a lot of character. They find ways to win and get timely hits.”
Beavers struck out the side on only 10 in the first inning and finished with 11 strikeouts and only one walk. The Fort Hill senior also aided herself with a key double that resulted in the first two runs.
Lead-off hitter Kathryn Huber became the first Sentinel to get on base as she reached on an infield error to open the fourth. Destiny James then singled up the middle for the first hit off Catoctin ace Megan Prommy.
Determined to show she could also win games with her bat, Beavers blasted a hard double to left field that brought in Huber. An error on the throw allowed James to come in for the go-ahead run. After walking Fort Hill slugger Adria Lewis, Prommy prevented any more damage with two strikeouts sandwiched around a line drive back to the mound.
Fort Hill scored what proved to the winning run in the bottom of the fifth. Brittany Hines reached on a single, but was out on fielder’s choice on a grounder by Lindsey Fisher. Fisher moved to second on a passed ball and then scored on a basehit by Huber.
Catoctin got on the board first with an unearned run in the third inning. Lead-off hitter Megan Olsen reached on a double for the first hit off Beavers. On her attempt to steal third after a strikeout the catcher’s throw got away from the third baseman and she raced home.
With rain falling the Cougars got one run back in the top of the sixth. Olsen reached on an error and the Fort Hill lead was sliced to one run with a hard-hit double by Carly Fair down the third base line. Beavers fanned the next two batters and got out of the inning with an infield fly.
In the Catoctin seventh, Shannon Kelly got on base on the fourth Fort Hill error. Beavers got the next batter on an infield fly. Then on a grounder to the mound, the Fort Hill pitcher threw the ball to the shortstop James for the second out and her perfect throw to first resulted in the game-ending double play.
“With the rain I was working hard on spinning my pitches and taking it just one pitch at a time,” said Beavers. “On the double play I was just trying to get the lead runner and that may have been our first double play. Every game we seem to have something like that happen and it usually carries over to the next game. Hopefully that double play will carry over.”
Catoctin finishes with a 12-5 record.
“She is a very good pitcher and we were swinging late and getting too many strikeouts early in the game,” said Catoctin coach Jessica Valentine. “When we started to make some things happen it was too late.”
Steve Luse is a retired Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. Contact Steve Luse at sluse@times-news.com.
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