Chris Appel
COLLEGE PARK — Freshman Annah Brittingham had Fort Hill off-balance all day long, allowing just two hits in spoiling the Sentinels chance to repeat as the Maryland 1A Champions with a 2-0 shutout Saturday at Robert E. Taylor Field.
As is usual in big games, pitching dominated on both sides. Brittingham was superb in not allowing Fort Hill to get comfortable at the plate, striking out 11 and allowing just the two hits. Fort Hill’s Shari Beavers was strong as usual, and recorded 13 strikeouts and walked one.
Beavers allowed six hits, but suffered from some uncharacteristic errors by her Sentinel defense. A bang-bang call at first base loaded the bases for the Warriors in the top of the second inning, and the first run scored when the throw back to the pitcher got away.
“We always play great defense and make very few errors,” said Fort Hill Head Coach Mike Bittner, “but you’re going to make some at some point.”
One run would have been enough for Brittingham, who never faced more than four Sentinels in one inning. Fort Hill got a runner on third base in the second when Olivia Stanley placed a ball right on the left field line for a triple and the Sentinels’ first hit. They would get another runner to third in the fifth when Cierra Miller reached on an error, and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Alyssa Yost.
“I thought we were going to get something there,” said Bittner regarding the fifth inning. “We made a couple moves, and I thought it was going to work out, but it just didn’t pan out.”
Fort Hill got a runner to second in the sixth, but a pop out and a fly out ended the threat.
The Warriors would score their second run in the sixth inning with the use of two singles and a passed ball. Kasey Tapman led off the inning with a single to left field after fighting off three pitches with a 1-2 count. Beavers got the next batter to strike out, but a passed ball allowed Tapman to move to second. Sarah Scher then delivered a single to left that scored Tapman and pushed the lead to 2-0.
“They were the best hitting team we’ve run into all season,” said Bittner. “The entire lineup, one through nine, could hit.”
Pocomoke finished with six singles but were only able to get more than one in an inning once. The Warriors did come up with some solid contact, but had enough trouble doing so to strikeout 13 times against Beavers.
Even when the Sentinels were able to make contact, most of the time it wound up being an easy pop-up to an infielder or a fly ball to an outfielder.
“She is an outstanding pitcher, especially for a freshman,” Bittner said of Brittingham. “She really kept us off balance all day. We really didn’t look like ourselves at the plate out there.”
It appeared to be one of those days where nothing would go right for the Sentinels, but Bittner kept faith in his team until the end.
“I never got the feeling that we weren’t going to win. We’ve been in situations like this before, and up until the last out I felt like we could do it.”
The Sentinels also lost a 19-game winning streak that ran back to April 4. The last time the Sentinels lost was a 2-0 decision to Allegany on March 30.
“I’s love to be able to say that we finished with 21 wins instead of 20, but 20-2 is a pretty good season,” commented Bittner. “I hope these girls realize that. They’ve been a part of something special the last couple of years.”
Bittner had some special comments to say about his departing seniors.
“When my coaching staff and I took over three years ago, we pretty much had Shari and sort of threw together the rest of the team. All of these girls bought completely into our philosophy, and they’ve been successful together. All of them will be impossible to replace, and I know they will all go on to great things.”
Fort Hill finishes the season with three team championships. The Sentinels are the winners of the Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference, tied for first in the Cumberland City League and won the Maryland 1A West Region crown.
“We got a good jayvee team coming up that lost just one game, so hopefully we won’t miss a beat for next season. It’d be great to get a shot at Pocomoke again, but we’ll have to deal with the other teams in the extremely tough West Region first.”
Contact Chris Appel at cappel@times-news.com.
