In a quest for a perfect season this spring, the Chopticon High School softball team has executed in all facets of the game at a high level. On Tuesday evening, the Braves kept their perfect record in tact by upending Northern High 10-4 to capture the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Championship game at Chancellor’s Run Regional Park in Great Mills.
Chopticon (17-0) had upended Northern 8-4 when the two teams met in Morganza in late April and the Braves and Patriots will likely be headed for a third encounter in the 3A South Region playoffs on May 15.
Tuesday’s final score was again hardly indicative of the competitive nature of the two squads with the Patriots vaulting to an early lead before eventually being felled by a throwing error in the sixth that opened the door for the Braves final four unearned runs.
Chopticon actually spotted the Patriots three runs in the top of the first when Northern sophomore pitcher Danielle Sybolt singled home senior shortstop Reagan Powell, then Ashton Tameris followed with a two-run single for a quick 3-0 lead against Chopticon left-handed hurler Lauren Mann. But that lead proved to be exceedingly brief and the last of the evening for the Patriots.
Chopticon immediately countered against Sypolt in the home half of the first. Carrie Hayden beat out an infield single then Brooke Colliflower followed with a two-run homer over the snow fence in left center to narrow the gap to 3-2. Then with two outs Karllee Nelson doubled to left center then scored on a single by Belle Talbert.
“I went up there looking for something good to drive,” Colliflower said. “When I hit it, I knew that it had a chance. But we were down 3-0 at the time, so I just wanted to get a hit to give us some momentum.”
Chopticon broke the deadlock in the home half of the second when Hayden belted a two-run double to left center. The Braves added to the advantage in the fifth when Colliflower singled, took second on a sacrifice bunt by Kit Shewsbury then scored on a single to center by Nelson to make it 6-3, which was immediately countered with a solo home run by Northern senior Reagan Powell in the top of the sixth.
“They kept pitching me away and their fielders were expecting me to hit to right,” Powell said. “So, I knew it was going to be off the plate and I just went with it. It was a good game until that last inning. But I know we’ll see them again next week.”
Chopticon broke the game open in the home half of the sixth by plating four unearned runs against Sypolt and reliever Miranda Twigg. Braves first baseman Delanna Albertson doubled then Lee Ann Fenwick and Mann both worked Sypolt for walks to load the bases. Sypolt then induced Lexi McAllister to ground to second, but Patriots’ freshman second baseman Peyton Dolina bounced the throw to the plate.
Northern coach Robert Earl Radford then hooked Sypolt in favor of Twigg, who retired Hayden on a sharp liner to short then Colliflower delivered a sacrifice fly to center to plate another run. Shewsbury then sealed the verdict with a two-run single before Twigg finally escaped further damage by fanning Talbert to end the inning.
Mann collected the win for the Braves, limiting Northern to four runs on six hits while fanning three Patriots. Mann needed 30 pitches to escape a shaky first, but finished the complete game outing tossing a grand sum of 86 pitches.
Sypolt took the loss for Northern, allowing 10 runs, six earned, in five-plus innings, while Twigg allowed one hit, fanned one and walked one in one complete inning.
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