Springel Falls Just Short of the Cycle, Harford Softball Splits with Hagerstown

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—Sophomore Jourdan Harmon (Baltimore, Md./Catholic) tallied the winning two-run, walk-off home run in game one as Harford split a doubleheader against Hagerstown, 13-4 and 10-6, on Saturday afternoon at Harford Softball Field.

The Fighting Owls (8-22, 6-8 MDJUCO) snapped a six-game losing skid with the game one victory, while the Hawks (13-13, 9-7 MDJUCO) stopped a four-game winning streak.

Sophomore Jocelyn Kelly (Fallston, Md./Fallston) led Harford on the day, going 5-for-6 with two walks, including a perfect 3-for-3 with two doubles and reaching base on a walk in game one, while sophomore Lauren Springel (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun)was 3-for-6 on the day with four runs scored, a double, a triple, two RBI and a walk. She was also a perfect 3-for-3 in game one, and came just a home run away from hitting for the cycle with a single, double and triple in addition to three runs scored and two RBI.

Freshman Sarah Cooley (5-9) (Clermont, Fla./Bel Air) earned the game win after allowing four runs (just one earned) on seven hits and struck out four in five innings, while sophomore Katie Irwin (3-13) (Edgewood, Md./Harford Tech) suffered the game two loss, giving up 10 runs (five earned) on 12 hits and fanning two batters in seven innings.

Brittany Main led the Hawks, going 4-for-7 on the day with a triple, three RBI and a walk, while Amanda Waltman took the game one loss, letting in 13 runs (seven earned) on 12 hits in 4.1 innings of work. Christina Mehaffie picked up the win in game two as she gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits and struck out five in seven innings.

The Hawks took the early, 1-0, lead with an RBI single from Waltman in the first of game one and added two more in the second thanks to a fielder’s choice RBI from Emily Myers and an Owl error two at bats later that allowed Myers to cross the plate as they opened up a 3-0 advantage.

The Owls cut that lead to one, however, with two of their own in the bottom of the inning. Freshman Sarah Morrill (Smyrna, Tenn./C. Milton Wright) started things off with a lead-off double before Cooley advanced her with a groundout and Springel brought her across the plate with a triple to deep right field.

A groundout RBI from sophomore Cara Testerman (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) would plate Springel before the Hawks got out of the inning with a one-run advantage, 3-2.

After Cooley held the Hawks hitless in the top of the third, the Owls exploded with eight runs as they batted around the order one-and-a-half times.

Freshman Audrey Werneke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) led the inning off with a single through the left side, which Kelly followed by a double to deep right center before Harmon brought Werneke in for the first run of an eight-run inning.

Springel would tack on an RBI single, and Morrill would score on the first of four Hawk errors, before freshman Cortney Bush (Abingdon, Md./Harford Tech) notched a groundout RBI and sophomore Jess Stumpf (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) tallied an RBI single. Harford would add three more runs by virtue of three Hagerstown errors to complete the eight-run inning and take an 10-3 lead.

The Hawks would threaten by loading the bases with just one out on the board in the fourth, but would only get one run as Cooley managed the jam before the Owls added another score with a groundout RBI by Bush to take an 11-4 lead.

Cooley would shut down the Hawk lineup in order in the top of the fifth, before the Owls came up to bat, looking for just one run to force the eight-run mercy rule. Kelly led-off with a single up and middle and freshman Kathleen Lehnert (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air), who entered as a pinch runner for Kelly, would advance into scoring position on a wild pitch. The advance was rendered null, however, as Harmon smashed two-run walk-off homer over the right field fence to give Harford the 13-4, five-inning win.

Game two started much the same way as Hagerstown tallied one run in the first and two in the second off an RBI triple by Main, an Owl error and an RBI single from Myers, respectively.

The Owls were held scoreless in the bottom of the inning, however, and the Hawks took a 5-0 lead in the third thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Chelsea Wolfe and Mehaffie.

Hagerstown would add one more in the fourth as Myers doubled and advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on Jess Patey’s infield single to give the Hawks a 6-0 advantage.

Harford finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning as Harmon reached on a one-out single and Cooley brought her home with an RBI single through the right side.

The Owls would cut into the lead even more in the fifth, off an RBI single by Werneke, who would score two batters later on a wild pitch to trail by four, 6-2, but two Harford miscues in the sixth would allow two more Hawk runs to score, giving Hagerstown a substantial, 8-3, lead.

Harford would keep sticking around, adding two runs in the sixth off an RBI single by Lehnert and a Hawk error, but two Owl errors in the seventh would allow Main to tally two-run RBI single to increase the Hawk lead to five.

Harford would add its final run in the bottom of the inning as Werneke scored on a wild pitch, but the Hawks would roll to the 10-6 win.

The Fighting Owls return to competition on Wednesday, when they host Montgomery College-Rockville in a doubleheader at 3:30 p.m.

The Automated ScoreBook
Hagerstown at Harford (Game 1)
Apr 18, 2009 at Bel Air, Md. (Harford Softball Fld)

Hagerstown 4 (12-13,8-7)

Player AB R H BI
Myers, Emily c 2 2 0 1
Williams, Jetta lf 2 0 1 0
Patey, Jess 2b 3 1 2 0
Main, Brittany ss 2 0 2 0
Waltman, Amanda p 3 0 1 1
Wolfff, Chelsea cf 3 0 0 0
Mehaffie, Christina 1b 3 1 0 0
Pittman, Stacey rf 3 0 0 0
Tolson, LaShawn 3b 3 0 1 0
Totals…… 24 4 7 2

Harford 13 (8-21,6-7)

Player AB R H BI
Stumpf, Jessica ss 4 1 1 1
Werneke, Audrey cf 4 2 1 0
Kelly, Jocelyn rf 3 0 3 0
Lehnert, Kathleen pr 0 1 0 0
Harmon, Jourdan 1b 4 2 2 3
Morrill, Sarah 2b 2 2 2 0
Cooley, Sarah p 3 1 0 0
Springel, Lauren 3b 3 3 3 2
Testerman, Cara c 3 1 0 1
Bush, Cortney lf 2 0 0 2
Totals…… 28 13 12 9

Score by Innings R H E
————————————–
Hagerstown………. 120 10 – 4 7 4
Harford…………. 028 12 – 13 12 4
————————————–

Note: 1 out, 0 runners LOB when the game ended.

E – Myers 2; Main; Tolson; Stumpf(6); Morrill(15); Springel 2(11). LOB – Hagerstown
8; Harford 5. 2B – Kelly 2(10); Morrill(11); Springel(3). 3B – Springel(2). HR –
Harmon(2). SH – Williams. SB – Stumpf(2); Harmon(7).

Hagerstown IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Waltman, Amanda L 4.1 12 13 7 3 1 1 0 0 0 28 31 2 10

Harford IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Cooley, Sarah W,5-9 5.0 7 4 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 24 27 5 6

WP – Waltman.

Strikeouts – Williams; Wolff 2; Pittman; Stumpf. Walks – Myers; Main; Kelly;
Morrill; Bush.

Umpires –
Start: 12:10 pm Time: 1:10 Attendance: 53

Game: GM29HAGR

The Automated ScoreBook
Hagerstown at Harford (Game 2)
Apr 18, 2009 at Bel Air, Md. (Harford Softball Fld)

Hagerstown 10 (13-13,9-7)

Player AB R H BI
Myers, Emily c 5 2 2 1
Williams, Jetta lf 4 1 1 0
Patey, Jess 2b 5 2 2 0
Main, Brittany ss 5 0 2 3
Waltman, Amanda 1b 4 1 1 0
Wolfff, Chelsea cf 2 2 1 1
Mehaffie, Christina p 4 1 2 1
Pittman, Stacey rf 3 1 0 0
Tolson, LaShawn 3b 4 0 1 0
Totals…… 36 10 12 6

Harford 6 (8-22,6-8)

Player AB R H BI
Springel, Lauren lf 3 1 0 0
Werneke, Audrey cf 3 2 1 1
Kelly, Jocelyn rf 3 0 2 0
Harmon, Jourdan 1b 3 1 1 0
Morrill, Sarah dp 3 1 0 0
Cooley, Sarah 3b 3 1 2 1
Testerman, Cara c 2 0 0 0
Lehnert, Kathleen 2b 3 0 1 1
Stumpf, Jessica ss 3 0 0 0
Irwin, Katie p 0 0 0 0
Totals…… 26 6 7 3

Score by Innings R H E
—————————————–
Hagerstown………. 122 102 2 – 10 12 1
Harford…………. 000 122 1 – 6 7 6
—————————————–

E – Pittman; Harmon(5); Cooley(8); Testerman(2); Lehnert 3(12). LOB – Hagerstown 10;
Harford 5. 2B – Myers; Wolff; Mehaffie; Cooley(4). 3B – Main. SH – Pittman. SB –
Springel(3). CS – Harmon(3); Lehnert(1).

Hagerstown IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Mehaffie, Christina W 7.0 7 6 5 6 5 3 0 0 0 26 32 4 10

Harford IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Irwin, Katie L,3-13 7.0 12 10 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 36 41 9 10

WP – Mehaffie 3; Irwin(5). PB – Testerman 2(13).

Strikeouts – Main; Tolson; Springel; Testerman 2; Stumpf 2. Walks – Williams;
Waltman; Wolff 2; Springel; Werneke; Kelly; Harmon; Morrill; Testerman.

Umpires –
Start: 1:40 pm Time: 2:20 Attendance: 43

Game: GM30HAGR