Reach Tournament for The Fourth Straight Season – Longest Current Streak In Reaching CC Tournament

CHESTERTOWN, Md. – Sophomore outfielder Paige Briganti (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) hit a one-out Bermuda Triangle single to shallow left-center field in the bottom half of the seventh inning to drive in senior catcher Kylie Nottingham (Ocean City, Md./Stephen Decatur) for the walk-off run to give host Washington College a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over visiting McDaniel in the second game of a Centennial Conference softball doubleheader at Washington College Softball Field on Saturday afternoon to clinch a spot in the 2014 Centennial Conference Tournament for the Shorewomen.  In the opener, the Green Terror punched their ticket to the conference tournament with a 5-1 victory.  The Shorewomen are now 25-11 overall, while the Green Terror are 25-13.  Both teams conclude the conference slate at 11-5. 

In the second game, the two teams were tied 3-3 entering the top half of the seventh inning.  McDaniel's Rachel Sidney led off the frame with a double to right field and would home from third base on a one-out two-bagger up the middle that reach the fence in left-center to give the Green Terror a 4-3 lead and McDaniel was three outs away from a doubleheader sweep and Washington was down to its last three outs.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, freshman third baseman Caitlyn Kirby (Glen Burnie, Md./Glen Burnie) worked out a full count walk and was pinch-ran for by freshman Gina DeAngelis (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny).  The next batter, senior catcher Kylie Nottingham (Ocean City, Md./Stephen Decatur) singled to shortstop and DeAngelis beat Olivia Kipe's throw to second base to put runners on first base and second base.  Senior Lauren Dockrill (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) then scalded a line drive off the head of McDaniel third baseman Emily Sneeringer, who stayed in the game after the play, and into the left field bullpen for a ground-rule double to drive in DeAngelis and tie the game at 4-4.  Originally the umpires ruled that Nottingham got to score from first base, but after a meeting, placed Nottingham back at third on the two-base hit.  Following the meeting, up stepped up junior pitcher/designated player Kristin Cooper (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central) and she worked out a five-pitch walk to load the bases and brought Briganti to the dish.  Briganti hit a flare into shallow left-center that just eluded a diving Kipe to score Nottingham from third to give WC the walk-off victory and a spot in the conference tournament for the fourth consecutive season.  The four straight appearances is the longest current run for any Centennial team.

In the last of the first inning, Washington scored three times with two away to take a 3-0 lead.  With two outs, Briganti singled to right field to drive in Nottingham for the game's first run and on the play, a misplay by the Green Terror allowed Dockrill to score to make it 2-0.  The next batter, junior pitcher Christine Anderson (Palmer Lake, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) smoked a triple down the third base line on the ground to score Briganti to put WC ahead by three.

McDaniel would break onto the scoreboard with three runs in the top of the fourth when Sidney singled to left field with two outs to score Lauren Stricker to trim the lead to 3-1 and on the play the ball was misplayed and rolled to the fence to allow both Stacey Armacost and Kipe to score and knot the game at 3-3.

The Shorewomen had two runners on base in the last of the fifth and sixth innings, but could not score and the game went to the seventh tied at 3-3.

For Washington, which had eight hits in the win, Briganti went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the victory, while Dockrill pounded out a pair of hits.  Nottingham scored twice for Washington to lead all players as she was hit by a pitch five times in the twinbill.  The senior reached base seven times in eight plate appearances in the twinbill.  In the circle, sophomore pitcher Sydnee Schorr (Easton, Md./Easton) pitched the final two outs of the seventh to get the win and improve to 8-4.  She relieved Anderson, who allowed just two earned runs out of four surrendered in 6 1/3 innings of work on seven hits.  She walked two and struck out four. 

Maring and Sidney each had two hits for McDaniel in game two as the visitors churned out seven hits.  In the circle, Caroline Brehm took the loss and drops to 22-9 on the year as she went the entire way.  She gave up five earned runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out four.  She notched her third straight 300-strikeout season in the second game.

Both teams committed two errors in the nightcap.

In the first game, Washington broke through with the game's first run in the last of the third when Dockrill doubled through the left side to the left field fence to score Nottingham with two away to give WC a 1-0 lead.  It was Dockrill's 50th hit of the season on the two-bagger.

The Green Terror came through with three runs in the top of the fifth to take over the game.  Stricker opened the frame with a home run to left to even the game at 1-1.  With two outs, Sidney reached on an infield single and the next batter, Amy Baumgardner lined a homer over the fence in right-center to put McDaniel up 3-1.

In the top of the sixth, Stricker singled up the middle with nobody out to score Laura Mertz to make it 4-1 with nobody out.  With one away, Roxana Aviles came home on a wild pitch to make it 5-1 and cap the scoring in the opener.

McDaniel, which had eight hits in game one got 2-for-3 and two RBI efforts from Baumgardner and Stricker, while Sidney notched a pair of hits.  In the circle, Brehm went the distance to improve to 22-8 as she scattered six hits, walked one and fanned seven in giving up one earned run.

Cooper took the loss in the circle and drops to 10-4 as she went five-plus innings.  She gave up seven hits, five runs, walked none and struck out eight.  WC was held to six hits in the opener.

Washington and McDaniel, who will be joined by Haverford and Muhlenberg in the conference tournament next Saturday and Sunday, will know what seed they will be after tomorrow's Haverford-Gettysburg doubleheader.  That twinbill was postponed today at Gettysburg due to rain.  Muhlenberg sits at 12-4, Washington and McDaniel are both 11-5, while Haverford currently sits at 10-4.

The Shorewomen will conclude their regular season on Monday afternoon when they travel to York (Pa.) for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference twinbill.