Vikings Rally Late, But Fall Short in Softball State Championship

Lansdowne’s Maude McCourry struck out 10 batters on the game, but allowed 13 hits as the Vikings fell to Easton in the 2A State Softball Championship Saturday afternoon at the University of Maryland, College Park. The title is Easton’s sixth in school history and third in four years.

McCourry held the potent Warriors lineup in check for the first three innings, allowing plenty of base runners, but only surrendering two runs. Having put a pair across the plate themselves, the Vikings were even until the Warriors broke out with two outs in the fourth inning.

A pair of hits, followed by McCourry’s first walk of the game loaded the bases for Easton shortstop Maggie Hawkins, who drove her second double of the game the opposite way up against the right-center field fence, scoring three runs.

Easton again scored three runs in the sixth inning, and the Vikings answered with three of their own, before a scoreless seventh frame for both sides ended the game, 8-5, in favor of the Warriors.

“Look at it this way. Nobody expected little old Lansdowne to make it this far,” Vikings coach Jamie Izdebski said. “We don’t have any club players on our team and Easton has plenty of them, but we went out there and went toe-to-toe with them. Second place in the state isn’t bad at all and it’s nothing for our girls to feel bad about.”

Easton’s Sydnee Schorr struggled in the first inning, opening the game by hitting Lansdowne’s Kelli Pease between the shoulders. Pease and second baseman Hunter Long would score in the inning, but Schorr did not permit another run until the sixth inning.

With runners on first and second with one out, catcher Sera Stull stung a single into left field to score Pease. Stull advanced to second and Hunter Long to third on the throw home. Ashlie Smith then singled up the middle to bring both home, cutting the lead down to three.

In the top of the seventh with two outs, McCourry ended the inning by snagging a rocketed line drive off the bat of Paige Knussman, who had already crushed a home run over the left center field fence earlier in the game.

Despite the emotional lift that McCourry’s catch gave the Vikings, Schorr stifled the Lansdowne offense, striking out Long to end the game with Pease standing on second base.

 Lansdowne, who defeated McDonough in the semifinals, 10-7, was a potent offense all season, scoring double-digit runs 13 times this season. Easton had shutout the tournament’s top seed North Carroll in the semifinals for a 1-0 victory, but the powerful middle of the Warriors lineup out-slugged the Vikings in the season’s decisive game to earn the state title.

BOX SCORE

Easton 8, Lansdowne 5

E 101 303 0----8 13 4

L 200 003 0----5 3 2

Pitching                      IP        R         H         BB       K

E

Schorr (W)                  7          5          3          2          8

L

McCourry (L)              7          8          13        3          10

Batting

RBI: E-M. Hawkins 3, Trice 2, Knussman, E. Hawkins.

         L-Smith 2, Stull.

2B: E- M. Hawkins 2.

3B: E-Knussman

HR: Knussman