Westminster wins
No. 11 Owls beat Huntingtown in 3A softball final to capture first state title in 12 years
COLLEGE PARK — Sarah Sexton conceded that she felt Westminster’s softball team was somewhat lost four innings into Saturday’s Class 3A state championship game.
The Owls fell behind early as their ace pitcher struggled to find her control against Huntingtown of Calvert County. Westminster was stranding base runners, and the Hurricanes were beginning to seize control.
All it took was one of the rarest plays on a diamond to turn it around.
Senior pitcher Emily Maseth started a triple play to end a two-on, none-out jam in the fourth inning. And when the Owls came up to bat in the fifth, they broke things open.
Westminster sent 11 players to the plate and scored six runs on the way to a 10-5 victory at Maryland for the program’s first state title since 2004.
“That was huge,” said Sexton, Westminster’s designated hitter. “It showed that we could still do it, and that things might go our way.”
The Owls (16-5) went from trailing 4-1 to leading 7-4. They added two more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, giving Maseth a comfortable lead to close things out.
The senior struck out seven and found her rhythm in the middle innings after giving up four runs and three hits in the first two innings. She walked Paxtan Perry to start the fourth and allowed a single to Kathleen Thompson, which brought up leadoff batter Julia Keffler.
Keffler had ripped an RBI double off Maseth in the second inning, and this time she waited for an 0-1 count to make contact. The ball landed in Maseth’s glove just in front of the pitcher’s circle, but both Hurricanes runners headed for second and third. Maseth flipped to Darian Rahnis at first, and another throw to Nicole Barrett covering second meant both runners were out.
“That was the turning point in the game,” Maseth said.
Sophomore catcher Olivia Herman led off the fifth with an infield single, which seemed to rattle Huntingtown. Freshman pitcher Tori Fletcher lost her command and the Hurricanes’ defense committed two errors that helped Westminster’s cause. Fletcher walked Kristen Johnson and Jillian Howell with the bases loaded, Johnson’s walk tying the score at 4 and Howell’s giving Westminster the lead.
Herman followed with a two-run single to make it 7-4, and momentum was on the Owls’ side.
Sexton, a junior, had a pair of doubles and went 3-for-4. Herman added three hits and three RBIs, and junior second baseman Meghan Lockwood had three hits and two RBIs. Howell tripled in the seventh inning and scored the Owls’ 10th run on a single to right-center by Herman.
Maseth took it from there. Huntingtown (21-3) added a run in the seventh, but the game was out of reach, and a groundout ended the game to seal the state crown for Westminster.
“It was one of the coolest feelings ever,” said Owls assistant coach Amanda Lahner, filling in for head coach Ashley Harford, who is on maternity leave. “To kind of see them go, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’ And then they did.”