Softball: Late-Inning Rally Boosts Lansdowne Past Mount de Sales

Through five and two-thirds scoreless innings, Mount de Sales pitcher E.J. Fioretti was in virtual cruise control, mowing down eight Lansdowne hitters and allowing just one ball to leave the infield en route to a 1-0 Sailors lead.

The final out in the bottom of the sixth proved to be much more difficult.

After inducing two groundouts to start the inning, Fioretti surrendered back-to-back hits—a rocket up the middle from Hunter Long and a line drive over third baseman Ayla Montigue's head by Maude McCourry—setting up cleanup hitter Marlaina McCourry with the Vikings' first at-bat with a runner in scoring position all afternoon.

However, with the count 2-2 Fioretti and the Sailors appeared poised to escape the jam when McCourry lifted a towering pop-up just behind home plate. Catcher Lori Sena camped underneath the ball in foul ground, but with a high sky and swirling wind Sena couldn’t corral the pop-up.

Given a second chance, McCourry delivered. The sophomore laced the very next pitch for a double into the right-center field gap, scoring both runners and earning her squad a 2-1 lead.

Her older sister, Maude McCourry, retired the side in order in the top of the seventh to preserve the one-run win.

“It feels great, feels so great,” said Marlaina McCourry, who also recorded six putouts from her shortstop position. “Right before I got up, my sister talked to me and was telling me and how to do it. Right when I got to two strikes, I knew I could do it and I got on base.”   

Lansdowne (3-0), which had previously been stumped at the plate by Fioretti—mustering just one hit until the decisive sixth inning—finally found its groove when it counted the most.

“It’s just finding that one pitch that you really like and keeping your eye on it,” Vikings assistant coach Carla Privateer said following the game. “That’s what you need to do and we got a couple of girls to finally do it.”  

The Sailors (0-3) gained their one-run advantage in the top of the second—without recording a hit.

Montigue led off with a soft roller to third, but Lansdowne’s Jesse Dore overthrew first base, allowing Montigue to take second. After Jessica Jurney bunted her over to third, Sena grounded another ball to the hot corner and Dore—opting to come home with the ball—couldn’t connect with catcher Sera Stull as the then-tiebreaking run slid in safely.

Mount de Sales did collect three hits over the next five innings, but two were of the infield variety and the third, a gap shot from Sena, was erased when the catcher was tagged out at second trying to stretch a single into a double.

Sailors’ head coach Pete Wasaiewicz chalked up this afternoon’s loss, and his team’s two other tight-game loses, to an array of mental mistakes—including base running errors and missed signals—but isn’t too discouraged given the young season and his team’s youth up and down the roster.  

Still, the dropped pop-up in the sixth was just one of a few game-changing plays in Mount de Sales’ early season losing streak.

“We make that and we’re out of the inning, but hey, that’s the way it goes,” Wasaiewicz said. "[Then] the pitcher makes one bad mistake and she pays for it. We missed some signals, missed steal signals on second base. We can’t afford to make mistakes.” 

The Sailors will look to snap their early season skid when they return home to take on Mercy on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Vikings will look to improve their win streak to four when they travel to take on Randallstown tomorrow afternoon.

BOX SCORE

M 010 000 0    1 3 1

L   000 002 x    2  4 1

Pitching

                                                IP            R             H             BB           K

Fioretti (M)                         6              2              4              1              8

Mau. McCourry (L)          7              1              2              0              3

Hitting

RBI: M- Sena; L-Mar. McCourry (2)

2B: L-Mar. McCourry