Softball: Stone Bridge Enters Liberty Tournament After Missing a Share of Title by a Pitch

(May 17, 2011) - One pitch. That is all it was going to take last Friday for the Stone Bridge High School softball team to tie up McLean in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Bulldogs, trailing 4-3, had the bases loaded with no outs and a 3-0 count on the hitter at the plate.

A ball. A tie game. A hit and Stone Bridge would have avenged its only loss of the season and finished the regular season tied with the Highlanders at 13-1 in district. Only that pitch never came as McLean somehow pitched out of the jam and secured the 4-3 win to the dismay of the Stone Bridge fans on Senior Night.

McLean had a 2-0 lead before Stone Bridge even secured a second out in the game as Allison Wilhelm drove in two with a double.

The Highlanders made it 3-0 in the second on an RBI single by No. 9 hitter Grace Henry.

Stone Bridge clawed back but had trouble getting runners to the plate, leaving Bulldogs on second and third to end the second and on third in each of the next two innings. Stone Bridge did get one back in the third as Nikki Prince laced a deep triple to left that scored sister Cori Prince.

The Bulldogs not only tied the game over the next two innings but they were on the wrong end of two bang-bang plays on the bases that cost them a runner thrown out at second and then a runner tossed out at third. Kelly McDaniel started the rally in the fifth with a single to second base that she legged out. She gave way to pinch runner Colleen Sheehan who scored from first when Courtney Gibson's stinging single to left scooted by the outfield all the way to the fence.

Gibson scored to tie the game on Nikki Prince's second RBI of the game, a liner to center. Prince was thrown out stealing second even though the ball appeared to hit her in the helmet before glancing into the second baseman's mitt who then applied the tag after Prince had dislodged the bag.

In the sixth, Stone Bridge put the lead off runner on with Olivia Tatara hitting a single to left. She raced from first to third on a nice bunt by Katie Bellino. Prince appeared to be safely on the bag but was ruled out by the homeplate umpire hustling up the line but never settling into position to make the call.

In the top of the seventh, McLean broke the tie with an unearned run as a one-out throwing error allowed a runner to score from second. The next hitter struck out, which would have ended the inning. Two of McLean's four runs on the night were unearned.

The Bulldogs host Marshall Wednesday in the quarterfinals, needing a win to make Regionals despite a 16-2 regular-season record.

Liberty District Tournament
Quarterfinals
No. 8 Fairfax at No. 1 McLean, 6:30
No. 5 TJ at No. 4 Langley, 6:30
No. 6 South Lakes at No. 3 Madison, 6:30
No. 7 Marshall at No. 2 Stone Bridge, 6:30