In the fifth inning of Saturday’s Inter-Ac contest, SCH senior Mo’ne Davis drove a hit down the left field line that brought in the game-winner and two insurance runs against Baldwin. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Two-time defending Inter-Ac champion Springside Chestnut Hill Academy stumbled out of the gate in the 2019 softball season, getting off to a 1-3 start in the league. Absences due to school trips, along with injuries, kept the Blue Devils below full strength around spring break and even well into April, but last week, SCH put together three straight league wins to move into winning territory.

On Tuesday, the team completed its first trip through the Inter-Ac schedule, winning 5-0 over an improving Germantown Academy franchise. Launching into the second round of league games on Thursday, SCH avenged a loss to the Academy of Notre Dame back in the Inter-Ac opener, knocking off the Irish 6-2. Baldwin School visited Chestnut Hill on Saturday, and with three runs scoring in the fifth inning on an extra-base hit by senior Mo’ne Davis, the Blue Devils won 4-1 to push above the .500 mark in the league (4-3) and climb to a 6-3 record overall.

Back in 2018, SCH had also been short-staffed when Notre Dame handed the Devils their lone league loss of the season. SCH avenged that loss later on, and the same thing happened this year, as the locals got some payback following an 11-4 road loss to the Irish on April 3.

Sam Klug, a freshman who has been carrying the load for SCH in the pitching circle, recorded four strikeouts while giving up three hits and three walks. This followed her two-hitter against the GA Patriots two days earlier.

Junior Erin Fennessy went two-for-three at the plate with three RBI, while senior Colebe Oliver also went two-for-three, driving in one run. Davis and junior Katie Reagan each hit an RBI double in the victory.

Although they had beaten Baldwin 7-0 the first time around, the Blue Devils could not afford to take the Bears lightly in last Saturday’s rematch. Like SCH, Baldwin entered the contest with a 3-3 league record. Also like the Devils, the Bryn Mawr bunch had only lost to league leader Penn Charter by a single run, and last Thursday they defeated an Episcopal Academy team that had beaten SCH, 3-0, on April 16.

SCH went down in order in the bottom of the first as Baldwin starter Maura Smith recorded two strikeouts, while in the visitors’ first two turns at the plate, they left runners on base with a double in the first inning and a walk in the top of the second.

The bottom of the second began better for the home team, with Oliver drawing a walk and then moving to third base on a double to right center by Davis. A passed ball then led to a close play at home, with Oliver making a head-first slide and reaching the plate with her outstretched hand an instant before being tagged on the back.

The Baldwin defense recovered for three straight outs, but SCH owned an early lead. Next time up, the Blue Devils had junior Becca Arnold draw a walk and then make her way around to third base with two outs. Baldwin then replaced Smith with Julia Kait in the circle, and she got the Bears out of the jam with a strikeout.

After laying down a bunt, Baldwin School’s Alex Loomis (right foreground) dashes toward first base, but fellow junior Erin Fennessy of SCH is about to throw the ball past her for an out. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

The visitors would draw even at 1-1 in the fourth inning, leading off with a single by sophomore Tessa Pearlstein. A flawed pickoff attempt at first got her to second base, where she remained as the next batter flew out to center field. A sacrifice bunt along the first base line by Alex Loomis put Pearlstein on third.

Next, Georgia Dahm drove the ball straight back at the circle and it bounced off of Klug and rolled to her right. Reagan, the SCH third baseman, picked up the ball and tossed it to first base for what would’ve been the third out, but Dahm beat the throw and a run scored for Baldwin.

After retiring the side on a groundout, SCH had two players on base with walks with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but couldn’t get home a go-ahead run.

The Blue Devils’ veteran centerfielder, Oliver (whose eighth-grade sister, Courtney, also starts for SCH), tracked down and caught a potentially dangerous ball belted by the Bears’ Azzaya Johnson. Two groundouts got the Devils out of the top of the fifth, then the home half began with a high, short fly ball hit by Arnold to shallow right center.

The ball managed to find its way to the ground exactly between three converging Baldwin fielders. SCH senior Steph DeAngelis was planning to sacrifice the runner to second with a bunt to the left side of the infield, but she ended up safe on first through a Baldwin error.

Following a pop-up for the first out, Fennessy waited out a walk in a long at-bat, and the bases were loaded. The outlooked improved a bit for the Bears as Kait struck out the next batter for a second out.

Davis then whacked what looked like at least a double out along the left field line. After the ball bounced, the Baldwin fielder grabbed it, but her momentum carried her out of play. Davis wound up on third base, and all three runners ahead of her scored to put the 4-1 final on the scoreboard.

Following a strikeout that left Davis stranded on third, SCH pitcher Klug and her defense dispatched the visitors in order at the top of the sixth inning. A little two-out rally in the bottom half had Arnold and DeAngelis on third and first base, respectively, but a fly ball caught in left field closed out the sixth frame.

Baldwin came up to bat for the last time and Klug collected the first out herself, gloving a pop-up. A groundout followed, and after the Bears sent a single up the middle, Klug fielded a grounder and threw to first for the final out of the afternoon.