Team has won 12 straight Virginia titles and 28 in program history
It’s normal that many teams set goals for an upcoming season.
Not the Bishop O’Connell Knights. They have no choice, really. Any potential goals for that girls high-school softball team have long been predetermined based on the squad’s rich history of success and regularly winning conference and state championships – a combined 54 over many years.
“Any goals are just in the team’s DNA,” O’Connell coach Suzy Willemssen said.
So no surprise that the Knights concluded their 2024 campaign by winning a 12th straight Division I private school state championship (28th overall) to finish 23-0 overall and extend their overall three-season victory string to 54. Plus, the team has now won 36 straight state-tourney contests.
Top-seed O’Connell nipped No. 2 seed Potomac School, 1-0, in the state final played at the Dinwiddie Sports Complex.
Sofia Anderson (two hits) had the winning RBI on a squeeze bunt to score pinch runner Katie Sullivan in the fifth inning. Sullivan was running for starting pitcher Bri Lencz, who had singled. Sullivan was advanced on a hit by Emma Prykanowski (two hits).
Some baserunning mistakes potentially cost O’Connell additional runs.
“Potomac played well, we knew it would be a close game like this and it was super fun to win,” Willemssen said. “What these [O’Connell] players have continued to do is remarkable. We would not be where we are if everyone didn’t do their job. They handled the pressure pretty well.”
O’Connell had seven hits in the final, with Abby Bond and Ari Clark also reaching base that way. On the mound, Lencz had some arm soreness because of a bruise, yet still threw a four-hitter with four walks and 13 strikeouts. No Potomac School runner advanced beyond second base.
“Bri competes and she powered through,” Willemssen said.
The Knights were 3-0 in the state tourney, routing No. 8 seed Flint Hill, 17-3, in the first round then fourth-seed Trinity Episcopal, 9-0, in the semifinals.
Ella Fletcher started and got the win against Flint Hill, striking out six, walking one and allowing four hits.
Of O’Connell’s 13 hits, Bond had two doubles, Clark had three hits, Gigi Payne had two hits and four RBI, Sophia Taliaferro and Prykanowski each had a hit and two RBI and Lencz, Anderson and Lauren Gatti had hits. M.J. Melvin scored three runs.
Lencz tossed a six-hitter and fanned eight against Trinity Episcopal. Melvin and Bond (three hits, five RBI) homered, Clark, Taliaferro and Anderson each had two hits and Lencz doubled.
NOTES: Lencz was chosen the Division I all-state co-Player of the Year. Taliaferro, Anderson and Melvin were selected first-team all-state and Bond made second team . . . O’Connell seniors Anderson and Taliaferro finished with a career record of 76-1 playing for the Knights . . . O’Connell’s current three-season 54-game winning streak broke the team’s previous longest victory string of 49, set from 1997 to 1999 . . . O’Connell has won 20 or more games for 30 straight seasons.
It’s normal that many teams set goals for an upcoming season.
Not the Bishop O’Connell Knights. They have no choice, really. Any potential goals for that girls high-school softball team have long been predetermined based on the squad’s rich history of success and regularly winning conference and state championships – a combined 54 over many years.
“Any goals are just in the team’s DNA,” O’Connell coach Suzy Willemssen said.
So no surprise that the Knights concluded their 2024 campaign by winning a 12th straight Division I private school state championship (28th overall) to finish 23-0 overall and extend their overall three-season victory string to 54. Plus, the team has now won 36 straight state-tourney contests.
Top-seed O’Connell nipped No. 2 seed Potomac School, 1-0, in the state final played at the Dinwiddie Sports Complex.
Sofia Anderson (two hits) had the winning RBI on a squeeze bunt to score pinch runner Katie Sullivan in the fifth inning. Sullivan was running for starting pitcher Bri Lencz, who had singled. Sullivan was advanced on a hit by Emma Prykanowski (two hits).
Some baserunning mistakes potentially cost O’Connell additional runs.
“Potomac played well, we knew it would be a close game like this and it was super fun to win,” Willemssen said. “What these [O’Connell] players have continued to do is remarkable. We would not be where we are if everyone didn’t do their job. They handled the pressure pretty well.”
O’Connell had seven hits in the final, with Abby Bond and Ari Clark also reaching base that way. On the mound, Lencz had some arm soreness because of a bruise, yet still threw a four-hitter with four walks and 13 strikeouts. No Potomac School runner advanced beyond second base.
“Bri competes and she powered through,” Willemssen said.
The Knights were 3-0 in the state tourney, routing No. 8 seed Flint Hill, 17-3, in the first round then fourth-seed Trinity Episcopal, 9-0, in the semifinals.
Ella Fletcher started and got the win against Flint Hill, striking out six, walking one and allowing four hits.
Of O’Connell’s 13 hits, Bond had two doubles, Clark had three hits, Gigi Payne had two hits and four RBI, Sophia Taliaferro and Prykanowski each had a hit and two RBI and Lencz, Anderson and Lauren Gatti had hits. M.J. Melvin scored three runs.
Lencz tossed a six-hitter and fanned eight against Trinity Episcopal. Melvin and Bond (three hits, five RBI) homered, Clark, Taliaferro and Anderson each had two hits and Lencz doubled.
NOTES: Lencz was chosen the Division I all-state co-Player of the Year. Taliaferro, Anderson and Melvin were selected first-team all-state and Bond made second team . . . O’Connell seniors Anderson and Taliaferro finished with a career record of 76-1 playing for the Knights . . . O’Connell’s current three-season 54-game winning streak broke the team’s previous longest victory string of 49, set from 1997 to 1999 . . . O’Connell has won 20 or more games for 30 straight seasons.
