When Bishop O’Connell and St. Mary’s Ryken meet in girls softball, the games are close and action is pressure-packed.
Nothing was different this spring, when the showdown of teams with the same “Knights” nickname met in the championship contest of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference high-school girls tournament at George Mason University.
Top seed O’Connell won for the fourth straight season — the last three over Ryken — by building a 4-0 lead that was cut to 4-3, then prevailing 6-3 to remain undefeated at 17-0.
The WCAC title was O’Connell’s 27th in program history. The victory upped O’Connell’s four-year winning streak to 72 games.
In last year’s conference tourney final, O’Connell won, 3-2. O’Connell won over Ryken by 2-1 and 5-2 scores in 2023. In 2019, the rivals played to a 2-2 tie.
“The pressure builds in these games,” first-year O’Connell head coach Tony Uccellini told ARLnow. “Ryken is so good, they will never quit.”
Uccellini said the pressure eased a little when O’Connell scored four runs on four hits in the fourth inning.
Gigi Payne (2 for 3) had an RBI single in that inning, M.J. Melvin (2 for 3) had a two-run triple and Ari Clark (2 for 4) a run-scoring single. Courtesy runner Lucy Hensler scored a run and Mari Gagliano and Lucy Jorjani stole bases.
After Ryken cut the lead to 4-3, O’Connell starting and winning pitcher Bri Lencz (2 for 3) added a two-run single in the sixth.
“I was getting pitched outside, so I took a deep breath and was just trying to make contact,” Lencz said of her winning hit.
O’Connell had nine hits, with Abby Bond having the other.
“We have to persevere and learn how to respond at all times,” Clark said in regard to O’Connell’s long winning streak. “We have emotions and feel the pressure, but the key is not letting it show.”
Lencz pitched five innings, allowing three hits, two earned runs with five strikeouts and no walks. Annie Van Dyck pitched the final two frames, yielding two hits.
Defensively, O’Connell did not make an error, with the infielders recording 13 ground-ball outs, including a double play. Melvin at shortstop, Ella Fletcher at third and Callie Lissenden at second each had multiple assists with no errors on ground-ball outs.
O’Connell was 3-0 in the tournament, with shutout wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
O’Connell topped Ryken, 3-1, in a regular-season meeting this spring.
“We always play close hard games with them,” Bond said of Ryken.
NOTES: O’Connell seniors Clark, Bond, and Emma Prykanowski played in all four conference-tournament championship games during their high-school careers, and senior Lucy Hensler played in the last three … Lencz, Melvin, Bond and Prykanowski were chosen first team all-WCAC this season … O’Connell now has an overall 82-1 record through the past four seasons.
