The Yorktown Patriots extended their girls softball season with victories over the Herndon Hornets and Langley Saxons in the Liberty District tournament.
Third-seed Yorktown (12-11) topped sixth-seeded Herndon, 10-5, in the first round, then upset and blanked second-seed and Langley Saxons, 5-0, in the semifinals to extend the high-school team’s winning streak to five.
“The girls were confident and really motivated to reach the final,” Yorktown coach Heather Sutphin told ARLnow.
The winning streak was Yorktown’s longest of the season, ending with a loss to the top-seed McLean Highlanders, 3-0, in the championship game.
Next, Yorktown will host a first-round 6D North Region tournament game.
The berth in the Liberty final was Yorktown’s first. The Patriots has won a crown in 2011 when competing in the National District.
In the victory over Herndon, Yorktown belted four home runs, two by Noa Kammerman. The others were hit by Audrey Pocrass and Sophia Giambalvo, who also had an RBI single.
Also for Yorktown, Kaiya Ovando had two doubles and a single; Pocrass also walked twice and singled; and McKenna Gurgo, Malena Cardinale, Sara Evans and Bethany Panza had singles.
Yorktown built a 5-0 lead, the score was tied at five, then the Patriots plated the final five runs.
Samantha Parker started on the mound and got the win, pitching six innings. Lilah Grace Kresse worked the final frame.
Parker hurled a complete-game shutout over Langley for her 10th win this season. She struck out two, scattered seven hits and walked four to earn her first shutout this spring, also the team’s first.
Langley had runners in six of seven innings, but Yorktown worked out of each jam, helped by two double plays and strong defense. Langley stranded two runners in the first inning, then left the bases loaded in the second.
“Our defense was superb and our outfielders got the ball back into the infield very quickly when they hot hits,” Sutphin said.
Gurgo singled home Pocrass, who had doubled, to give Yorktown a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. The Patriots added four more run on five straight hits in the sixth as Cardinale, Pocrass and Sophia Giambalvo all singled and scored on two-run hits by Gurgo and Ovando (double).
“We had timely hitting and we strung some hits together,” Sutphin said.
Yorktown had defeated Langley once in two regular-season meetings.
Against McLean in the final, Yorktown had five hits, from Pacross, Ovando, Cardinale, Evans and Sejal Lee.
Season concludes for Wakefield, W-L: The season ended for the Wakefield Warriors and Washington-Liberty Generals with first-round losses in the Liberty District tournament.
Wakefield lost to the Marshall Statesmen, 11-8, and W-L fell to the Langley Saxons, 11-1.
In Wakefield’s loss, Elena Rochard had two hits, including a two-run double, Lucy Strawn had an RBI double, and Tatum Oliver, Regan Hughes and Kira Zoeller (two hits) had RBI singles. Julia Mitzen walked with the bases loaded.
In Washington-Liberty’s loss, Celia Anbinder had two hits and an RBI, and Lillian Nix had one hit.
