The Bishop O’Connell Knights and Yorktown Patriots won key league games in girls softball action miles apart on April Fools’ Day — and by the same close scores.
O’Connell (8-0, 5-0) topped the host St. Mary’s Ryken Knights, 3-1, in southern Maryland in a clash between top longtime rival high-school teams in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.
With with a trio of convincing victories and a tight one-run win, the Bishop O’Connell Knights (7-0) extended their four-season girls softball winning streak to 61 games.
The single-run triumph was by an 8-7 score over the host St. Paul VI Catholic Panthers for the multi-time defending Division I state and Washington Catholic Athletic Conference private-school Knights.
With a couple of solid victories, the young Wakefield Warriors won their first two games of the high-school softball season.
Wakefield defeated the Edison Eagles, 6-2, then routed the Marshall Statesmen, 11-1, in home contests.
As expected, the Bishop O’Connell Knights have been enjoying a strong and dominating start to the girls high-school softball spring season.
After two games, the Knights had a 2-0 record with wins over Elizabeth Seton by an 8-1 score and Holy Cross, 14-0, in a five-inning no-hitter.
The head coaches of many high-school sports teams in Arlington have been in place for years. That is not the case, however, for the spring season in baseball and softball.
With the exception of two people, there have been a number of coaching changes in those positions recently.
Considering its vast past success over many years, lofty expectations are the case every season for the Bishop O’Connell Knights girls softball team.
Nothing will be different this spring, with the high-school squad coming off a perfect 23-0 season, owning a three-season 54-game winning streak and having won a combined 15 straight conference and private-school state-tournament championships.
As she savors a region championship in winter competition, Yorktown High School’s Kaiya Ovando now turns her attention to the spring athletic season.
But first, a quest for a state title looms.
Any discussion of Jack Belcher won’t last long before the subject of girls softball crops up.
Belcher, who died Feb. 1 at age 77, was known to some as a longtime Arlington County government official, but to others as a passionate pioneer of youth sports, particularly softball, in the community.
The Arlington Impact 16-under national girls softball team finished 6-0 at the recent Field of Screams tournament in Glen Burnie, Md.
The Impact won three close games in bracket play, holding off the Lady Railers, 10-9, in the quarterfinals, the Revolution Premier, 3-2, in the semifinals, then in the championship game won 7-5.
The fields at Washington-Liberty High School have new temporary toilets for baseball players, softball players and spectators.
These are not run-of-the-mill port-a-johns, either. The facilities, developed by D.C.-area startup Throne, give users the royal treatment with running water for flushing and hand-washing. Users simply text a phone number to gain entry and provide a cleanliness rating via text after they use it.
(Updated 9:55 p.m.) Marymount University is developing plans to build a new sports facility on an embattled parcel of county property near its campus.
Currently, the property at 26th Street N. and Old Dominion Drive, in the Old Dominion neighborhood, is home to a temporary road salt storage “dome” and a parking lot used for mulch distribution. In 2019, despite opposition from some neighbors, the county demolished a roughly 90-year-old water storage tank, repurposed for road salt, which was on the brink of collapse.
School’s Out for Summer — Today is the last day of high school for Arlington Public Schools students. Tomorrow is the last day of middle school and Friday is the last day of elementary school. [Arlington Public Schools]
Meetings Planned for Route 1 Changes — “Two upcoming online forums will look at Virginia Department of Transportation proposals for U.S. Route 1 through the Crystal City corridor. On June 15 at 7 p.m., the Livability 22202 Route 1 Working Group and VDOT proposals will be presented and feedback sought… On June 21 at 6:30 p.m., VDOT will host a public-information meeting on the proposal.” [Sun Gazette, VDOT]
