County championship games

The county championship lacrosse games will be played Tuesday, May 6. The boys game will start at 5 p.m.; the girls game begins at 7 p.m. Coming into the week there were essentially three teams -- Glenelg, Marriotts Ridge and Reservoir -- competing for the two spots in the boys game.

On the girls' side, Glenelg is in the best position. Centennial and Reservoir, who play May 5, are vying for the other spot, although Marriotts Ridge and Mt. Hebron haven't been mathematically eliminated.

The regional playoffs start May 8.

The softball county championship game will be played Wednesday, May 7, starting at 4 p.m. Call the schools for more information.

Howard Community College

The women's lacrosse team is completing its second year of competition. The team, 0-4 in conference play and 1-5 overall, scored more goals this year than last. Chelsea Farley is the leading scorer with 20 goals and five assists. As a team, HCC has scored 52 goals.

The men's lacrosse team continues to play well. The squad is 4-0 in conference play, gaining an extra victory after Anne Arundel Community College had to forfeit nine games because of an ineligible player. HCC is 9-2 overall and has scored 158 goals while allowing 123. The team is winning 53 percent of its faceoffs.

The men's and women's track teams will host the district meet May 2 and 3. The meet starts at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and will run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday.

Softball

Howard beat Oakland Mills, 16-3, after putting seven runs on the scoreboard in the first inning. Beth Toland singled to start the inning, Danielle Schiavone and Kylie Pino walked, and Brea Curley singled in two runs. Amy Barnhouse reached on an error to allow another run to score, Bruke Mikesell had a two-RBI hit, Rosie Barton reached on an error and Ali York doubled to left to knock in the last run.

For Oakland Mills, Jordann Montoya, Betsie Last and Casey O'Neill had one hit each while Carinne Fobbs and Valerie Grove had two each.

"Anytime a new guy comes in, there's going to be adjustments," Howard's first-year coach Ed Holshue said. "We're starting to click. I'm real pleased with our progress."

Becky Randel no-hit Oakland Mills and Michelle Gravdahl hit two homers -- including a grand slam -- as Long Reach beat Oakland Mills, 15-0. Only one Oakland Mills runner reached base -- on a first-inning error. Randel struck out 11 of the 16 batters she faced. Gravdahl had seven RBIs in the win. Sam Gajewski had two doubles for Long Reach.

Hammond beat Reservoir, 6-0, but needed an extra inning to get the win. The game was scoreless after seven.

After winning just twice in the first 10 county games, River Hill is on a win streak after winning two big games in a row. The Hawks beat Mt. Hebron, 7-1, behind the pitching of Meagan George, who had seven strikeouts. Sara Thacker had three RBIs, Alex Schovee had two and freshman Emily Posey had three hits in four trips to the plate.

Then, River Hill got out of a messy first inning without giving up a run to Centennial, which had two base runners and no outs, and went on to beat the Eagles, 2-1. George struck out three and gave up no walks; the Eagles' run was unearned.

The Hawks' defense came through again in the seventh after Jessica Grimshaw singled. The next batter grounded to Kathy Thorton at second. She picked up the ball, tagged out Grimshaw and threw the ball to first for a double play.

In both games, River Hill was led defensively by Thornton, Lindsay McIntyre at short, Thacker at first, Katlyn Briel in centerfield and Schovee behind the plate

Long Reach beat Reservoir, 7-5. Caitlin Lovend had a two-run home run and Molly Gigioli a double for Reservoir. Sandy Johnston was 3-for-4 with an RBI for Long Reach; she also scored a run. Sam Gajewski had a bases-loaded single for two Long Reach RBIs.

In a pitcher's duel, Centennial edged Atholton, 1-0. Centennial's Meg Tucker and Atholton's Haylie Goheen gave up two hits each. Centennial also beat Oakland Mills, 22-1. Carinne Fobbs and Casey O'Neill had one hit each for Oakland Mills.

Girls lacrosse

Chapelgate's Kylie Ramsland made program history last year by recording her 300th career point. Ramsland had five goals, as did her younger sister, Kristen, in Chapelgate's 14-9 victory over Institute of Notre Dame April 28.

The Yellowjackets are in second place in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B (X) Conference. They have earned a first-round tournament bye and will next play May 6, most likely against St. Timothy's. The game will be played at Western Regional Park at 4:30 p.m.

River Hill senior Alex Napoli scored with seven seconds left to send the River Hill-Atholton game into overtime. The Hawks scored twice in the extra period to win, 14-12. Napoli finished the game with three goals; teammate Anna Kim had four.

Laura Lazas and Allie Mitzner were Atholton's leading scorers with three goals each.

"We were leading with two minutes left in the game," said Atholton coach Martie Browning. This season the Raiders have lost four games by two goals or less.

Jenny Michael had five goals and Kelsie Norris added four as Centennial defeated Marriotts Ridge, 14-7, on April 29.

"It was a good game, we just couldn't put the ball in the net," said Marriotts Ridge coach Natalie Gaieski.

Hammond watched a 10-1 halftime lead turn into a nailbiting 13-11 victory over Long Reach.

Boys lacrosse

River Hill, eliminated from the race for the county championship game following its loss to Marriotts Ridge April 25, took the opportunity to play the role of spoiler four days later against Reservoir. An unassisted goal by senior Danny Schanne with 3:09 remaining in the first overtime period helped the Hawks earn a 6-5 win over the Gators.

"Danny just took his man one-on-one and beat him ... a great play on his part," River Hill coach Keith Gonsouland said. "We really needed a win tonight. The kids were kind of down after losing like we did to Marriotts Ridge and, give them credit, because they basically willed their way to victory."

It was only the second loss of the county season for Reservoir, who would have been in sole possession of second place with a win over River Hill. Marriotts Ridge lost to Centennial, 10-7, April 29 for its second county loss of the season as well.

Reservoir loses a head-to-head tie breaker with the Mustangs, so it now needs to defeat Glenelg in the regular season finale May 2 and have Marriotts Ridge lose to Long Reach in order to make the county title game. Glenelg, meanwhile, has already locked up a spot in the county championship game.

Reservoir was coming off an 8-5 win over Centennial April 25, the program's first-ever victory over the Eagles. The Gators, who found themselves down 3-1 in the second quarter following a goal by Centennial's Alex Danner, battled back to tie the game at halftime and then used a three-goal spurt in the fourth quarter to emerge victorious.

Bill Reybold and Brandon Castleman, who both scored during the late run, finished with two goals apiece. Dylan Godbout chipped in with three assists. Harrison Chaires led Centennial with two goals and two assists, while Danner added a pair of assists to his first-half goal.

Things weren't much better for Centennial a day earlier against Catonsville, where the Eagles fell behind by six at halftime and eventually went on to lose, 16-8. Chaires was again the offensive leader, registering three goals and an assist.

Glenelg kept its undefeated record in tact by disposing of Oakland Mills, 15-1, and Mt. Hebron, 11-4. Against the Scorpions, Chris Gotschall (four goals, three assists), Josh Braun (three goals), Tyler Burford (two goals and two assists) and Brendan Conway (two goals) all shined in the team's second-highest offensive output of the season.

Then against Mt. Hebron, the Gladiators broke open a 2-2 game at halftime to win by seven. Ryan Dougherty led the way with three goals, while the trio of Conway, Burford and Mike Silas all chipped in multiple-goal efforts as well.

Howard, which was coming off its own convincing 14-7 victory over Mt. Hebron, ended up winning a back-and-forth battle with Chapelgate April 25 by the score of 14-13. The Yellowjackets' leading scorer on the season, Chris Carlson (34 goals and 20 assists), had three goals and two assists in the losing effort.

Earlier in the week, Chapelgate defeated St. Vincent Pallotti, 13-10, as Grant Shipley and Carlson each had four goals.

Chapelgate is currently 5-2 in the MIAA B Conference and 8-4 overall, while Howard improved to 4-4 in county play and 6-5 overall with its pair of victories last week.

Outdoor track

Several Howard County teams and individuals competed at the Penn Relays over the weekend, and, although there were no overall winners, there were several notable performances.

Individually, Mt. Hebron's Jackson Jordan, competing in the 400 meter hurdles championship, placed eighth with a time of 55.51 seconds. Howard's Joey Thompson placed 13th in the mile run final with a time of 4:22.29.

In the team relay competitions, the River Hill boys placed seventh in their section, 17th overall, in the small schools 4x800 relay. The group of Craig Morgan, Adam Davis, Mike Feroe and Jason Harman finished in 8 minutes, 8.35 seconds. The Hammond boys team of James Lans, Nate Gant, Chris Alexander and Quinton Powell won their heat of the 4x100 large schools relay in 44.15 seconds.

The Marriotts Ridge girls team of Rhema Davis, Ali Green, Marissa Goon and Nicole Bennett took first in the heat of the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:06.18. The Long Reach girls didn't win their heat in the 4x100 small schools relay, taking second, but they did post the 18th fastest time overall. That squad, which included Brianna Taylor, Aneesha Scott, Ashley Elmert and Funmi Alabi, crossed the finish line in 48.96 seconds.

Tennis

Atholton tossed its hat into the county championship ring with a successful week, including a win by the boys over defending champion Centennial, 3-2. Three teams -- Atholton, Centennial, and River Hill -- are now tied atop the standings with only two losses.

The Raiders lost to Centennial in the first match of the season. This time, Atholton's No. 3 doubles team of junior Alex Knobel and freshman Neil Shah reversed course by winning, 8-6.

"They played much better," coach Rick Jones said.

The Atholton girls also won, getting a key win from the No. 1 doubles team of Meera Shah and Liza Green.

Centennial No. 2 singles players Peter Weng and Chelsea Bradkovich each won their matches.

River Hill, led by top singles players Rena Shi and Oliver Wei, also swept Centennial on Thursday.

Because Centennial won a non-league match against Reservoir before the county schedule was underway, they have one spot in the county championship match May 6, but Atholton and River Hill may have to flip a coin for the second spot.

On the girls side, Marriotts Ridge remains undefeated.

Baseball

Centennial (10-2) beat Howard (9-4) 4-1, April 29 in a rematch of the 2007 county championship. The home team scored twice on errors in the fourth inning to break the game open. In the second inning, Mike Ross led off with a double and later scored on an Alec Baum sac fly and in the third inning Ben Winter homered to center field to account for the Eagles first two runs. Ross and Baum scored the two unearned runs in the fourth.

Baum also made a spectacular diving catch on a dying line drive in shallow right field to save a leadoff double in the top of the sixth.

Centennial junior Shane Mattingly pitched the complete game two-hitter, striking out five and walking one. Howard's Jeff Javier had both hits: a hard hit double, and a triple past the diving left fielder. He also reached on an error in the second inning and made it to third. Javier also scored the Lions only run, on a Chris Keenan RBI groundout.

Winter threw a three-hit shut out against River Hill last week.

Glenelg (8-5) shut out Howard on Friday behind another dominant performance by Steve Visnic. The win kept the Gladiators in the county championship conversation. Visnic allowed four hits, struck out eight, walked none, and homered.

"When his stuff is on, he can throw a 3-2 curveball, and his change up was working," coach Tom Thrasher said.

Glenelg's A.J. Rosenthal doubled twice and Patrick Hearn drove in two.

Reservoir (7-5) also got a shut out performance on Friday, as freshman T.J. Pipik pitched the seven inning shut out. Pipik also completed a suspended game from earlier in the season to make it nine scoreless innings. On the season Pipik has allowed only three runs in 25 innings.

"They were lunging at the curveball, and it was working," coach Adam Leader said.

Reservoir got its offense from Corey Mantanona (double to center), Ben Jessup (two RBI), and Jake Saunders (two hits). The Gators have won five in a row.

Wilde Lake defeated hard-luck Atholton, 5-3, April 25 behind a strong pitching performance by freshman Mike Bucci and a big day at the plate from senior Ramin Nejaddehghan. Bucci gave up one run in each of the first three innings, but settled in to go the distance, striking out 11 and walking one.

Nejaddehghan was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

"I just tried to stay inside the ball and drive it, brings some runs in and pretty much do what the rest of the team did, hit the ball hard and put it in play," he said.

Atholton's Grant McDaniel doubled and scored a run.

Marriotts Ridge (8-5) squeaked out a 4-3 win over Mt. Hebron (7-6) Thursday. The Mustangs got a run in the bottom of the seventh. John Cruz pitched the complete game win for Marriotts Ridge, and was supported by doubles from Nick Marinelli, Kevin Seker and Dean Yang. Robbie Medoff doubled for the Vikings.

Hammond sophomore Travis Clark limited Wilde Lake to four hits and one run in a 9-1 Golden Bear win last week. Jared Christensen and Tyler Clark each homered for Hammond. Josh Futter homered to account for the Wildecats only run.

---

user comments (0)