Harford Softball Opens 2010 with Doubleheader Sweep of Patrick Henry

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford softball team won its first outing of the season, downing Patrick Henry, 7-2 in game one, before the Fighting Owls (2-0) earned a 7-0 forfeit win over the Patriots (2-8) in game two on Thursday at Harford Softball Field.

The Owls led 7-6 in the bottom of the fourth in game two before a series of bizarre circumstances forced Patrick Henry to forfeit. The Patriot catcher was ejected, and Patrick Henry had no eligible players to substitute in, forcing a forfeit. In the process, the head coach was also ejected for arguing the catcher’s ejection. If play had continued for just one more inning, all players’ statistics would have been recorded, but instead they were stricken from the official record.

Freshman Amber Thompson (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) led Harford in game one, going 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and one run scored, while sophomore Sarah Cooley (Clermont, Fla./Bel Air) (1-0) picked up the complete-game win, letting up just two runs on seven hits while fanning one batter in seven innings.

Jamie Booterbaugh led the Patriots, going 3-for-4 on the day with one RBI, while Kelsey Sayres scored the only other run for Patrick Henry with a solo homer. Jessi Chandler suffered the loss after giving up seven runs (three earned) on 10 hits while striking out one batter in five innings.

The Patriots started the scoring off with an RBI single from Booterbaugh in the first, but the Owls knotted the score in the bottom of the inning as Cooley plated freshman Mariah Ripken (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace/Kutztown) with a groundout RBI.

Harford took the lead for good in the second as freshman Natalie Baker (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) scored on a Patriot error and the Owls added two runs each in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, while Patrick Henry notched just one more run, off Sayres sixth-inning home run on the way to the 7-2 Harford win.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Friday when they continue a six-game homestand by hosting Bergen in a doubleheader at 12:30 p.m. before facing Lehigh Carbon on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.