Walkersville gives Boonsboro 'a little wake-up call' for the softball playoffs

FREDERICK, Md. -- The Boonsboro softball team suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday, falling 9-6 to Walkersville in the Central Maryland Conference Small School championship game at Hood College.

It was the third meeting between the two teams this year, with the Warriors (18-1) having won the first two.

Was it a crushing defeat for Boonsboro? Not really.

The Warriors still can achieve their ultimate goal of capturing the program's first state title.

"We had a perfect regular season ," Boonsboro coach Mark Wadel said. "No one can ever take that from us, and we beat them two out of three times. A little wake-up call as we get ready for the playoffs is all right.

"The playoffs are what's important. Did we want to win? Yes. Did we try our butts off to win? Yes. Is it the worst thing ever to lose and refocus your practice and everything else to get ready for a playoff run? It's not the worst thing ever."

Boonsboro led 6-4 Tuesday until Walkersville's Izzy Dietrich, who pitched a complete game, helped her cause with one mighty swing of the bat in the top of the sixth inning, blasting a grand slam over the fence in left field to put the Lions in front, 8-6.

An RBI single by Hailey Putnam later in the inning made it 9-6.

But the Warriors still had time to come back. Less than a week earlier against Walkersville (16-3), they rallied for five runs over the last two innings, including three in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-5 walk-off victory.

"I was really hopeful for that tonight, but the girls played hard," Wadel said. "We made a couple of mistakes, but in the grand scheme of things, if we had to lose one, this was the one to lose."

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Boonsboro finished with seven hits, including two by Haylee Hartman. Addison Tyler had an RBI double for the team's lone extra-base hit.

The Warriors earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 1A West Region II playoffs. After a first-round bye, they'll host either Clear Spring or Hancock on Monday at 4:45 p.m. in the semifinals.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Walkersville gives Boonsboro 'a little wake-up call' for the softball playoffs