Three weeks after being humbled in their season opener at home, the Calvert High School softball team earned a measure of atonement last week when the Cavaliers beat host La Plata 5-1 in the Warriors’ first “Autism Awareness” game.
Calvert (3-3) has appeared in each of the last three Maryland 2A state title games under coach Lauren Robison, but La Plata was unimpressed with the Cavaliers’ gaudy resume when the two teams met on March 21 in Prince Frederick and the visiting Warriors departed with a 23-10 victory in a genuinely wild affair. The afternoon of Thursday, April 11, however, offered both squads a return to normalcy to some extent.
Less than one month after being roughed up by La Plata in the season opener for both teams, Calvert junior left-handed pitcher Kylie Willis limited the Warriors to one unearned run on four hits while fanning seven batters. Oddly, Willis collected all seven strikeouts in the first three innings then relied on her defense to record the last 12 outs.
“Getting those runs early really helped me relax,” Willis said. “I think the biggest difference between today and that first game was I wasn’t as nervous. It was the first game as we didn’t know what to expect. We have a lot of new girls on the team and we just did not play our best that day.”
Calvert gained the upper hand in last week’s game on La Plata hurler Kyla Istvan in the top of the first inning when junior shortstop Emily Milam singled, senior Emily Davis followed with another single and later Willis helped her own cause with a run-scoring single. Calvert added an unearned run in the third then Davis drove in two more runs in the top of the fourth when the Cavaliers generated a two-out rally for a 5-0 lead.
“I think we’ve improved a lot since the first time we played them,” said Davis, who plans to attend the University of Mississippi this fall. “We just did not play well that first game. Today, getting those two runs in the first inning gave us some confidence. Then watching Kylie pitch the way she did gave us even more confidence.”
La Plata (4-2) first-year coach Lewis Payne has watched his youthful squad perform better on the road than at home thus far this spring as the Warriors have dropped home contests against Chopticon and Calvert. La Plata hurler Istvan allowed five runs, two earned, in seven innings against Calvert but took the loss in her first outing going the distance.
“We have to find a way to bring some of that road magic home with us one day,” Payne said. “We’re still young, with only three seniors. But we’re getting better with each game. Calvert kind of came out swinging the bats well early and we fell behind. We had a couple of mistakes, too.”
La Plata ended Calvert’s shutout bid in the home half of the sixth when junior Gracie Hutchins reached on a two-base error then scored on a two-out single to center by freshman Leah Buck. Willis escaped further harm by stranding Buck at second then she retired the side in order in the seventh, her fourth straight inning without recording a strikeout.
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