Falcons Softball Surges Late To Put Away Seahawks

All Quinlyn Bary needed to do was get out of the inning.

A spate of walks and a couple of timely hits from South River had let the Seahawks rally to take the lead in Thursday’s 3A East Region I quarterfinal game, and things looked like they could go off the rails.

But the freshman all-county pitcher, who earlier in the season sometimes needed to come out of the game for a reset, was able to diagnose and adjust in the moment.

“I was trying to aim too much,” she said. “After that, I just settled in and tried to throw it on my best.”

Logging the third out, Bary was able to breathe. She didn’t give up another run, and the Severna Park bats went back to work, with great effect.

Addison Bianco hit a pair of two-run home runs, Sally Trent knocked a two-run shot of her own, and the Falcons advanced with a 15-5, six-inning win over South River.

Bianco was in the middle of the Falcons’ three key rallies. In the first inning, she hit a two-run homer two batters after Trent had done the same, staking Severna Park to a 4-0 lead. Later in the game, Bianco laced a ball down the right field line, a ball that landed just fair and rolled past the right fielder and allowed Bianco to scoot all the way around for an inside-the-park homer.

And in the bottom of the fourth, shortly after a rough third inning, she struck out with two runners on base, but instinctively ran because the pitch was low.

It was in the dirt, and the throw to first sailed high and into right field. Both runners scored, Bianco cruised into second base, and the Falcons never trailed again.

“If you swing and miss on the third strike, you always want to go because you never know. It put two runs on the board that we really needed,” Bianco said. “We had a really bad inning, and to come back and put two more up, it washed the inning away and we could get right back at it.”

The bats went back at it up and down the lineup, as seven Falcons logged multiple hits. Trent and Bianco each had three, while Bary doubled twice and Jennifer Hong, Andrea Rom, Christina Ballagh and Ryleigh Smith each added two hits.

Bianco finished with four RBIs, while Trent and Bary each drove in three runs.

“That’s what our bats look like,” said Severna Park coach Bailey Benedick. "We’ve had times this season when our bats didn’t look like that, but this is what it can be. We’ve been hot the last couple of weeks, and this is the time you want to be hot.”

The Falcons will try to keep the bats hot on Monday, when they head to Chesapeake in the region semifinal round. The Cougars beat Severna Park in the earlier matchup this season, winning 6-1 on April 11.

“They’re good competition, so we’re excited about that,” Bary said. “I’m excited to see how we can do.”