Archbishop Spalding pitcher Cessi Prince eyed Maddie Hamolia without any of the anxiety the Arundel senior should have given her.
Hamolia had already proven herself as a power hitter on Saturday afternoon, crushing a shot that could’ve scored a run had it not been caught. In the bottom of the seventh, she represented the tying run at the plate, trailing 4-1 with two outs. Her sister, Lexie Hamolia, and speedy Anna Bristol prepard to run from first and third.
But Prince felt certain that she didn’t need to worry that Hamolia would get past her.
“I’m trusting my outfielders,” the Cavaliers hurler said. “They backed me up the whole game. And, I had confidence in my changeup.”
She’d hardly turned her head to watch Hamolia’s contact sail over before center fielder Olivia Rowley proved her right, running in to snag the final out.
Spalding (9-3) graduated a bulk of its starters last May. But with two weeks to go before the postseason begins, the Cavaliers don’t appear to be as young as they are.
Their defense prevailed when the offense couldn’t quite get going. Spalding went scoreless in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings against Arundel pitcher Anna Bristol. A run scored on a wild pitch in the second inning wasn’t necessarily going to shield Spalding from its hosts, either.
Arundel threatened to score nearly every inning with runners in scoring position. Sometimes, Prince dealt with the issue, like in the fifth when she fanned two and fed a ground ballto her shortstop. In other cases, one fielder saved the day, like when in the bottom of the second, first baseman Cayleigh Spear stole a bunt hit for the first out and completed an unassisted double play for the other two. The rest were split by committee — which, at times, involved yanking down hard-hit balls bound for the fences.
“We’ve meshed really well,” Prince said. “From practices to 21 outs to team bonding and going out together, we all just really love each other.”
It wasn’t just Prince’s faith in her defense that shut Arundel down. She trusted her changeup.
“Her strikeout pitch is not a changeup, but this year, we’ve noticed if it’s used against big hitters in big spots, it gets a little bit of a lean,” Cavaliers coach Delaney Bell said. “And that’s all you really need to keep it from going over the fence.”
Prince recorded four strikeouts to balance four hits allowed, all but mirroring Bristol’s performance (four strikeouts, six hits allowed).
The difference was which offense followed through. In the top of the sixth, Rowley doubled to center to plate teammate Ryanne Clark before sneaking to third base on a throwing error (one of three by the Wildcats).
Sophomore Jalayah Jones thanked her by popping up to the infield, triggering a mishandle by the second baseman. It was just enough time for Rowley to shoot across home plate with the 3-0 lead.
Their teammates continued hitting in the following inning, as both Spear and Zoey Bronzert took Bristol’s pitches to the outfield. Arundel tried to pin Spalding’s Taylor Codi, running to swipe second, for the third out, but overshot the throw. As the ball skittered to the outfield, Bella Zaccagnino (who replaced Spear on the basepaths) took her chance from third, bolting home for the steal and fourth run.
“This team’s good under pressure,” Bell said. “I think they’ve gotten used to it this year.”
The Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference has made for some messy games this spring, as most of the six-team league skews pretty young. Thursday’s game against Mercy, a 23-5 blowout, didn’t yield the level of competition the Cavaliers hoped for at this point in the season.
But between this slight win and even the 2-1 loss to Leonardtown earlier in the day, Spalding feels more than prepared to tackle five conference rematches.
“It got us back to reset,” Bell said, “because we have Mount de Sales and John Carroll next — and they’re gonna be just like this.”
SPALDING — 0-1-0-0-0-2-1 — 4 6 1
ARUNDEL — 0-0-0-0-0-0-1 — 1 4 3
2B – AS: Olivia Rowley 1; AR: No. 2 check
WP – AS: Cessi Prince; LP – AR: Anna Bristol
Have a news tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.