By Emilie Cochrane
PHILADELPHIA – The rainy forecast cleared up just in time for an Inter-Ac battle between the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (SCHA) Blue Devils and the Baldwin School Polar Bears.
Going into the game with a league record of 6-1, SCHA was expected to lock in another success, but the Bears would not make it easy. The visitors turned a 6-2 second-inning deficit into an 8-7 lead in the sixth, but the Blue Devils took a dramatic 9-8 victory with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
In the beginning and the end, it was Blue Devil freshman Kamaha’o Bode to the rescue. More on that a bit later.
“I was a little nervous when the game got really close,” said SCHA senior Trinity Smith. “We weren't exactly sure what to expect.”
With a strong arm on the mound, the Blue Devils’ pitcher, Samantha Klug, pitched a scoreless first inning, and her teammates scored three runs in each of the first two frames for a 6-2 lead. However, in the fourth inning, Baldwin scored three runs to make it 6-5. The Polar Bears then tied the game at 6-6 in the fifth.
After Springside regained a 7-6 edge in their half of the fifth, a determined Baldwin refused to fold, scoring twice in the sixth to forge an 8-7 lead. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough.
“It hurt,” said Baldwin senior first baseman Tessa Pearlstein. “But we had a lot of fight in our team, and I thought that the girls did a really good job. We had a lot of nice clutch hitting and some clutch plays. It’s just a stinky one to lose.”
With Baldwin leading 8-7 in the bottom of the seventh, SCHA freshman Kamaha’o Bode stepped up. Earlier, Bode had slammed a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to give SCHA a 3-0 lead. Now, with the game on the line, Bode came through again when she roped a double to center field that scored sophomore Courtney Oliver with the tying run. Bode crossed the plate with the winning run thanks to an error, setting off a Blue Devils celebration.
“As a team, we fought to keep the momentum,” said Bode. “I had a very strong game both offensively and defensively.”
It was an unexpected fight and a hard win to maintain for the Blue Devils, but at the end of the day, they brought the energy to improve their record to 7-1.
“We came into the game not knowing what to expect,” said Blue Devil Trinity Smith. “It was a fight harder than we wanted, but it was a fight we were able to win.”
On Friday May 7th, the Blue Devils travel to William Penn Charter for another Inter-Ac league match-up.