PHILADELPHIA – Things were a lot different in the Catholic League softball standings just a year ago. Archbishop Ryan won the championship after finishing 1st in the league, while Archbishop Wood finished 11th place in the conference. Today, Wood and Ryan found themselves in a battle for 2nd place in the conference, the last game before playoff action begins.
Archbishop Ryan jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but that did not phase pitcher Marissa Browne for Archbishop Wood. She kept her composure and did not let the early deficit rattle her confidence.
“I think it’s honestly just the confidence of the team. After a couple of the wins, we gained some confidence in ourselves and we were able to pull through and just keep working,” said Browne, who pitched a complete game in the Archbishop Wood victory.
It was not until the 6th inning where the Wood bats came alive. Heading into the inning down 3 runs, Wood needed to score some runs in a hurry. Wood loaded the bases with no outs on a couple singles and then punched in three runs on a couple base hits to tie the game at 3 a-piece. But, Ryan kept the game locked up at 3 after recording the second out on a fly ball to center, who proceeded to throw out a base runner tagging from third out at the plate on a rope.
It was not until the 9th inning of even softball until Wood loaded up the bases once again and won the game on a mishap in the infield to score the winning run, and most of all, second place.
Coach Kevin Rosini for Wood was thrilled to see his team not get discouraged after the early differential, which he believes was the difference in the game.
“We didn’t quit. When the score was 3-0 after the third inning and we could have easily just packed it in and say OK we will just settle for 4th place, for whatever reason this group was just not ready to leave yet. We got things rolling a little bit, we put a little heat on them (Ryan), which they are not used to and good things happened. We got some key hits there in the 6th. Somebody wanted us to win this game today, and so we did,” Rosini said.
As for Archbishop Ryan, they find themselves in 4th place in the Catholic League standings. But, Coach John Kidwell is looking forward to the challenge.
“We won the championship last year, so we have experience. We have four seniors on the team that have played in some big games. Everybody starts 0-0 when the playoffs come around,” Kidwell said.
Grasping second place for Wood means a lot to Browne and the team, after a disappointing 2015 season.
“We have come a long way from last year and it’s great and feels good. I think we can do pretty well in the playoffs. We just have to take it one game at a time and keep working,” Browne said.