Lynsie Herman strikes out 21, but Crofton softball falls in 12-inning Class 4A quarterfinal marathon to Leonardtown, 3-2
Monday ended up being Lynsie Herman’s last high school softball game. It can truly be said that Herman saved her best for last.
The senior went all 12 innings and threw 21 strikeouts, but it still wasn’t enough as host Crofton fell to Leonardtown, 3-2, in a Class 4A state quarterfinal. Leonardtown starter Claire Radford was almost as good, going all 12 innings and striking out 13 for the win.
The Raiders will take on Walter Johnson from Montgomery County in Tuesday’s Class 4A state semifinal at 7 p.m. at Bachman Softball Complex in Glen Burnie.
“I’m really excited about the win, and I hope we can go all the way,” Radford said. “Leonardtown had never won a state title in softball, so this is our chance.”
Herman, who will pitch at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington next season, was nothing short of spectacular. She held the Raiders hitless for 6 1/3 innings before Kendall Wathen poked a single to right field.
Radford, a junior, was throwing darts, too. Crofton (19-4) got a double from Herman down the left field line in the third with two outs, but Radford got Alanna Yancey to pop out to strand her there.
The two teams battled on to the 12th, when Leonardtown finally broke through. With Tessa Gray starting on second base, two consecutive passed balls allowed her to advance to third and then to score with no outs for a 3-2 lead.
Herman made one of her few mistakes to Wathen, who hit a triple. After that, she settled down to strikeout Lindsay Hunter and Ashley Watson before retiring Radford with a pop-up to left for the final out.
Radford finished off the Cardinals in the bottom of the 12th, retiring Marley Connor, Jasmine Daubert, and Noelle Nercessarian to end the game.
Crofton coach Sarah Bible was disappointed, but nonetheless impressed with her team’s effort, especially Herman’s.
“It was a pretty incredible game,” Bible said. “[Lynsie] is incredible. To be that tough on the mound and throw that many strikeouts, but that’s who she is. I said when I came to this program that she was a gift, and she is. She’ll do quite well at the next level.”
The teams relied on their pitchers all game and neither disappointed. Herman struck out the side in the second and fifth innings, and the Raiders seemed to have trouble getting a read on her pitches.
Leonardtown (15-8) finally was able to break the scoreless tie in the 10th. With Gray starting the inning on second, she wasted little time stealing third. The next batter, Wathen, popped up behind first baseman to Noelle Nercessarian, but her throw to the plate went past the catcher to the backstop which allowed Gray to score for a 1-0 lead.
After Herman picked up the second out with a strikeout, Ashley Watson singled and Radford doubled in back-to-back at bats to score the second run.
The Cardinals struck back in the bottom of the 10th. With Vera Russell starting on second, Daubert grounded out to first to advance Russell to third. Nercessarian followed by tripling home Russell. As she approached third, the ball bounced off a Leonardtown player allowing Nercessarian to score on the play and tie the game at 2.
It appeared Leonardtown would take the lead in the 11th, but the Crofton defense stepped up and threw out Cali Harclerode at the plate to preserve the tie.
For Herman, the loss was tough to take.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game going in,” Herman said. “There was a lot of back and forth between both teams. It’s just a tough loss, that’s all I can say. We had a couple opportunities where we could have walked it off and didn’t. It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
Class 4A State Quarterfinal
Leonardown — 000 000 000 201 — 3 3 2
Crofton — 000 000 000 200 — 2 4 2
WP: Radford; LP: Herman
3B: LEO – Wathen; CFT – Nercessarian. 2B: LEO – Radford; CFT – Herman.