Perry Hall softball lets lead slip away, falls to Eleanor Roosevelt, 7-5, in Class 4A state semifinal

Trailing by five runs to Perry Hall late in the Class 4A state softball semifinals, Eleanor Roosevelt rallied with seven runs over the fifth and sixth innings and closed out a 7-5 victory.

The Raiders (20-0) will play Leonardtown at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the University of Maryland in the 4A state championship game.

The key blow during the comeback was a two-run home run to center field by Mia Maniece that cut the deficit to 5-4.

“Mia hasn’t cracked a ball like that in four years. She’s never hit a ball that hard,” Roosevelt coach Delton Fuller said. “When she hit it, it was not even close. That thing cleared it by a few feet.”

“I took a minute for myself to relax and just kind of knocked it out,” said Maniece, who was 0-for-2 against starting pitcher Jenna Neff but hit the home run off reliever Amelia Kitchin. “Honestly, it was the perfect pitch, right down the middle, perfect height, perfect speed, literally perfect.

“I’ve been playing on this team for four years. I’m a senior and last year we made it to the state quarterfinals and this is what we wanted to do, we wanted to win, we wanted to come back even stronger, even better as a team and make it to states and this year we have this opportunity and it feels absolutely amazing to hit the home run and get the rally going for the team.”

Neff allowed only one hit in her first four scoreless innings. She was replaced by Kitchin after allowing Desiree Fuller to reach on an infield hit in the bottom of the fifth.

“To be honest with you, in the situation when we brought Emma [Kitchin] in because she had been our powerhouse throughout and that’s what we’ve been doing all year,” Perry Hall coach Denny Lee said. “It was just one of those things where they hit it and it just spun. A little thing here and there and the young lady hit the home run, again, great you tip your cap to that.”

Roosevelt got four infield hits during the rally.

“Couple of bloopers, it wasn’t the prettiest of wins,” Fuller said. “This group they just keep fighting and fighting and we’ve been hitting well against the pitching machine all week.”

After Maniece’s homer, Bree Mullikin blooped an infield single to shallow third. Meriam Njiej singled and Jaiden Smith blooped another soft single to third to load the bases.

The Gators got the first out when Fuller forced out Mullikin at home, but Quinn Lansing broke the game open with a two-run single to center field that scored a third run because of a throwing error.

Perry Hall got a one-out hit from Shalimar Lopez in the top of the seventh inning, but shortstop Fuller, the coach’s daughter, made a fielding gem when she dove and knocked down a ball up the middle and flipped to second for a forceout.

“I liked that, she might get Chick-fil-A tonight,” Coach Fuller said.

Natalia Jarquin struck out the final batter with a high changeup to send Fuller to his first state final in his 19 years as coach. “We’ve been here three times and came up short each time,” Fuller said.

Perry Hall was looking for its fourth trip to the state final, winning once in 1979. The Gators got off to a good start with a run in the second after a one-out walk to Kitchin and RBI single by Addy Dunlap (3-for-3).

The Gators tacked on four more in the top of the fifth. Kitchin’s walk and hits by Dunlap and Neff loaded the bases before Kam D’Amico brought in all three runners with a single to center field and an error on the play. D’Amico scored the fifth run on an infield single by Maddie Carl.

Jarquin allowed only two more hits after Carl’s hit and finished with eight strikeouts.

“I wasn’t scared [down 5-0], I didn’t give up, I just kept my speed the same, took deep breaths, had trust in my team and I knew we were going to win,” Jarquin said.

The loss capped a season in which the Gators were co-champions in Baltimore County and regional champions three years after winning two games in Lee’s first season.

“To come from where we have the last three years it’s just been amazing. They played great all year long,” Lee said. “‘They got out here and they went at it. That young lady threw a very good game. I can’t look at the game and go if we had done this, this and this it would have changed.”

The Gators graduate four seniors: Amelia and Rileigh Kitchin, Neff and Alyssa Lewis.

“They are going to be big shoes to fill because two of them are pitchers and that’s a tough thing, but we’ll bounce back next year, we’ve got some more talent,” Lee said.

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Perry Hall — 010 040 0 — 5

Eleanor Roosevelt — 000 025 X — 7

WP — Natalia Jarquin; LP —  Amelia Kitchin

HR — ER: Mia Maniece 1