Chesapeake Girls Beat Northeast For 19th Win, Regular-Season County Title

The Chesapeake girls just keep on winning.

The Cougars kept their truly magnificent season rolling right along on Wednesday, jumping out to a lead over host Northeast, withstanding the Eagles’ mid-game rally and tacking on runs late to put up an 8-3 victory.

The win ran Chesapeake’s record to 19-0 on the year and made official their claim to the regular-season county championship.

Head coach Don Ellenberger said he’s watched his girls exceed expectations all year.

“Part of it is luck,” said Ellenberger with a smile, “but the other part of it is, the players believe. Our captain has been yelling at me: ‘We’re better than you think, coach!’ They’ve been proving it. There’s no way we thought we’d be 19-0. It’s them. They’ve been doing it all year. Somebody’s been stepping up every game. We’ve had a couple close games, we had a close game against [Northeast] the first time, but they believe, and somebody keeps getting that key hit, no matter where it is in the order. So far we haven’t had a total team collapse in anything, and that’s kept us going, and our defense has been spectacular this year. It’s been one wild run, and hopefully they will not wake up until June.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Chesapeake vs. Northeast softball, 5.2.18

Wednesday brought more of the same, as everyone got in on the action for the Cougars. Kielee Warner was 3 for 4; Haley Downin, Tristyn Stewart and Charli Smith all had two hits, Jerzie Nutile was 1 for 4 with an RBI double, and Courtney Croson added a double in the win.

Nutile started in the circle pitching for Chesapeake, threw three innings and was relieved by Downin, who tossed four shutout frames to close the game and earn the victory.

The Eagles’ Kiersten Tomshack had a bases-clearing, three-RBI double in the third inning that plated Heather Barlage, Veronica Hampton and Madison Schelfe and tied the game at 3-3, but that was all Northeast (11-7) could put together offensively.

Two hits and two runs by Smith, a walk and run scored by Abby Muller and hits by Downin, Stewart and Croson helped the Cougars to six total runs in the fourth and fifth innings as Chesapeake regained the lead for good.

Asked about the team’s win streak and ongoing stellar season, Bowman said the Cougars have no plans to slow down. “It’s the drive we have. Once you keep winning, you just want to keep going,” she said. “Our record drives us to do our best every game and keep winning.”

The Cougars will play in Tuesday’s one-off county title game against Severna Park at Bachman Park at 5 p.m. The game will be a de facto tune-up for the postseason, in which Chesapeake will be a No. 1 seed in the 3A East and Severna Park will likely be a No. 1 seed in the 4A East.

But both teams will be playing to win.

“I like this one this year, and I like the one last year, since we had a first-round bye,” said Ellenberger. “To us, and no disrespect to anybody or the county championship, we treat that as our get-ready, because we’re not going to play anybody until the following Monday.”

Again smiling, Ellenberger added, “Tuesday is a great prep, and I think Severna Park is in the same mode. Both of us want to win, because the coaching staff and the girls on each team want to beat the crap out of each other.”

Extra Bases:

--- Nutile and Stewart, the team’s primary catcher, have been precocious impact players for Chesapeake as freshmen. Both have been offensive powers throughout the season, and Wednesday saw Nutile start in the circle throwing to Stewart. Stewart threw out a base-stealer in the second inning with Downin applying the tag, and she ignited the Cougars’ opening rally in the first by reaching base and coming home on an RBI double by Bowman.

Nutile drove in Stewart and Bowman on a two-RBI double in the third inning.

Said Bowman, a senior, “We have these two awesome freshmen who are just a great asset to our team.”

Nutile ran into trouble with Northeast’s three-run third inning, but said her confidence never wavered.

“I felt good because I knew I had a good defense behind me, and when you have a good defense behind you, you’re gonna throw good. Since our whole team gets along, I was like, ‘Yeah, I got this.’”

She said the Cougars have had the mojo all year.

“That first game against Glen Burnie, I knew we were going to be really good this year,” Nutile said. “Everybody got along and it meshed so well. Everybody hit and fielded good. I knew it from the start.”

Stewart also cited the team chemistry:

“We work so well together that we’re all one big family, and that’s the biggest part of who we are and how we come out here and beat these teams.”

--- Downin, who came on to get the eventual victory Wednesday, has been the Cougars’ lights-out ace all year. She has taken a significant leap forward since last season and cites her participation in other sports as a major reason why. She played high-school soccer in the fall for the first time after devoting the previous two fall seasons to club softball.

“This was my first year playing soccer, and my speed is way up,” said Downin. “When I started playing soccer, from running and doing all the extra work, my legs are really strong. I’m in a lot better shape coming in from soccer and basketball, and it definitely helps.”

Ellenberger cited Downin’s participation in other sports as hugely beneficial to her softball game, saying the stamina is what he has noticed the most.

“She doesn’t get tired,” he said. “Her legs are so much stronger. She’s the same in the seventh inning as she is in the first.”

--- Wednesday was Warner’s birthday. She led her team in hits with three, then had cupcakes for the whole team after the game. Win-win.

PHOTO GALLERY: Chesapeake vs. Northeast softball, 5.2.18