Bruins Softball Gaining Confidence As Season Progresses

After playing just two games in March, and coming off of a two-week break between games, Broadneck’s softball team faced Murderer’s Row: Crofton and Northeast, arguably the two best teams in the county, sandwiched around Dulaney, the Bruins’ opponent in last year’s 4A state semifinal loss.

Crofton beat Broadneck 6-0 on April 8, Dulaney won 3-2 a day later and Northeast won 5-4 on April 11, but Broadneck gained valuable confidence in how they played over those three games, turning that experience into seven wins out of the next nine.

The Bruins breezed through county play following that sequence, beating Old Mill 10-0 on April 12, Severna Park 8-1 on April 15, Annapolis 15-0 on April 17, South River 21-6 on April 18, Southern 2-0 on April 22, Arundel 2-0 on April 23, and Meade 17-0 on April 24.

The Broadneck bats came alive in the Old Mill game, but it was especially important in the win over Severna Park, in which freshman Rylan Crisafulli tossed a complete game. It was a tight contest until Aliceanna Weibley blasted a home run over the left-field wall to break open the game, which allowed the freshman No. 2 pitcher to breathe and just focus on getting outs.

“It was a great experience to pitch against our rivals and to finish the entire game. I was trying to just throw some strikes and hope for the best,” Crisafulli said. “The offense took off all the pressure, because even if they get a run off of me, we’re still in the lead.”

More than that, it was momentum for the whole team. Weibley’s blast was the highlight of a run that saw Broadneck score 60 runs in five games. Over the 12-game stretch, Weibley led the team with nine RBIs, while Abby Favazza drove in seven runs, Grace Purdum plated six and Bella Herrera drove in five. Weibley, Sam Waters (twice), Mara Gilkey and Addie Cornelius (twice) had three-hit games.

Waters and Crisafulli, packing a one-two punch, picked up the wins in the circle.

The only setbacks after the first brutal week were a 7-6 loss to John Carroll, and a 4-2 loss to North County that was the Bruins’ eighth game in 12 days.

The results have Broadneck heading into the final week of regular-season play at 9-5 and looking forward to a potential state tournament berth.

“It was a little rough on us, because we know that we can beat these big teams,” Weibley said. “Even though they were good games, it took a little off of us because we think we’re good enough to beat them. It takes a while to get back into it, but we’re working that way. I think we’re doing well right now, but we just needed to get back into the stretch of games. We’re just going to keep going and hopefully we realize we are good enough to go far.”