Falcon Softball Battles Back To .500

Severna Park dropped three of the first four games to start the season, almost by design. The Falcons loaded up on tough matchups early in the season, with an opening game against Chopticon and then successive games in their home one-day tournament against Queen Anne’s and Archbishop Spalding.

They lost all three (10-1 to Spalding, 11-0 to Chopticon, and 7-2 to Queen Anne’s), but the quality opposition taught them some valuable lessons.

“Chopticon reached out and asked if we wanted a game, and I said yeah, because I want to start out our season with tough matchups,” said Severna Park coach Bailey Benedick. “I wanted to start strong, because that was going to be the best way to figure out what we needed to fix early so that when we get to county play, we’re a lot more sound.”

So far, it’s paid dividends. Severna Park is unbeaten against county opposition, topping South River 7-2 and getting back-to-back big wins against North County (10-0) and Old Mill (12-2) to level their record at 3-3 on the season.

Severna Park has quality upper-class leadership, led by catcher Sally Trent, and quality freshmen, led by pitcher Quinlyn Bary, on the roster as well. A lot of the season from here, Benedick said, comes down to how well they can hit. Against Spalding, they hit the ball hard, but routinely right at Cavaliers defenders – it wasn’t until the last inning that Severna Park got a hit.

“The field umpire told me three or four times that we were just really unlucky,” she said. “But if we can hit consistently, that stuff is going to drop in more routinely.”

Severna Park visited Arundel on April 8. The Falcons will host Chesapeake on April 11 and head to Glen Burnie the next day.