Bruins Claim Softball Title On Daring Extra-Inning Call

Locked in extra innings of a scoreless 4A state championship softball game on May 25 at the University of Maryland, both Broadneck and Urbana scrutinized every moment in search of even the slightest opening.

A fresh-faced JV callup spotted it and went for broke.

Zoe Pittinger noticed an off-balance Urbana fielder and raced around third base, scoring all the way from second on a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Broadneck a 1-0 victory and its first softball title since 2010.

Leading off the eighth with Pittinger as the international tiebreaker runner at second base, Rowan Hass deadened her bunt attempt just in front of the pitching circle. The third baseman fielded the ball, allowing Pittinger to reach third easily, but the throw forced the first baseman to stretch toward the outfield to ensure Urbana at least got one out on the play.

That was all Pittinger needed to see, and the sophomore — called up to varsity specifically for her pinch-running speed — didn’t hesitate. Head coach and third-base coach Stephanie Millard saw the same thing and was frantically signaling for Pittinger to keep running, but Pittinger never even looked at her.

In a scene reminiscent of the kamikaze ending of the movie “Major League,” Pittinger never broke stride rounding third base. By the time the first baseman steadied herself and fired home, it was too late to throw out the speedy runner, who slid through just ahead of the tag as her teammates poured out of the dugout in jubilation.

“I just looked (at the situation) and decided to take off,” Pittinger said. “I just had to get down, and when I saw (the umpire) say ‘Safe,’ everyone was screaming.”

The ending was a fitting punctuation to a game that had ebbs and flows aplenty, despite being scoreless until the final play. Three times Broadneck third baseman Corinn Bennett flashed the leather, logging two outs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth that handed Broadneck the chance to win.

With Urbana holding a runner at third and nobody out, the Hawks attempted their own bunt, but it was right to Bennett. She faked a throw to first base and baited the runner at third to come off the bag, allowing Bennett to fire to the covering shortstop Faith Palmer for the out.

That was as close as Urbana came to ending a sterling run for Broadneck pitcher Rylan Crisafulli. The junior standout struck out 10 and scattered five hits, bringing her total to 76 strikeouts and 10 hits allowed in 36 scoreless playoff innings between the region and state tournaments.

“We’ve asked her to do some things that a lot of pitchers can’t do, and only some can, and she’s risen to it,” Millard said. “That just speaks to how much she’s grown this season. She set big goals this season, and we backed her, and she hit every one of them.”

Crisafulli finished the season on a tear. In the state quarterfinals, she no-hit North County for the second time this season, having also done so in county play. In the semifinals, she took a perfect game into the seventh inning against Richard Montgomery before yielding a one-out bunt single.

Against Urbana, there were more balls put in play and more baserunners than she had been used to, but she put faith in her defense to rise to the occasion, and they did. The only miscue was an outfield misplay that allowed a single to stretch to extra bases, but that threat was extinguished moments later when Crisafulli induced a ground ball to Palmer.

It was fitting, then, that Crisafulli’s spot in the batting order provided the winning run. She was the final out of the seventh inning, and Pittinger ran for her at second base to start the eighth. With help from a young supporting cast, the Bruins collectively got that run home.

Broadneck called up three JV players for the playoffs to provide speed and depth, in case of emergency. That added to an already youthful squad — utility player Diana Owens and Jeanette Deeb are the team’s only seniors — that was on a timeline for making noise in 2027, not 2026.

But they didn’t feel like the moment was too soon.

“Early in the season, I was unsure about how it was going to play out, throwing strikes and having them hit so much,” Crisafulli said. “But as we got more into the season with hitting the ball and fielding the ball, I felt a lot more confidence in myself and in the team. … A lot of folks doubted us, but I believed in us. I thought with our defense and getting our bats on the ball, we could go far.”