It seemed fitting a championship hung in the balance the final time a softball fluttered in the dusky sky above the current configuration of Trego Field. Perryville pitcher Emily Wolf wasn't sure if she could catch it or not. "I saw it in the air and I was like, 'Oh, I've got to catch this ball'," Wolf said. "'If I catch this ball we're about to win' and I almost didn't catch it because I was shaking so bad, but ah, I caught it and it was the best feeling in the world. Oh my God!" Wolf's grab of the popup between the circle and home plate sealed Perryville's 2-1 triumph over Rising Sun in the District 5 Senior Division softball tournament title game Thursday night. After being banished to the losers bracket by a 9-1 defeat to Rising Sun the previous Friday, Perryville won three straight games including two in a row over Rising Sun.
In the decisive game, Perryville tallied twice in the top of the second and carried that two-run lead into the bottom of the seventh. Three outs away from the championship, Wolf admitted she was feeling the gravity of the situation as she threw her warmup pitches prior to the inning. "I was soooo nervous right there," said Wolf. "All the things that were running through my head because I wanted it so bad. It was so close and right in front of me and I was so scared I was going to lose it but oh my God, we didn't, and I'm so happy." Rising Sun's Meredith Dixon singled sharply to left to start the seventh. She advanced to second on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a groundout. Hannah Martin then grounded a single up the middle to plate Dixon and put the potential tying run on first with one out. Wolf retired the next hitter to bounce into a force play and got the title-clinching out on the popup. Wolf struck out 10 in seven innings of work and gave up three hits. All this even though she did not start the game. Abbie James, who had hurled a gem the previous night, got the start in the circle. James was trying to work through a sore arm but was removed after four pitches – the first three were balls and the fourth hit Rising Sun's leadoff batter in the leg. "Abbie pitched a great game [the night before]," Perryville manager Clint Logan said. "She got here [Thursday night] and said her right arm was a little tight. The whole game [Wednesday night] she kept telling me there were issues, but she battled through them all. So I talked to her dad, Bob James, he was my replacement coach for Mike Knell (who missed the game because of a family obligation). He said let her go out, see what she's got. The first batter, four balls, she looked over at me [and] I knew right there. I came out, I told her, 'I really want to keep you in the game because of your bat and you can play good in the field, but I don't want to mess that arm up. I said, 'We win this game, I'm going to need you in a week [for the state tournament] so let's get that arm off the field, cheer your team on, be the captain. That's the quickest hook I think you've ever seen a manager have, the first batter four balls in, and you're bringing in Em. Em Wolf, who has pitched amazing, that's the pitcher Rising Sun knocked around the first game 9-1." Wolf wasn't surprised she got the call to pitch, but assumed it would happen much later in the game. "I was expecting [to pitch], but not to start as soon as I did," she said. "I was expecting to close…You don't really know that you're coming in so usually when you start you're warmed up and you're ready to pitch. When you come in cold like that, you have five pitches to warm up and then you've got to pitch and have this perfect outing." The outing nearly was perfect. "It's so special," Wolf said. "My coach Mike [Knell] has done so much for me. I miss him so much." Rising Sun pitcher Cadence Williams also turned in an outstanding performance. She whiffed 10 and yielded five hits, two of them coming in Perryville's two-run second inning. Brooklyn Logan led off with a single up the middle. After a strikeout, Wolf laid down a bunt toward third. The throw to first caromed off the glove of the Rising Sun second baseman who was covering the first base bag and rolled along the fence in foul territory. Logan scored on the play and Wolf wound up at second. Wolf advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Brynn Price smacked a single to right. "I just wanted to put a run on the board for my team," Price said. "I haven't been coming through lately." Rising Sun threatened in the third. Grace Harkey led off with a single. A couple of errors put runners on second and third but Wolf wriggled out of the jam by retiring Cadence Williams on a fly ball to right. Rising Sun only had one baserunner over the next three frames. It was in stark contrast to the first meeting between the two teams when Rising Sun prevailed by eight runs. Price acknowledged there were players who doubted Perryville could battle all the way back to the title. "Some of us did and some of us didn't," she said. "Mike Knell really came through and hyped our team up so...He's at his daughter's wedding so he's really missing out." Said Clint Logan: "When we lost the first game to Rising Sun 9-1, some of the girls were a little down. We played a good game but we hit it where they were and they found the holes. And we made a few mistakes here and there. But then getting that next game against Havre de Grace kind of helped right the ship a little bit…Take nothing away from this Rising Sun team. They're an amazing ball team. And I was talking to [Rising Sun manager] Paul Taylor before the game and I straight told him I wish two teams from this district could go to states because this is probably the toughest district in the state." When the state tournament begins July 7 in Waldorf, Perryville looks to continue the momentum it built during the last two games of districts. "The whole game, the girls were up the whole time cheering," said Logan. "Some of them probably won't have voices for another week. I kind of stayed stoic the whole time, just waiting for that other foot to fall. But this time, they played back-to-back great games, the ball they can all play." Logan was dealing with a variety of emotions after seeing his team prevail in the final game at Trego Field. "Lot of juggling going on," said Logan. "Emotion would be just crazy. Crazy, Amazing. Ecstatic. Just proud of the girls. Lot of pride. Most of these girls I've been coaching since t-ball. This is my fifth year as an All-Star manager. Fifth year for a lot of these girls. They came together as a unit. I would say a family and they did it. Staying excited the whole game, just excited. It's just amazing." After the postgame celebration had subsided, Logan reached in his pocket and pulled out a vial he had filled with dirt from the Trego Field diamond. "This is how Trego would've wanted it to end," he said. "I think they would've preferred us to be the home team on our home field but we'll take visitors because there was a little bit more of heart racing there at the end of the game. To finish here, and for this team to come out on top for Perryville Little League and for Trego Field. A year from now, this field will be flipped, it will be a brand new field, and we'll start a new history." Comments are closed.
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