Catholic League

The Spalding Cavaliers didn't waste any time yesterday securing their accustomed spot in today's Catholic League championship game.Scoring three runs in the first, third and fourth innings and closing things out with two more in the fifth, the No. 2 Cavaliers coasted to an 11-0 semifinal win over Institute of Notre Dame at Randazzo Park.The Cavaliers (16-3) will meet Mount de Sales -- a 4-1 winner over McDonogh in yesterday's other semifinal -- in search of their fifth straight Catholic League tournament championship and ninth overall.

Archbishop Spalding closed out a decade of excellence in the Catholic League yesterday, and Jessica Saunders appeared poised to help the No. 4-ranked Cavaliers continue the domination into the next one.Saunders, a freshman, threw a one-hit, 2-0 shutout yesterday against No. 10 Seton Keough as the Cavaliers captured their eighth Catholic League tournament championship of the 1990s to go with 10 straight regular-season crowns.The Cavaliers (21-7) scratched across single runs in the second and third innings at Towson University, more than enough support for Saunders, who struck out 10 and didn't allow a hit until Keough pitcher Kristin Dulay singled between third and short in the sixth.

The message is clear.Tony Martin wants to make Archbishop Spalding the boys basketball program in Anne Arundel County and maybe the entire metro area."

Sophomore Desmond Thomas scored the last eight points in the final 2:38, all from the foul line, as St. Frances stunned top-ranked Mount St. Joseph, 46-43, in the Baltimore Catholic League semifinals last night at Loyola College. A three-pointer by the Gaels' Greg Woody got all net but was a tad late as the buzzer sounded. The Panthers (18-15) prevented the Gaels (29-3) from becoming the fifth team in the 34-year history of the tournament to win it three consecutive times. "The result is very disappointing, but I'm proud of the effort our kids put forth," said Mount St. Joseph coach Pat Clatchey, whose Gaels went 13-1 in the BCL to draw the top seed and an invitation to the Alhambra at Frostburg State on March 17-19.

A pair of free throws by Tremaine Robinson with five seconds left enabled defending champion Archbishop Spalding to escape with a 56-54 victory over Mount St. Joseph in the semifinals of the 29th Baltimore Catholic League Tournament last night at Goucher College. Gaels sophomore guard J.J. Outlaw, who had a game-high 27 points, went coast-to-coast after the free throws by Robinson (team-high 25 points, 10 rebounds), and his lay-in missed by inches off the side of the rim at the buzzer.

Seton Keough's motto for this season should have been "The slower, the better."Not only did the No. 14 Gators gradually emerge from a 4-7 start to win the Catholic League Tournament title yesterday, they did so with a slow-down offensive style that gave opponents fits.The Gators' patient half-court game and pesky man-to-man defense tripped up No. 11 Mercy's run-and-gun plans for a 51-45 championship victory at Spalding."I told the kids if the score's in the 50s, we're going to be in the game," said coach Jim Stromberg, whose Gators beat four ranked teams in the last six days and swept all three games from the Magic this season.

The lone upset in yesterday's Baltimore Catholic League tournament quarterfinals at the Towson Center set up a semifinal today between the two teams that have won the most league titles during the 90s.Fifth-seeded St. Frances pulled off the surprise, outlasting No. 4 seed Calvert Hall, 58-54 in overtime, presenting 12th-year coach William Wells with his 300th career victory.The Panthers (11-9) play defending champion and top-ranked Towson Catholic (25-5), a 78-29 winner over Cardinal Gibbons and outgoing coach Bryan Moorhouse, in tonight's 7: 15 semifinal.

They play in the mud. They score a lot of goals. And they will be around for seasons to come.That's Catholic High's soccer team, the defending Catholic League tournament champion, which is loaded with talented underclassmen.The youthful Cubs, who celebrated capturing the A Division regular-season title last Wednesday by piling up in the middle of a rain-soaked field and smearing mud on one another, sit atop the area's rankings, rank among the nation's top 25 teams and start just two seniors.

Twice a week, Severn senior Laura Bodine sets her alarm for 4: 30 a.m. to get ready for practice at 5.Every day after school, it's back to practice, and she can't stay out too late on a Friday night, because she has another session at 6 o'clock Saturday morning.In all, she spends about 22 hours a week in the pool.Bodine has been swimming year-round for the Spy Aquatic Center since she was 7 years old. She is a junior national qualifier in three events and, in the winter, competes for her school.

Build it, and they will get mad.Archbishop Spalding's seemingly overnight rise to the top in Baltimore-area boys basketball has caused rumblings among some Catholic League coaches.Some question how coach Tony Martin could inherit a 3-17 team and in just three seasons turn it into The Sun's top-ranked squad.The coaches won't elaborate, but rumors of questionable recruiting continue, despite dismissal by the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association of two transfer cases last season."We've gained some respect, but I know success this quickly has caused some animosity," said Martin, 34. "A lot of people question our success and have started a lot of gossip.