Rbis

Steve Pearce was just hoping to find a new team by mid-June before he had to embark on a 13-game road odyssey with his minor league club. Instead, of busing around the bushes with a Triple-A squad without a home, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, Pearce found himself with the Orioles on June 2. And within two weeks he's become just another ho-hum, unexpected Orioles hero in an early season that keeps producing them like the Chesapeake spills...

Maude McCourry Lansdowne, senior, pitcher Four-year varsity player had two no-hitters, including a perfect game, and 10 shutouts Opponents batted just .200 against her All-County selection batted .460 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs Mackenzie Thompson Liberty, senior, pitcher Led the Lions to the Class 2A state championship, the first in program history. Allowed two runs on two hits, with 11 strikeouts and three walks over seven innings in the title game.

North Harford and Patterson Mill each captured their second straight regional baseball titles Friday afternoon, as the Hawks topped Towson, 7-1, in the 3A North final, while the Huskies grabbed the 2A East crown with a 5-4 victory over North Caroline. The wins set up Tuesday state semi-final appearances for each. For details on those games, please visit http://www.exploreharford.com. Playing at home Friday in the 3A North title game, the North Harford Hawks topped visiting fourth-seed Towson, 7-1. North Harford starter Ryan Stinar went six innings in the win, striking out 10 and holding Towson to three hits.

Sixty miles east of Babe Ruth's birthplace, in the drowsy town of Sudlersville (population 497), stands a statue of the other great slugger from Maryland's past. But you'll have to stop at the town's only red light, corner of Church and Main, to view the life-size likeness of Jimmie Foxx at roadside. From his follow-through swing to the look on his face, it's clear that the bronzed Foxx has just done what he did 534 times in his 20-year career - he knocked one out of the park. That lusty swing landed the Queen Anne's County farmboy in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

When the Harford Tech Cobras and host-team Havre de Grace Warriors squared off Wednesday afternoon they had a combined Susquehanna (lower) Division record of 23-2. Seven innings later, the visiting Cobras walked away 8-3 winners, and with the victory grabbed a lower-division crown. The victory pushed Harford Tech to 13-4 overall and 13-1 in Susquehanna play, while Havre de Grace fell to 11-6 on the season and 11-2 against lower division foes. Harford Tech scored three times in the top of the first on four hits.

The Bel Air Bobcats, having taken just one Chesapeake (upper) Division contest prior to Monday's home tilt with Bo Manor, scored 10 times in the final three innings to hand the visiting Eagles an 11-9 loss. Bel Air moved to 6-7 overall on the year and 2-7 in upper division play. Trailing 4-1 after the top half of the fourth, the hosts exploded for six runs in the home half of the inning to take a 7-4 advantage. Bo Manor answered in the fifth with five runs, but the Bobcats had more in the tank, plating four in the bottom of the sixth to grab the two-run lead that carried them through the end of the contest.

The senior shortstop led the No. 4 Lions (11-2) to three Howard County wins last week, including Friday's 6-0 victory over then-No.1 and previously undefeated Reservoir. In that game, Natoli went 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, four RBIs and two runs scored. Earlier in the week, she went 3-for-3 with three RBIs in a win against Wilde Lake and then 2-for-3 with two RBIs in a win against Mount Hebron, also making two fine defensive plays to help preserve a perfect game thrown by pitcher Samantha O'Connor.

Howard softball coach Chuck Rice couldn't single out any one player or particular aspect of Friday's win at No. 1 Reservoir. Everybody contributed, and everything seemed to be working well. The No. 7 Lions hit the ball hard, got strong pitching from Kensey O'Neill and made defensive plays at key times to stun the previously undefeated Gators, 6-0. Shortstop Jules Natoli was the catalyst at the plate, hitting a run-scoring double and a home run as she drove in four runs and scored twice.