The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-29)

SUNDAY,MAY 29 , 2022 .THEWASHINGTONPOST EZ M2 D9

HighSchools

BYJACOBRICHMAN

In atightlycontested win in
the Maryland4A baseballsemifi-
nalsagainst Churchill on
Wednesday, Sherwoodsopho-
moreMacCrismondenteredfor
twoinningsof reliefworkthat
securedthe Warriors’spot in the
championshipgame.
Afterward, Crismond —the
youngestplayer on the team—
toldCoachSean Davis thathe
wantedto startagainstSeverna
Park in Saturday’sfinal, when
back-to-backstatetitles wouldbe
up for grabs.
Davis honoredthatrequest—
“Hecan handlethis moment,”the

coachsaid —and Crismonddeliv-

eredfive championship-worthy

inningsat RegencyFurnitureSta-

diumin Waldorf. Crismondal-

lowedone hit and struckout six

batters in five inningsas Sher-

woodbeatSeverna Park,11-0, by

the mercyrule.

“I was justattackingthe zone

moreand throwingmy curveball

forstrikes,”Crismondsaid.“And

theycouldn’t touchit.”

TheWarriors (23-1)became

the firstschoolto win consecu-

tive Class 4A titles since the

classificationwas establishedin

1989.

Witheightseniors,Sherwood

returned plentyoffirepower

from its 2021 championship

team,whichalso defeated Sever-

na Park (18-4)inthe final.

Ryan Bouma, who had the

game-winning hit in extrain-

nings of lastyear’s matchup,also

camethroughSaturdaytosecure

his secondring.The juniorfin-

ished2for 3withtwo runs;he

had RBI singlesin the firstand

secondinnings.

“It’snerve-rackingin the mo-

ment,”the thirdbasemansaid.

“ButI’ve gottoget ajob donefor

my team.”

Despitelastyear’s success,

Sherwoodsuffereda10-runloss

to Churchillin the thirdgameof

the seasonthattemperedexpec-

tations.But freshtalentsuchas

Crismondand DeMatha transfer

AmariAllen helpedmakesure

thatwas Sherwood’s only set-

back.

“We’rejustateamthatbecame

strongerasthegamesgotharder,”

said Allen,who madeasplashin

his statefinal debut,going 3for 3

withtwoRBI.

Steadyhitting and opportunis-

tic base runningallowedthe War-

riorsto takea4-0 lead in the first

inning.Runs continuedpouring

in, withthreemorein the second

and four in the fourth.

Ahit by pitchin the fifthput

the Falcons’JamesHensonon

firstwithone out. But aline drive

to shortstop Jack Andre was

flipped foradoubleplay, and the

pile on the mound builtwith

AndretacklingCrismondto the

groundin celebration.

Crismond hammered away

throughouthis firstseasonwith

the varsitysquad,finishing7-0

and getting to raise atrophyfor

all the hardwork.

“Even thoughI’mthe youngest

kid on the team,Coachhad the

confidence in me to winthis

game,”Crismondsaid.“Itmeant

alot to me.”

MARYLAND4A BASEBALLFINAL

Warriors repeat as champs, this time in ablowout

SHERWOOD11,

SEVERNAPARK0(5)

BYAARONCREDEUR

Wootton seniorHelen Sariku-
laya was still sweating whenshe
hoisted the trophyand panted
her congratulationsto the restof
the team.Likethe otherplayers
whomadeit to the Maryland
tennisstatefinalsSaturday, she
had justfinished her third
matchover the course of a
grueling12-hourday.
Inclement weatherearlierin
the weekpromptedthe Mary-
landPublicSecondarySchools
Athletic Association to schedule
the Class3Aand 4A quarterfi-
nals, semifinals andfinals for the
sameday at Wilde Lake Tennis
Club in Columbia,leaving the
winnersecstaticbut physically
drained by the end of it.
With crowded courts

throughoutthe day, Sarikulaya

wentto the parkinglot between

matchesto stay loose.

“I just wentdown to wherethe

buses are withmyteammate,”

Sarikulaya said. “There’s no net,

so it was kindof justall overthe

place.But Iwas ableto getmy

wrist moving andget my mo-

mentumgoing.

“I’ve been here since8:30

[a.m.],”she continued —after the

sun had set. “. .. So it’s beena

longday for sure.”

Hermakeshiftwarmups

worked.

Sarikulaya advanced through

the tournament to win her sec-

ond girls’singles titlein arow,

contributing to the 4A teamwin

along withboys’ singles winner

JakobEsterowitz.

After twoyears of limited

competition, Esterowitz, asenior

whowonthe titlehisfreshman

year, wasespecially thrilledtobe

backonthe court competingfor

gold withthe Patriots.

“I wasdown[inthe finals],

and Ihad to getoveralittle

mental block,”Esterowitzsaid.

“And thenmyteamwas scream-

ing in the background to cheer

me, and it was all up from there.

They’remakingjokes behind the

fence;they’re makingfun of me.

It puts asmileonmyface.”

Esterowitz’sperformancewas

all the moreimpressive afterhe

bounced back from abroken

wrist earlyin the season.Woot-

ton CoachNia Cresham said that

type of resilience waskey to his

players becoming champions.

“This is hugefor us because

we have beenfightinginjuries

all seasonlong,” Creshamsaid.

“Wejustovercamealot. They

justcameback,and theykicked

butt.”

In the 3A competition, River

Hill demonstrated dominance

across the board. Forjunior Alex

Artazov, the win wasallabout

the comeback.After barely miss-

ing out on achampionshiplast

yearand enduring afar-from-

perfect season, RiverHillrelied

on its depthto carryitthrough a

gantlet of tough matchups,field-

ing playersin fourof thefive

finals matches.

“I feel like we were alot more

motivated this year,becauselast

yearwewere undefeated and

thisyear we gotthird[in the

regularseason],”hesaid. “So we

definitely felt like we needed this

alot morethanlastyear.”

MARYLANDTENNISFINALS

After along day, Wootton is tired and triumphant

BYJACOBRICHMAN

TheGlenelg baseball team
had justthree wins in sixgames
after takinga12-run beating
from River Hill. Even as the
Gladiators rattled offeight
straight victoriesand eventually
foundthemselvesas the No.6
seedin the Maryland2A state
tournament,CoachSteve Tiffa-
ny saidno onewasexpecting
much.
But in Saturday’schampion-
shipgameagainstPatuxent, the
state’slastremaining undefeated

team, Glenelg overcame onelast

challenge.Itprevailed the wayit

has all season:withexcellent

pitching,stellarfieldingand a

clutchhit.

“Our kids weren’t scared,”

Tiffanysaid. “Our kids knew

thatifweplayed our brand of

baseball...and gotone timely

hit, that’s howyou beatreally

good teams.”

Glenelgwas victorious,4-1,at

RegencyFurniture Stadiumin

Waldorfthanks to NickDuvall,

who providedsixinningsofone-

run ball and contributed the

winninghit, too.

Glenelg(19-5)claimed its sixth

statetitle and its first2Achampi-

onship since 1995. Patuxent

(24-1), makingits thirdtitle game

appearance, fell awin shortof

bothaperfectseason and its first

statechampionship.

Solid pitching and astingy

defense carried the Gladiatorsto

their firststate title since 1999in

1A: Glenelgallowed just eight

runsinfive postseason games. In

the firstthreegames, it was

thanks to the moundworkof

Duvall and sophomore Zach La-

fountain.

“Theydon’t even need reliev-

ers,”juniorJackson Kelleysaid.

“They’vebeen unbelievable in

the postseason.”

Duvall kept Patuxent—which

camein averagingmorethan 10

runsper game—off the score-

boarduntilafourth-inninghit

fromNathanRobeyknotted it at

1. In the sixth, the junior
   changed the game with that
   timelyhit the Gladiatorswere
   searching for.With the bases
   loadedand twoouts, he rocketed
   the ball downthe left fieldline
   for abases-clearing doubleand a
   4-1lead.
   Approaching his maximum
   pitch count, Duvall cededthe
   mound to Kelleyfor the seventh
   inning.After not pitching in the
   firstthreegamesofthe postsea-
   son,Kelleyclosed the final two
   games —anextra-innings win
   overNorthEastand Saturday’s
   victory over the Panthers, when
   hegot astrikeouttoend it.
   “When he gets hisspot,” Du-
   vall said,“hedoes his joband
   gets it done.”

MARYLAND2A BASEBALLFINAL

Gladiators deny Panthers perfection

GLENELG4,

PATUXENT 1

CRAIGHUDSONFOR THE WASHINGTONPOST

Glenelg secured itsfirststate championship since 1999 with avictoryover previously undefeated Patuxent on SaturdayinWaldorf.

BYJACOBRICHMAN

While his teammates lined up

to receive their Maryland3Abase-

ball championship medals—

earnedina5-1victorySaturday

nightovertop-seeded Towson—

Chesapeake’sAdrian Gonzalez

rushedback to the dugout to grab

aplastic basketball hoopand a

smallrubber ball.

As the players congregated

toward the trophytheywould

soon lift, Gonzalez held up the

hoopandhandedthebasketballto

junior Mason Shanahan, whogot

arunning startand dunked the

balltogreatcheersfromhis team-

mates and the crowdof Chesa-

peakesupporters.

This celebration was planneda

weekearlier, before the Cougars

had even securedtheirspot in the

title game. Anditdefinedateam,

led by first-yearheadcoachJeff

Young,thathas madeittothe top

by having fun.

Young and his staff—which

bought the basket —created an

enjoyabledynamicthathelpedthe

Cougars (20-3-1)bring hometheir

firststate title since2014.

“Hejustdid something un-

speakablewithaunique group,”

saidsenior Kyle Hickson,who

went 2for 3and scoredthe first

run for Chesapeake on Saturday.

“The mainthing was,‘Yougive me

what Iwant, and Igive you what

you want.’And we gave him what

he wanted, and we gotwhatwe

wanted and hadfun.”

Young,aformer Chesapeake

player and an assistantthe past

nineyears,built offthe workof

previous coachesKen Kingand

JimSimms —both of whomwon

statetitleswithChesapeakeand

werein attendancefor the title

gameatRegencyFurniture Sta-

diuminWaldorf.

“We’resoproudof him.He de-

serves everything,whatwegave

himtoday,” saidsenior pitcher

NickKarls, who had six strikeouts

in 6^2 / 3 innings. “He’smyfavorite

coach I’ve ever had;I’mglad we

wereable to do this for him.”

Youngsaidoneofthekeystothe

teambeingsuccessful thisseason

was his players’willingness to lis-

ten. Butfromtop to bottom, play-

erssaidtheywouldnever forget

the fun the grouphad together.

Havingwalk-up songswasa

particularfavorite for Hickson,

whostrode to the plateto“Can’t

Tell Me Nothing”byKanye West.

Chesapeakefell behind in the

firstinning againstTowson(17-3)

butscored five unanswered runs

to becomechampion.

“Right nowit’s hardto think

about becauseIjustwouldn’t let

myself thinkaboutit,”Youngsaid.

“Hopefully in acoupledaysit’ll

sinkin. I’mjustproud.”

MARYLAND3A BASEBALLFINAL

Cougars’ ‘unique group’

has awhole lot of fun

CHESAPEAKE5,

TOWSON 1

CRAIGHUDSONFOR THE WASHINGTONPOST

Senior pitcher NickKarls,who had six strikeoutsin6^2 / 3 innings,

gave up arun in the first, but the Cougars answeredwithfive more.

Sound. Informed.

N1541

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