by Michael Natelli ’14

The Warriors will have a shot to defend their 2012 State Championship Title on Friday night after they defeated the Northwest Jaguars 6-3 on Wednesday evening to punch their ticket to the big game.

While the victory did not come quite as easily as the Warriors’ 20-0 thrashing of Westminster on May 17, the Warriors certainly dominated the game from the very first inning. After junior Meggie Dejter allowed no earned base runners in the top half of the first, sophomore Julie Swarr would get the Warriors on the board in the bottom half of the inning by stealing home on a wild pitch.

After another scoreless inning by Dejter, senior Amelia Naik led off the top of the third with an infield single, advancing to second base on a throwing error. Sophomore Nicole Stockinger would then bring Naik in to score on a one-out double to make the score 2-0.

The fourth inning would see more offense. Freshman Kelly Bouma set the tone for the inning by leading off with a triple, and after holding on a Dejter infield single, would score on a single by junior Addie Armbruster. Freshman Hanna Nalls (who pinch ran for Dejter) then scored to make the game 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

The Warriors would tack on two more runs in the fifth to stretch the lead to 6-0 after RBIs from Stockinger and Naik, and that would ultimately be enough to hold off two late runs from the Jaguars, carrying the Warriors into their second consecutive State Championship game.

The Warriors will face Glen Burnie High School on Friday or Saturday (to be determined) at Robert E. Taylor Stadium at the University of Maryland . The game times on Friday are 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM, and the Saturday games are at 1:00 PM and 3:30 PM.

Photo by Brendan Cudd ’14