Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WYE MILLS, Md.—Freshman Sarah Cooley (3-7) (Clermont, Fla./Bel Air) pitched a gem as the Harford softball team split a doubleheader with Chesapeake, falling 9-1 in a five-inning game one and winning 6-0 in the second half of the twinbill on Wednesday at Chesapeake College.
Cooley pitched a complete-game shutout win for the Fighting Owls (6-16, 5-3 MDJUCO), allowing just three hits, while striking out a season-high 11 batters in game two. Sophomore Jourdan Harmon (Baltimore, Md./Catholic) led the way for Harford, going 4-for-7 on the day with three runs scored, two doubles and two RBI, including her 3-for-4 game two performance.
Sophomore Katie Irwin (3-9) (Edgewood, Md./Harford Tech) was tabbed with the day's loss after giving up nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits and striking out five in 4.2 innings of work.
Anna Morris led the Skipjacks (7-9, 4-2 MDJUCO) on the day, going 3-for-5 with three doubles, three RBI, and three walk, while Jordan Wright earned the game one win, allowing just one run on four hits and fanning six in five innings. Jill Piasecki took the loss by giving up six runs (four earned) on nine hits and striking out four in seven innings during game two.
Game one saw Harford jump on the board first as sophomore Cherish Deaver (Fallston, Md./Fallston) would reach on a double and Harmon would bring her across the plate with a double of her own.
Unfortunately, for the Fighting Owls, they would record just two more hits in the next four innings and would strand six runners as the Skipjacks gradually added runs to their total.
Harford retired the Chesapeake lineup in order during the first, but the Skipjacks would score three in the second off a two-run single by Melanie Buck and a wild pitch, all with no outs on the board, before Irwin retired the next three batters in order.
Chesapeake would add a single run in the third off Morris' RBI double, two in the fourth, again off a double by Morris, and three more in the fifth off an Owl error, a fielder's choice by Antoinette Hughes, and a final error that gave the Skipjacks an eight-run, 9-1, advantage and the win.
Harford wasted no time in game two as freshman Audrey Werneke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) led off with a single, then stole second, before Deaver drew a one-out walk and also stole second, putting runners in scoring position for Harmon, who plated Werneke with a single, and sophomore Cara Testerman (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford), who scored Deaver on a Skipjack error.
Cooley would also tack on a groundout RBI that scored Harmon to give Harford a 3-0 lead after the first and would end up striking out the side, with two of those outs coming with the bases loaded.
The rookie starter would accomplish the same feat in the bottom of the second, this time retiring the lineup in order and would add to Harford's lead in the third with a fielder's choice RBI that plated Harmon, who reached base on a Chesapeake error.
Harford would add two more to its lead with a two-run RBI double from sophomore Jocelyn Kelly (Fallston, Md./Fallston) in the fifth, but the Skipjacks looked primed to score in the sixth after Cooley struck out the leadoff hitter and walked the next three batters. With the bases loaded, Kyra Gould would line into a 6-3 double play to end the inning and get Cooley out of a jam.
The seventh saw the Skipjacks turn a double play with two Harford runners on base, and Chesapeake would runners on first and second with two outs before Cooley gave Harford the win with her 11th strikeout of the day to end the inning and claim the 6-0 victory.
The Fighting Owls return to action on Friday when they host Brookdale for a doubleheader on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
