Pikesville Softball Drops Two of Three Games; Baseball Goes 0-2

This week the Pikesville varsity softball team earned its first win of the season, but also lost two of its games.

The Panthers began the week with a 10-0 loss to Kenwood in a five-inning affair that dropped their record at that point to 0-3 on the season.

But Tuesday went better as Pikesville jumped out to a big lead at Carver A&T and then hung on for a 16-13 victory—its first so far.

During that game, Emily Friedlander got the team’s first homer of the season, and Ty Baxter banged out the first triple as the Pikesville bats awakened. The Panthers finished with 12 hits overall in the seven-inning game.

Sam Shapiro pitched well but wound up doing some extra work in an odd situation. She gave up five runs and came out with the Panthers holding a 16-5 lead in the top of the seventh.

But Carver’s batters got going in the bottom half, and coach Mike Behrens had to make the unusual move of bringing Shapiro back to save her own game.

Thanks to the re-entry rule that lets a player be able to return to the game after being taken out, she came back and got the final three outs.

“She did a great job for us,” said Behrens. “She got the win and the save.”

The team didn’t fare as well on Wednesday against Catonsville as the Comets rolled to an 18-1 victory in a five-inning game.

Baseball

The varsity baseball team struggled, losing both of its games. New Town handed Pikesville an 8-5 loss on Monday, and Catonsville topped Pikesville by the same score the following day.

In the New Town game, Brad Garfield went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases. Tete Obot finished 2-for-4 with one RBI while Dan Shear, Steven Buxbaum, Mitch Goldstein and Ross Hyatt also had hits.

Tyler Kennedy went the distance in the Catonsville loss, giving up five earned runs. Brian Stevenson led the offense with three singles while Goldstein and Shear added two hits apiece.

Obot added a sacrifice fly and a triple. Kion Wright helped with two walks, two steals and a double. But a combined eight errors in the two games hurt the Panthers.    

“For this team to live up to its potential, we need to do the small things right,” said Pikesville coach Joseph Kramer. “Playing good defense and pitching need to be our strength, and right now we need to improve in both areas.”