No. 10 Towson softball continues special season with 9-6 win over Dulaney
Towson softball inches closer to a spot in the county championship game after beating neighboring rival Dulaney.
Freshman Olivia Felton likes playing for the 10th-ranked Towson softball team. Lately, she likes it a whole lot.
Felton contributed two hits, including her fourth home run in the past five days — a two-run shot — to lead the Generals to a 9-6 win over host Dulaney in a Baltimore County game. She totaled three RBIs.
Towson (10-2, 8-2) led 5-0 but had to survive a spirited comeback attempt by the Lions.
“This felt really good,” Felton said. “They’re our rival and last time we beat them in the last inning, so it feels good to win like this.”
The win keeps the Generals in line to play in next week’s Baltimore County championship game at CCBC-Catonsville. Towson has surprised many with how well it has done this year in Baltimore County’s Division 1. This season, they’ve even surprised themselves.
“Last year, both times we played them we lost,” said Towson catcher Molly Mohr, a sophomore who contributed three hits to lead the Generals on Wednesday. “Last year, we didn’t do too good and we wondered how well we’d do this year. It’s really exciting for us to play good teams and play as well as we have.”
The Generals started the season slow, losing their first county game to Perry Hall, but then they reeled off nine straight wins. After an unexpected 6-5 loss to Sparrows Point last week, Towson has won its past three with a young and hungry team.
“They have a great team over there, and they come to play,” first-year Towson coach Dan Sexton said of Dulaney. “I think the loss to Sparrows Point kind of left a bad taste in our mouths. We’re starting to believe in ourselves, and it’s showing. We’re the underdogs and we’re writing our own story.”
The Generals got on the scoreboard in the top of the first. After a walk and a single put runners on second and third, Aviva McElhenny scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Felton got her first RBI when she singled to score Mohr and make it 2-0.
The Generals added to their lead in the fourth. Grace Hoey led off the inning with a single. Felton wasted little time in the next at-bat, depositing Ryan Harpster’s first pitch over the right field wall for a two-run homer and a 4-0 lead. In the fifth, the Generals got another run when they took advantage of a Towson error to score Mohr and make it 5-0.
The Lions (10-6, 7-6) got one back in the bottom of the fifth when a single by Lila Gordon scored Chloe Renaldo to cut the margin to 5-1.
Dulaney entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 9-4. The Lions did manage to push two runs across, one on a triple by Kamani Dennis and another on a double by Carley Desi, but could get no closer.
“My biggest concern was our inability to hit the ball early [in the game],” Dulaney coach Dave Barwick said. “Between one speed and the other we just struggled until the fourth, and you can’t wait that long. They are a good defensive team, and we just weren’t today.”
Towson — 202 013 1 – 9
Dulaney — 000 013 2 – 6
WP: Gardner; LP: R. Harpster
HR: T- Felton. 3B: D – Dennis. 2B: T – Cole; D – Desi