ACCIDENT — While Northern and Mountain Ridge beat the rain Monday, the Miners couldn’t escape a different kind of rain.
Rain Ritchey tossed a complete game and gave herself plenty of support with a pair of two-run hits, leading No. 2 Northern to a 12-4 victory over No. 3 Mountain Ridge in a Class 1A West Region I semifinal game.
Northern broke through in a pair of big innings, scoring five runs in the second and six in the fifth.
“Our bats came alive, and I feel like when we hit it’s contagious,” Northern manager Kadi Cosgrove said. “Rain threw a good game. We’re geared up and ready for Allegany. I just hope that we can hit the way we hit today.”
Northern (15-4) pushed its winning streak to 11 games, and all four of the Huskies’ losses have been by two runs or fewer.
Facing an early deficit, Mountain Ridge (11-8) clawed to within 5-3 after an RBI triple to deep right field by Jaianna Wickline in the fourth inning. Wickline scored on a throwing error on the same play by a Northern outfielder.
But Northern brought 11 batters to the plate in the fifth to plate six runs and put the Miners away. Ritchey had two RBIs on a double in the inning, and Marisa Perez, Madysen Gilpin, Lily Chambers and Ada White drove in one each.
“I think Northern came to play,” Mountain Ridge manager Kim Jackson said. “They were a better team today. That’s the bottom line. Rain pitched a good game, they made the plays when they had them and we just didn’t hit the ball like we had early in the year.”
Northern out-hit Mountain Ridge, 13-6. Ritchey led the way with three hits, and Chambers, White and Ady Uphold all had two each.
Alex Fike, Gilpin, Chambers, Uphold and White each scored twice.
Eight Huskies hit safely, and the bottom four batters in the Northern lineup went 7 for 15 with four RBIs and six runs combined.
Ritchey got the win in the circle allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in seven frames of work.
“She came out hot and ready to throw her best game,” Cosgrove said. “She pitched out of some jams. She also helped herself at the plate. She kind of opened it up for us.”
Wickline went 2 for 4 to lead the Mountain Ridge offense, and Sophie Rounds also drove in a run.
The Miners didn’t help themselves in Northern’s five-run second inning.
A hit by pitch and two unlucky infield singles — the former a catchable ball off the end of the bat that spun away from the second baseman — loaded the bases with nobody out, and an error on a routine grounder to third base helped the Huskies tie the game at 1.
A wild pitch gave Northern the lead for good, and another hit by pitch put two in scoring position for Ritchey, whose two-out, two-run single made it 5-1 Huskies.
“It makes it difficult when you have a good pitcher out there, especially in softball when you have a good pitcher that throws the ball hard,” Jackson said of the early deficit. “You gotta hope the girls can put the ball in play and make the other team makes mistakes as well, and we didn’t do that enough today.”
Mountain Ridge right-hander Destinee Johnson was dealt the loss in a complete-game performance.
This season marked an impressive turnaround for the Mountain Ridge program.
The Miners were just 6-10, 4-16 and 3-17 over the past three years (and 4-18 combined in the Western Maryland Athletic Conference). They nearly matched that win total this year alone with 11 and had a winning conference record (4-3).
“It’s been a remarkable season for them,” Jackson said. “There’s never been quit. They think they can win until the last out of the game has been made. There’s a lot of good juniors coming back and sophomore talent. … Next year they’re not going to surprise people.”
Northern advances to the region final where it’ll try to stop No. 1 Allegany (15-3) — which defeated Southern 7-0 Monday.
The Campers edged Northern, 4-3, on March 31 in LaVale and led the Huskies 6-4 in the sixth inning on May 1 in Accident when the game was suspended due to rain.
First pitch Wednesday is slated for 4:30 p.m. at Lions Field in LaVale.
“It’s been a while since Northern has beat Allegany,” Cosgrove said. “We really have nothing to lose. We’re ready for revenge for the last two games. We’re ready to play. I know the girls are excited.”