Loomis’ shining moment is a walk-off win for O’Hara

MARPLE >> Cardinal O’Hara’s Emily Loomis had her shining moment Tuesday afternoon.

The junior second baseman delivered the winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Lions to a 1-0 victory over Bonner & Prendergast in walk-off style.

Loomis was mobbed by teammates, who were partially thankful that the game ended after one hour, 45 minutes. Any longer, and dinner would have been missed.

“It was crazy. The game just kept going on,” Loomis said. “Bonner & Prendie played so well, I knew it was going to be a long game.”

Loomis smashed a rocket down the third-base line past the diving effort of Caroline Manfre to drive in Izzy Mirarchi from second.

On a 40 degree afternoon, Loomis’ clutch knock couldn’t come soon enough.

“Nothing like this,” she said, when pressed to recall whether she ever had a hit quite as important as this one. “No, nothing like this.”

Her strategy? Well, first and most importantly, end the game no matter what. But Loomis was hoping to hit the ball hard someplace and hope for the best. That certainly wasn’t easy to do against Bonner & Prendie pitcher Molly McNulty, who pitched 8 1/3 innings of spectacular softball, yielding eight hits while striking out six and walking two.

“We wanted to get out with a win,” Loomis said. “I tried to get the bat on the ball, tried to keep things going. We had (runners on) first and second, so I just wanted to let it roll.

“I hoped that maybe they would make an error if I hit it at someone.  They had solid defense the whole game. I was hoping to hit it hard, hoping to find a gap somewhere, and luckily I did.”

Loomis was happy to get the win for O’Hara ace Mary Pat Brough, who threw nine shutout innings. Brough retired the side in order the last three frames.

“Mary Pat did amazing,” Loomis said. “I personally can never pitch nine straight innings and do this well.”

Brough was on-point the entire afternoon. She worked out of trouble in three of the first four innings, but allowed just one base runner after the fourth. Brough, who struck out two, pitched to contact … and why not? O’Hara’s left side of the infield, notably, was impenetrable. Third baseman Maura Kane and shortstop Annmarie Banes made hard-to-handle grounders look smooth and simple. Brough coaxed Prendie hitters to roll into 14 groundball outs on that side of the diamond.

“I was a little nervous out there, but I knew my team had my back. I knew I had to get the batter, had to do my best, and that’s what I did,” said Brough, who held the Pandas to seven hits and allowed one walk. “Every time (Kane and Banes) get a play, I just look at them in amazement, thinking thank goodness for them because they really do make amazing plays out there for me. They really helped me out.”

O’Hara had its opportunities to score against McNulty, leaving nine runners stranded. With the bases juiced in the fifth, cleanup hitter Lexie Cervella hit a soft tapper back to McNulty for the third out.

“She hit her corners amazingly,” Loomis said of McNulty’s pitching. “She came outside, inside and back, and kind of played around with us the first few innings. She had us going. She made it pretty hard for us to finally get things going. “

Banes laced a two-out triple in the first inning and walked twice. Loomis, Mirarchi and Breanna Mickey finished with a pair of singles for the Lions (2-0, 2-0). Miarchi robbed Katelyn Martin of potential extra bases with a fantastic diving catch in right field in the eighth inning.

McNulty and Manfre both singled twice for the Pandas (1-1, 1-1).

In the Central League:

Upper Darby 9, Haverford 2 >> Erin Redden’s bases-clearing triple in the second inning was the big blow. Sam Witmer, who doubled, knocked in two runs for the Royals (3-0, 3-0).

Rebecca Sorrentino was the winning pitcher.

For Haverford, Madison Lane and Ashley Moscoe each doubled, while Lindsay Moran legged out a triple.

In the Del Val League:

Academy Park 17, Penn Wood 0 >> Kaleigh Cervino tossed a three-inning no-hitter with five Ks as the Knights took advantage of four Patriots errors. Hailey Wallace was 3 for 4 with a double, four RBIs and three runs scored. Jade Armstrong was 3 for 3 with three runs scored.

In the Inter-Ac League:

Notre Dame 17, Germantown Academy 2 >> Winning pitcher Katie Mayock slugged two doubles and drove in five runs. Sophia Marlino blasted a three-run homer for the Irish.

In the Bicentennial League:

Calvary Christian 16, Delco Christian 2 >> Leah Pullean and Molly Harnish each had a hit and a run scored for the Knights (0-3).

In the Ches-Mont League:

Henderson 8, Sun Valley 1 >> Devlin O’Connor smacked two singles and Amy Parker had a hit and a run scored for the Vanguards.

In the Catholic Academies:

St. Basil 15, Sacred Heart 4 >> Ally Schell led the Sacred Heart bats with two triples, two RBIs and a run scored.