Trip to South Philly worthwhile for Banes, PCL
PHILADELPHIA >> Cardinal O’Hara shortstop Annemarie Banes will spend 10 days in Europe this summer as part of a class trip.
She spent three days this week at FDR Park in South Philly hitting bombs and gobbling up every ground ball for the Catholic League squad.
Banes, a senior in the fall, had a fun ride with her O’Hara buddies Maura Kane and Emily Loomis.
“It was my first time here and it was a really cool experience,” Banes said. “It’s nice getting to know other people, kids I usually wouldn’t know a lot about from the other Catholic League teams. So, getting to play with them was really fun and, of course, playing against some of the best competition in the area, that was really cool.”
Banes and the Catholic League were eliminated Thursday morning when they suffered a 15-1 loss at the hands of Tri-Cape. It was a bludgeoning, for sure, but as Banes can attest, it didn’t ruin the experience. The Catholic League players will never see a team as talented as the one Tri-Cape rolled out at the 12th annual Carpenter Cup Classic.
You could say that Tri-Cape seemed like the King Kong of the Carpenter Cup. But then, they lost 9-1 later in the day to Berks/Lancaster-Lebanon … so you never know.
“A lot of the teams in this tournament were like that. A couple of them, we were able to come out on top against, surprisingly,” said Banes, who helped the Catholics earn wins over Lehigh Valley and Burlington County Monday.
“Defense always wins games, I think, and our defense kind of fell apart in a couple of innings today. And they could hit. We used all of our pitchers, but they’re talented.”
Banes’ aided her good friend Kane in the fifth inning when Kane took a line drive to the rib section. The one-hopper to the hot corner drilled Kane right in the gut.
“Yeah, it really hurt,” said Kane, who could laugh about the play after the game “That was a rocket. ”
Kane got the Catholic League started with a single in the bottom of the first inning. She stole second base and scored on an RBI double by Banes, a bullet to center field.
That was the only offense the Catholic League mustered. Claire Boylan (Archbishop Carroll) and Maddy McBride (Hallahan), a Sharon Hill resident, each had a single. Everyone else went hitless.
“They definitely had a bunch on us,” Kane said with a laugh. “It was a lot of fun, though. The first game was a forfeit and people thought that was the only way we could win, but then we earned our next two games. It was really exciting. Nobody thought we would make it this far, but to come in third place and to come from the Catholic League is awesome. It brings a great name to us that no one ever gives us.”
McBride pitched the first three innings and re-entered in the seventh to throw the only 1-2-3 frame. Despite allowing three runs on five hits, McBride excelled with five strikeouts.
Tri-Cape hit around Bonner & Prendergast’s Molly McBride for eight runs (four earned) on five hits in ⅔ of an inning. Alyssa Adams (Conwell-Egan) also struggled to record outs against a Tri-Cape team that pounded out 15 hits, including six for extra bases. The star was right fielder Rian Eigenmann of Millville High, who was 5 for 5 with two triples, three RBIs and three runs scored.
