The day Towson softball practice began, senior Delaney Cole wondered how good the Generals would be this year. The team had lost its coach and most of its pitching from the year before. Then she saw pitcher Jelena Gardner walk out on the field.
“I knew right then that we’d be alright,” said Cole.
The 10th-ranked Generals have followed where Gardner’s pitching led them this year. Friday at Eastern Tech, it led Towson to a 6-1 win over the Mavericks in a game where No. 11 Eastern didn’t get a hit until the sixth inning.
“She has really stepped up for us this season,” first-year Towson coach Dan Sexton said of Gardner, who transferred to Towson this season from Sparrows Point. “There have been times this year when she’s carried us. She always gives us 100%.”
Gardner’s effort Friday has likely carried the Generals (11-2, 10-2) to the Baltimore County Championship game, which will be played at CCBC-Catonsville on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Their probable opponent in that game? None other than Eastern Tech (8-3, 8-3).
The Generals certainly did their best to make Gardner feel comfortable. They scored four runs in the top of the first, giving her the lead before she ever took the mound.
“I felt like I pitched well today, but the most important thing is that we played as a team and won the game,” Gardner said. “I knew going in that we’d have to win to have any chance of being in the championship. I’m glad I could do that for my softball family at Towson.”
Gardner was not flashy in recording five strikeouts, but she used a mix of pitches — screwballs, rise balls and change ups — to keep the Mavericks hitters off balance all day.
In the batter’s box, the Generals got started right away. Towson had singles by Aviva McElhenney and Molly Mohr to begin the inning. With runners on second and third after a steal, Grace Hoey grounded out to score McElhenney. In the next at-bat, a bunt single by Olivia Felton scored Mohr. Two batters later, Samara Murchison singled, scoring Felton and Grace Cheevers, who had walked.
Gardner marched to the mound with a 4-0 lead and she immediately took advantage of it. Through the first five innings, she faced only six batters over the minimum, and three of those reached by either fielding or throwing errors.
Towson added to the lead in the fifth, when Eastern committed two fielding errors on the same play that allowed Murchison and Lila Eastham to score Towson’s final two runs.
Eastern finally got to Gardner with singles by Audrey Cocker and Layla Bugarini to put runners on first and second with two outs. Gardner, however, was able to induce an infield ground out to retire the side. The Mavericks avoided the shutout in the seventh, when Grace Himmelman hit a double and later scored.
Eastern Tech coach Giselle Alvarez gave Towson credit for their big day.
“She’s a wonderful pitcher and they are a very fundamentally sound team,” Alvarez said of Towson. “My girls played hard. We’ll just have to working and get more reps in the batting cage and keep improving.”
Towson — 400 020 0 – 6 10 3
Eastern Tech — 000 000 1—1 3 4
WP: Gardner; LP: Bugarini
2B: ET – Himmelman, T – Cole.
