Fowler, Karagiorgis Lead Falcons In 11-1 Victory
ASHBURN, VA - Junior Kate Fowler allowed one run on four hits over the first four innings and also went 2-for-3 with two RBIs as Briar Woods downed Heritage 11-1 in the quarterfinals of the Dulles District Softball Tournament Friday night in Ashburn.
The second-seeded Falcons (15-4) will host sixth-seeded Dominion in the semifinals Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Titans knocked off third-seeded Potomac Falls 1-0 on Friday to set up a third meeting with Briar Woods this season. The Falcons swept Dominion in the regular season, pulling out a 1-0 home win March 24 and claiming an 8-1 victory in Sterling April 24.
The Falcons were clicking in all phases of the game from the start against Heritage. After allowing a walk to Kayla Whoolery to start the contest, Fowler struck out Brooke Tickle and got a double play from her defense to end the inning. Carly Schmidt flied out to center for the second out, and Falcon sophomore Alex Fierszt alertly fired the ball to first to double off Whoolery and end the inning.
The Falcons then quickly went to work on offense, scoring four times in the first to set the tone for the night. Sophomore Kristina Karagiorgis drew a one-out walk, and freshman Macy Jones singled. An error on the play allowed the runners to advance to second and third, and junior Caitlin Blalock followed with a single to plate Karagiorgis with the game's first run.
Sophomore Kasey Ball drew a walk to load the bases, and Fowler helped her own cause with a two-run single. Sophomore Jillian Olson followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Ball and give the Falcons a 4-0 lead.
Heritage threatened in the second after a lead-off single and an infield error gave the Pride runners at first and second with none out. Once again, the Falcon defense turned in a big play, as junior shortstop Holly Dominguez back-handed a hard shot and tagged the runner heading to third before firing to first to complete another double play. Fowler then used a strike out to end the inning.
After being held scoreless in the second, the Falcons tacked on another run in the third. Jones led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Blalock and scored on a sacrifice fly from Ball.
Heritage had its best chance to rally when it loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fourth, but Fowler was able to limit the Pride to just one run on a ground out.
The Falcons continued to pour it on offensively in the later innings, scoring three more times in both the fourth and fifth.
In the fourth, junior Claire Bayles was hit by a pitch to start the inning before taking second on a wild pitch and moving to third on a ground out. Karagiorgis plated Bayles with a single to give Briar Woods a 6-1 advantage, and two more runs later scored on an error off the bat of Ball.
Juniors Emily Moore and Kelsey Young hit back-to-back singles to start the fifth, and an error on Young's hit allowed both runners to move up another base.
Fierszt then plated Moore with a groundout, and Dominguez followed with a double to drive in Young. Jones later knocked in freshman pinch-runner Rachel Bayles with a single to cap the scoring.
Jones paced a 12-hit attack with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate. She had two singles and a double, scored three times and drove in one. Karagiorgis went 2-for-3 with a walk, two singles, two runs and one RBI. Dominguez, Blalock, Moore, Young and freshman Hope Vivian collected one hit each.
Karagiorgis allowed just one hit and struck out five over the final three innings to earn the save.
