Blazers catch fire, crush Colonels

APRIL 21, MONTGOMERY BLAIR STADIUM-

Three straight losses are tough for any team to cope with, especially when two of them are blowouts and one came after blowing a lead. But the Blazers finally found their bats and their defense tonight and put together a convincing 12-3 win over the Magruder Colonels.

"It's exactly what we needed," said Coach Louis Hoelman. "We needed to have a game where everything went well, where everyone could start to feel good about themselves."

The girls were strong in every category. Every Blazer batter reached base and the team batted around in the fourth and sixth innings. Freshman Michelle Linford, junior Emily O'Brien and senior Katherine Epstein each had towering, to-the-wall shots. Epstein was responsible for more than half of the team's runs.

Defensively the girls looked like a new team. Heads-up plays in the infield and outfield and good communication marked a change from the past three games, each of which was plagued by errors. Linford was excellent from the mound, throwing just 76 pitches and allowing two earned runs; she was also responsible for 11 outs (three putouts, eight assists).

The Colonels drew first blood in the second inning on an error by freshman third baseman Annie Denenberg and then got another run across before the inning was out. Denenberg quickly made up for her error by registering the Blazers' first hit of the night in the bottom of the fourth. She scored on Epstein's first RBI of the night. Then senior second baseman Anna Schoenfelder scored Epstein on a single to right, tying the score 2-2. It was all over from there. The girls started hitting and didn't stop until everyone had a turn at the plate; they scored four in the fourth.

The game was never close after that. Magruder scored once more, on an interference call against Denenberg, who collided with a Colonel runner as she rounded third. Magruder reached base consistently throughout the game, but great defensive stopping nipped any potential comeback in the bud.

"We had trouble getting over those losses," said Hoelman. "It was nice to go out and play well and put all that behind us."

Blair looks to make a streak out of this win this Friday, April 23, against undefeated Sherwood at 7 p.m.