LADY HAWKS BRING THEIR 'A' GAME, BUT FALL IN RUBBER MATCH
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The Hagerstown Softball team knew their backs were against the wall as they traveled south to La Plata to take on #2 seeded College of Southern Maryland in the first round of the NJCAA Region 20 tournament. The 19-5-1 Hawks of CSM were a force to be reckoned with and had yet to be beaten by a fellow MDJUCO team this year. They played host this past weekend to the Lady Hawks in a best-of-3 series to determine who would be moving onto the second-round next weekend at CCBC Catonsville. And if CSM thought it would be easy, they were sorely mistaken.
The first game was fool's gold for College of Southern Maryland as they won by a score of 7-0 which included 7 innings of 1-hit ball. The Lady Hawks could not get anything going offensively in the first matchup, but it just might have been the motivation they needed to flip the script in the second stanza.
Led by Brooke Buhrman's towering 3-run bomb in the top of the 3rd inning, Hagerstown left the hosting Hawks with their jaws on the floor as they continued to stay in control the rest of the way winning the second game 5-4. Freshmen Paige Vermillion and Bethany Higgins each added 2 hits while pitcher, Brooklyn Deibert, slammed the door on the comeback bid in the bottom of the 7th. This was the spark that the team had been looking for all season and they were fired up to return the following day for the deciding game.
Hagerstown came out hot in the rubber match as they put up 3 runs in the first inning followed by another insurance run in the top of the 5th as they led by a score of 4-2 with 3 innings to go. That is unfortunately where the buck stopped for the visiting Hawks. A timely 3 runs scored, including a 2-run homerun by SS Laci Johnson of CSM, pushed the hosting Hawks back into the lead 5-4. They held on the rest of the way to seal the series and advance to second round next weekend at Catonsville.
Although the ending was not the way they would have wanted, it was the best the Hawks had looked all year, and they gave CSM all they could handle. Brooke Buhrman finished the season 8th in MDJUCO with a .479 batting avg while also being 5th in HRs and 6th in RBIs with 8 and 39 respectively. Bethany Higgins also led MDJUCO in stolen bases with 22 on the year, which is a fantastic achievement. Hagerstown looks to have a decent amount of talent returning for the 2025-26 season as they hope to build on the accomplishments of this year. After not being able to field a team in 2023-24, to be able to challenge some of the premier teams in the conference the very next season should not be taken lightly. As it seems with all the teams here at HCC, the future appears brighter than ever for Hagerstown Softball. Congrats on a great year, Lady Hawks!!