SMITHSBURG, Md. – In sports, winning is the main objective.
But for the Smithsburg softball team, it might have been more of an obligation on Wednesday.
“This game was a 10 out of 10 for us,” Smithsburg pitcher Kimberly Herbert said. “Everyone played a good game. Everyone was playing for something else.”
Herbert, for one, was at her best with key hits and strong pitching were key in the Leopards’ 12-2 win over South Hagerstown in a game stopped in the fifth inning by the 10-run rule.
Still, each player on each team walked away as a winner in a game played as a Strike Out Cancer benefit. Every player came to a microphone before the game to announce a friend or family member stricken with cancer they were honoring with their participation.
While many named grandparents and cousins as honorees, a number of Smithsburg players were playing for their coach, Leslie Kocevar, a two-time survivor.
“I didn’t cry,” Kocevar said. “I did the last time we had this.”
Smithsburg (3-4) used the inspiration and the byproduct of some intense practices to take down the Rebels.
The Leopards set the table with a seven-run first inning, keyed by Herbert’s two-run triple down the right-field line, for an early 7-1 lead. Smithburg sent 12 hitters to the plate – six straight reaching base after one out – to take early control. South helped by committing four errors.
Then, Herbert took control in the circle by retiring 12 of the final 15 hitters she faced. She allowed three hits and finished with nine strikeouts, including six in the second through fourth innings.
“We were working the counts to make them more favorable,” Herbert said. “We wanted pitch from ahead.”
But for Herbert, the bigger story was the Leopards’ offense, honed by this week’s practices.
“We did a lot of work on our hitting this week,” Herbert said. “We hadn’t been hitting that well. We are a good fielding team. We just need to start hitting.”
It showed early as Smithsburg zeroed in on South pitcher Addison Wright early.
“Hitting is contagious,” Kocevar said. “We worked on our confidence in the (batter’s) box and getting up there and hitting the ball.”
The Rebels went up 1-0 on Herbert in the top of the first inning when Chelsea Desmond reached on a one-out error and score on Kailia Burke’s triple to right-center field.
It didn’t last long.
Rileigh Romberger and Olivia Kocevar each stroked one-out singles before scoring on Herbert’s triple to the right-field corner. South’s errors helped push the next five runs across the plate.
South got a run back in the second when Raelee Fry led off with a double and scored on Eliana Hill’s two-out single. Herbert allowed just one hit the rest of the way.
Smithsburg closed out the game with a three-run fifth on a two-run single by Lizzy Cox before Adianna Dudley ripped a game-ending RBI triple.
Herbert and Dudley finished with three hits each for Smithsburg, while Romberger and Olivia Kocevar added two each.
Fry had two hits for South. Wright, who was hurt by the Rebels’ defensive play, collected four strikeouts.
“We had six errors and they allowed 10 unearned runs,” South coach Chelsea Showe. “You can’t win when you kick the ball around like that.”
