Hope Gannon raced home with the winning run on a throwing error in the bottom of the eighth inning as No. 3 Archbishop Spalding survived a McDonogh comeback that forced the game to extra innings to edge the Eagles 11-10 on Wednesday.

Alex Robinson powered the Cavaliers (5-2) by going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Makenzie Maenner had two hits and drove in three runs.

“I think this is probably her best year yet,” Spalding coach Delaney Bell said of Maenner. “She’s been killing it. She’s been working on her confidence and the hits and pitching behind it.”

No. 4 McDonogh (6-2) suffered its first conference loss and second loss since falling to Towson on March 27. In that game, the Eagles also suffered because of defensive mistakes as they made eight errors.

“The blusters kind of got to them,” Eagles coach John Folfas said of Wednesday’s mistakes. “Once we had that big inning, we settled down and made big plays.”

Starter Jordan Moore allowed just three earned runs and walked two through six innings for Spalding.

Wednesday’s game was a rematch of last year’s IAAM A Conference final, when the Eagles took the title with a 1-0 victory. Though Wednesday’s win didn’t bring home a championship for Spalding, it did teach the Cavaliers lessons they need to absorb.

“When we’re up run-wise, we kind of fall apart in the field,” Maenner said. “Then they start scoring again. When we get up like that, we need to get the outs and keep hitting.”

The game hadn’t seem destined to become a nail-biter until the very end. If anything, the Cavaliers were on track to ship McDonogh back to Baltimore County after five innings.

A mishandled throw in the bottom of the first sent pinch runner Madelaine Hostelley home, then Maenner scored on a single by Moore.

“You just want to get on base and then capitalize when people are on,” Maenner said. “It’s how it goes — base hits, one at a time.”

After the Eagles failed to respond in the top of the inning, Spalding buckled down in the second. With the pressure of two outs — made on strikeouts — Jayla Neal bit at the first pitch Kearstyn Chapman (four innings, eight strikeouts) gave her and sent it over the center-field wall.

“She has been absolutely crushing the ball, but that was her first home run,” Bell said. “She has twice as many doubles as anyone on our team.”

Chapman retired the side in the third — and her teammates decided that a shutout wasn’t in the cards. With two runners on, second baseman Abbigail Nevin (2-for-3) plated the first Eagles’ run with single. Andrea Ottomano reached on a Spalding error, which scored Lauren Fish.

Carsyn Belanger (2-for-3) grounded out, which scored Nevin and tied the game. It was a knot Spalding untangled quickly.

“We definitely have to capitalize a lot, especially with good teams,” Bell said. “Everything they give you, you have to take.”

The Cavaliers scored a pair of runs on walks, then Maenner rocketed a hard grounder to left to score two. Robinson then doubled for the second time in the inning to drive in another two runs, furthering what was once an even score to a 10-3 Cavaliers lead.

If Spalding had managed another three runs in the fifth, it would have cut the game short. Instead, Ottomano took to the circle for McDonogh and pitched three straight outs.

The Eagles, as they had all game, preached keeping a light attitude to one another, not letting the dire state of the score stress them.

As a result, in the top of the sixth, McDonogh loaded the bases without surrendering an out. It couldn’t have been more perfect for Belanger, who launched a grand slam.

“We’re pretty solid one through nine in our batting order,” Folfas said, “and any given point, I get my ninth batter up, I know she’s going to hit.”

A three-run deficit wasn’t too big for the Eagles.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Ottomano drove in two with a towering fly ball to center. Then Belanger hit the same spot and plated Ottomano to tie the game at 10-10.

McDonogh had a chance to right earlier mistakes in the top of the eighth. Instead, the Eagles ran into a double play to end their first, and only, extra-inning shot.

kfominykh@capgaznews.com

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