Catonsville’s top three hitters — Kylie Tran, Amy Montgomery-Snoke and Emily Meiller — combined for nine hits, six runs and three RBIs, pitcher Kaia Gross delivered a complete game and the defense played nearly flawless to lead the Comets to a 12-7 victory over visiting Mount de Sales.

The Sailors (4-2), tied with Spalding atop the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference at 2-0, got off to a fast start when the first five batters — Olivia Ross, Vanessa Gilman, Olivia Berger, Brooke Fuhr and Reese Barchanowicz — all singled and scored, giving the Sailors a 5-0 lead.

But Gross bounced back to hold the Sailors scoreless until they scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh after the Comets scored 12 straight runs.

“I just shook it off and focused on the next batter,” Gross said.

She didn’t strike out a batter and walked only one, but relied heavily on her solid defense.

“Yes, they were doing what they needed,” the junior said. “I was very impressed.”

“She threw it up there and pop ups, pop ups and the wind is blowing in and we had some real nice shots right at them, too,” Mount de Sales coach Pete Waskiewicz said. “They deserved to win.”

The Sailors did get 12 hits, led by Berger with three and Ross, Fuhr and Quinn Hastings with two each, but the Comets (4-3) finished with 14 hits off Barchanowicz and Fuhr.

Lilly Ureno had an RBI double to cap off a three-run first inning to pull the Comets within two. In the bottom of the second, Olivia Parton led off with a single and scored on a run-scoring double by Sky Miklow.

Singles by Tran and Montgomery-Snoke (3-for-4) brought home Miklow, and Tran scored from third on the front end of a double steal for the go-ahead run. Montgomery-Snoke made it 7-5 after an RBI ground out by Gross.

In the bottom of the third, the lead expanded to three after Tran doubled for her third consecutive hit and Montgomery-Stroke drove her home. They added four more to bump the lead to 12-5 heading into the seventh.

Tran has now reached base in eight of her past 11 plate appearances.

“I just trust myself and my mechanics,” Tran said. “I know I can hit the ball on any pitcher.”

The victory comes off back-to-back losses to Sparrows Point and Perry Hall.

“Our last two games have not turned out like we wanted them to turn out and we weren’t playing how we wanted to play and how we know we can play,” Catonsville first-year coach Ry Harvey said. “I think between the conversations after those games and after that first meeting today where I just said, ‘Swing the bat. You don’t get hits unless you swing the bat and go up there and jump on her early. If you can go for it, go for it.'”

Meanwhile, Gross bounced back after the rocky performance in her first start of the season.

“She’s one of those pitchers I think just gets better and better as the game goes on,” Harvey said. “Her first inning tends to be a struggle, but she really zoned in, goes really one pitch at a time, one hitter at a time and I think it’s really helped.”

The defense, which was spotty in the two losses this week, also aided the pitcher.

“I think last week we had really solid fielding and [Wednesday] and Tuesday we really had a lot of errors,” Harvey said. “Today I said you really have to lock in, you have to be a wall out there and they provided so it was good.”

Second baseman Clara Nelson capped a flawless game at second base with a diving infield catch in the final inning.

“That got me excited,” said Tran, who had a nice view of the play from her shortstop position.

The senior was also happy to get some redemption after losing 9-2 to the Sailors last year.

“They are still good. We lost bad last year to them,” Tran said. “They totally were expecting to beat us, but we came out hard.”

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