Rams Win Behind Mitchell

Melanie Mitchell couldn't win a state softball title on her own, but she came pretty close.

The McDonough senior All-Met tied a Maryland championship game record with 19 strikeouts to cap the fourth-ranked Rams' perfect season with a 4-0 victory over Lansdowne in the 2A final at the University of Maryland.

Following the path of recent All-Met hurlers from Southern Maryland, Mitchell's numbers this season were similarly mind-boggling. The 6-foot-1 right-hander allowed one run all season and shut out her final 17 opponents. She recorded 315 of the Rams' 399 outs via strikeout, while allowing 22 hits -- two to Lansdowne -- and four walks.

It was particularly sweet for Mitchell and the Rams, who lost, 1-0, in last year's final after scoring just 17 runs all season. They knew they needed more offense if they were to win a title.

"Coming into the season, we knew we had to put some focus on the offense, and the girls buckled down," said Mitchell, who will play for Virginia. "It's a fantastic feeling."

It is the first championship for McDonough (19-0) since the Rams won four straight from 1995 to '98. They clinched it early, knowing one run was likely all they'd need.

In the bottom of the second, with runners on second and third, McDonough senior Jasmine Hairston fouled off eight straight pitches before lining the next one off the glove of Vikings pitcher Maude McCourry to score Samantha Kruemmel. Umpires disputed Lansdowne's claim of a McDonough base runner interfering with fielding the ricocheted shot.

Molly Simpson then scored on a groundout, and Jazzmyn Hayden singled home Hairston to give McDonough a 3-0 lead. Mitchell's RBI double in the fifth finished the scoring.

Lansdowne (15-5), playing in its first final in 28 years, never threatened Mitchell. She struck out the first nine batters and threw 71 of her 98 pitches for strikes.

"Just like the others that came through [Southern Maryland] and won state championships," Rams Coach Julie Snavely said, "it was special to have coached" Mitchell.

McDonough 4, Lansdowne 0 SMAC Is Packed: McDonough is the fifth Southern Maryland Athletic Conference team to win a state title this decade, joining Calvert, Huntington, Northern and Thomas Stone. The conference has won a title every year since 1992, except for 1999, 2003 and '04. Untouchable: It wasn't until Melanie Mitchell's 32nd pitch of the game -- the eighth batter -- that Lansdowne made contact. The 0-2 pitch was fouled off, before the batter struck out on the next pitch.