By Dillon Mullan; WASHINGTON POST
Without surrendering a run, National Cathedral sailed smoothly through the first 20 innings of the District of Columbia State Athletic Association playoffs. Then in the 21st and final frame, Sidwell Friends loaded the bases and turbulence set in.
“I was a bit of a wreck in the last inning,” junior pitcher Logan Robinson admitted.
After Robinson hit a batter to give away a run, Sidwell Friends’ tying run was 60 feet from home. The Eagles bent as far as they could but did not break. Shortstop Jamie Wang gratefully caught the final out as National Cathedral held on for a 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Southeast.
“When I hit that girl to make it 4-3, that was really hard for me,” Robinson said. “But I just kept believing in myself and throwing the pitches that I know and trust.”
Robinson smacked an RBI single as part of a three-run fifth inning that gave National Cathedral a 4-0 lead. In the top of the seventh, Sidwell Friends senior pitcher Kaylee Simon started the Quakers’ rally with a single up the middle. After junior Abby Meyers bunted for a single to load the bases, things really got interesting.
Midway through the season, Sidwell Friends began practicing suicide squeeze plays, and that preparation proved invaluable during the season’s final inning. With the bases loaded, junior Lia Assimakopoulos and sophomore Lema Gang laid down successful bunts to score runners from third and cut the Eagles’ lead to 4-2.
“It’s a risky situation because you have to get the bunt down, but under a lot of pressure we executed,” Sidwell Friends Coach Bethany Sindy said. “But sometimes you come a couple outs short.”
As the No. 4 seed, Sidwell Friends (11-8) knocked out St. John’s and top seed Visitation to reach the final. After losing in the Independent School League semifinals, National Cathedral (11-5) bounced back to capture its second straight DCSAA title.
“We always say we have three seasons — regular season, ISL, and DCSAA,” Robinson said. “We had some tough times at first, but we got hot at the end and that’s all that matters.
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