Hawks softball capture regions, remain undefeated heading into states

ROBBY FLETCHER Sports Editor

In 22 games this season, nobody has gotten the best of the Hanover Hawks.

Through the powerful pitching combo of senior Julia Cuozzo and junior Lily Parrish and a disciplined defense behind them, the Hawks have rarely seen opposing players reach home base this season, allowing just 17 runs against them all season.

In the Class 4, Region B tournament, that was no different. It was far from easy winning any of the three games on the way to their region crown, but in each matchup, Hanover’s defense stepped up and delivered, first holding off a scrappy Patrick Henry team in a 2-1 final, then beating the Powhatan Indians in a 1-0 showdown before Hanover put the finishing touches on the tournament with a 5-1 win in the final over Spotsylvania.

Against the Patriots on May 26, the game was tied at one run apiece for three innings until a sacrifice fly from Kaileigh Byars allowed Brianna Wheeler to make it home for the winning run. Offensive success was hard to come by for both teams, and while Patrick Henry scored an early run off of Cuozzo in the first inning, when Parrish stepped up in the second, they never came close again.

Parrish struck out the first six batters she faced and had 13 strikeouts in total on the day, not allowing a single hit in her sixinning appearance.

Against Powhatan four days later, it was Cuozzo’s turn to dominate. Last year’s All-Metro player of the year was locked in during her six-inning appearance, striking out 10 batters while only seeing three hits off her, and while that kind of performance from a star player might throw most opponents in a daze as they lose composure for the rest of the game, that wasn’t the case with the Indians, who had their own star power from pitcher Madalyn Johnson to keep the game close the entire way through.

The lone run of the day came in the bottom of the fourth, when McKenzie Martin singled on a line drive to left field that got Destiny

Bryant home for the winning score. The Hawks had runners on first and third after that, but Johnson struck out Ryerson to end the inning and keep the game from getting out of hand.

From that point on, just two Indians players reached a base on offense, and no one made it to third thanks to Cuozzo’s excel- lent performance and a closeout finish from Parrish where she struck out all three batters in the top of the seventh to end the game with a state tournament bid and a chance at another region title for her team.

The final featured another stellar game on the rubber from Cuozzo, who played the whole game and struck out 13 batters while the offense was at its best all tournament with a region title on the line.

The Hawks opened the game with Parrish hitting a two-run RBI single where Byars and Meghan Deshazo made it home. They added to the lead again in the bottom of the third, this time seeing Cuozzo hitting into a double play, but not before Byars added her second run of the ballgame.

In the fifth inning, Byars was again involved in the scoring action, this time as a hitter when she singled on a line drive to center field that got Emma Slutzah home for a 4-0 lead. Spotsylvania finally got on the board with a run in the sixth inning, but Wheeler’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of that inning got Parrish home for a response run to wrap up the game with a 5-1 finish.

It was a great showing to close out the tournament, but the job’s not done yet for the Hawks, who kick off the Class 4 State Tournament with a matchup at home against Smithfield (14-9) in the quarterfinals on June 6.