Taking a deeper dive into Carroll County baseball, softball

As we enter the last few weeks of the regular season, we take at the top teams and recent results around the diamonds of Carroll County. 

For baseball, as it has been for the last couple of years, it's Liberty and Century in front of the county pack. The Lions are unbeaten in Carroll County Athletic League play, while Century hangs on to second place. 

In county softball, Francis Scott Key leads the CCAL standings with Manchester Valley and Liberty close behind. The Eagles have a pair of wins over the Lions, and one against the Mavericks so far.

Now, let's look back at some of the more impressive games this week. 

Baseball 

Liberty 11, Century 3

On April 17, Cam Hodges led the Lions with 2 home runs (2-run, 3-run) while Jack Davidson pitched great despite giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. Liberty's defense helped Davidson get out of a few tough situations.

Liberty 10, Francis Scott Key 6

On April 19, the visiting Lions struck early and notched another county win. Cam Hodges belted another 3-run homer and Kevin Hyde had 2 hits and 2 RBIs. Liberty improved to 10-2, 7-0 in the CCAL. FSK is 2-9, 2-5.

Century 11, Winters Mill 1

On April 19, the Knights rebounded behind Ryan Matthews' 5-inning 2-hitter with 8 strikeouts. Blake Kessler had 3 hits including a homer, and drove in 4 runs for Century (9-4, 4-2 county).

Winters Mill 8, Westminster 5

The Falcons (3-6, 2-5 county) started off hot with 3 runs in the first inning, before the Owls (3-9, 2-4) responded with 4 of their own in the bottom half. Dallas Poole led the Falcons with 2 hits with 2 RBIs, to help the Falcons pull ahead later and hang on for the win. 

South Carroll 17, Manchester Valley 3

Jackson Strzelczyk paced the Cavaliers (5-7, 3-5 CCAL) with 4 RBIs and 3 triples, and South Carroll collected 19 hits in the victory. Man Valley is 5-4, 4-3 in the county.

Softball

Liberty 5, Century 3 (8 inn.) 

On April 17, the Knights led 3-0 until the seventh inning but Liberty tied it to force extra innings. Kaelin Ault laced a triple to bring in a run, then scored on an error by Century. 

Francis Scott Key 6, Liberty 5

On April 19, The Eagles took control in the fifth inning, when Emma Tawney, Jasmine Kline, Kendall Jackman and Brianna Dehoff all had RBI hits to help the Eagles extend their win streak to 5 games. FSK is 8-0 in county play, while the Lions fall to 9-3, 5-2.

Century 11, Winters Mill 1

On April 19, the Knights got healthy thanks in part to 4 hits and 3 RBIs by Caylee Clark. Lizzie Ferment had 3 hits and an RBI as well. The Falcons fell to 0-9, 0-8 in the county.

Manchester Valley 17, South Carroll 7

The Mavericks improved to 6-2 (5-2 CCAL) and swept the regular-season series with the Cavaliers (8-4, 3-3). Mackenzie Murray had a home run and 3 RBIs for Man Valley.

NOTE: Scores and statistics courtesy of Carroll County Times roundups and Jeff Gardner.