The defending AA State Champion and currently 3rd ranked Broad Run Spartans (12-1/9-1) defeated top ranked Park View 2-1 in 11 innings Tuesday night at Spartan Field in Ashburn, VA. In a game expected to be another true pitchers duel between junior All Met P Christy Anch of Broad Run and sophomore sensation Karie Morrison of Park View, the fans were treated to 11 innings of perhaps the area’s best softball as the two hurlers lived up to everyone’s expectations. Morrison had an impressive start as she retired the first 9 Spartan batters in order. But the Spartans drew first blood in the bottom of the 4th when freshman 2B Lilly Rollins took a Morrison offering deep to left centerfield for a lead off double and one out later Christy Anch delivered an RBI single to centerfield plating Rollins and giving the Spartans what many believed to be an insurmountable 1-0 lead. Such was not the case however as Anch, battling what seemed to be an unusually small strike zone most of the evening, encountered trouble in the Patriot 6th inning. Karie Morrison lead off with a walk and one out later SS Veronica Skinner doubled off the left field fence to tie the game at 1-1. Skinner later advanced to third but was picked off by Spartan catcher Jessie Olownia to end the inning. The pitchers then battled again for 4 scoreless innings before the Spartans prevailed in the bottom of the 11th inning. SS Melanie Meurer delivered a one out single to left and later stole 2nd base. Lilly Rollins then walked to put Spartan runners on the corners with one out. Meurer then stole third base and raced home with the winning run when the errant throw eluded third baseman Jennifer Forsythe and got by the Patriot left fielder. An often spoken cliché in any sporting event is “the game wasn’t as close as the score indicated.” In this case, it could not have been closer or more evenly matched if it had been scripted. Anch and Morrison, like a couple of heavyweight fighters, went toe to toe for 11 innings with each striking out 14 batters. Morrison allowed 1 earned run on 4 hits and walked one – Anch allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits and walked 4, two of which were intentional. Veronica Skinner had 2 of the 3 Patriot hits (both doubles) with the other coming off the bat of DH Sheryl Wilson. For the Spartans, Lilly Rollins doubled and Christy Anch, Jessie Olownia and Melanie Meurer all had singles. Both teams are now 12-1 overall and 9-1 in the Northwestern District. Should both win their remaining 6 district games, they would meet yet again in a playoff game to determine the regular season champion.

For additional information and statistics, check out Broad Run and Park View's team pages.

Christy Anch followed up the win at Park View with a perfect game against Warren County in a 14-0 win. It was the 3rd career perfect game for Anch as she struck out 19 of the 21 Warren County batters she faced.