The Bishop Ireton girls’ swim team has been a dominant power in the area for the past two seasons. Paul VI girls’ volleyball team has been a dominant power for the past four seasons. But Bishop O'Connell’s girls’ softball team has been a juggernaut in the area for the past two decades.

The Knights, coached by Tommy Orndorff and assisted by Al Anch and Pat Darmody, have achieved a stellar reputation not only at the local level, but at the national level as well.

Orndorff, currently in his 17th season at O’Connell, has won a staggering 370 games against 40 losses since the 1985 season. That is a winning percentage of close to .900 win percentage - substantially better than Morgan Wootten's basketball winning percentage at DeMatha.

"We have had outstanding success here at O'Connell," Orndorff said. "The school’s reputation attracts a lot of very fine players. Even before I stepped in 17 years ago, this was a very good program."

The current team is off to an 11-1 start. They defeated Elizabeth Ann Seton 15-0 on April 17. The Knights only loss was a 1-0 defeat to Broad Run in the championship game of the Northern Virginia Invitational Tournament. Broad Run starting pitcher Christy Anch is the daughter of O'Connell assistant Al Anch.

The Knight’s starters include: senior captain Katie LaBelle (first base), batting .321 with one grand slam and one triple; senior captain Natalie Maronski (second base), batting .345; junior captain Nicole Simons (third base), batting .370 with one homer, one triple and three doubles; sophomore pitcher Cara L'Etoile, with a 0.57 ERA and 93 strikeouts; and junior Andi Alexander (catcher), batting a staggering .571 with one homer, three triples and two doubles.

Key subs include: junior Kate Bauer (outfield), sophomore Keri Spaulding (catcher/outfield), freshman Claire Jorns (outfield) and freshman Katie Yohe (outfield/infield/catcher). Both LaBelle and Maronski are likely to play college ball and have been key performers on Orndorff's squad for the past several seasons.

"This years team is a very solid unit," said LaBelle. "Everybody plays their part. These four seasons wearing the O'Connell blue has been a lot of fun."

"Our coaching staff is very dedicated," Maronski said. "Living up to the demands of being an O'Connell captain is challenging, but I feel that Katie, Nicole and myself are doing our best."

"Katie is a real leader and she can hit for power and average," said Orndorff. "Natalie is a real leader and she is just exceptional defensively."

The Knights have not discriminated since joining the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference in 1994. They have won eight consecutive regular season championships.

Holy Cross (Kensington, Md.) snapped the Knights WCAC postseason tournament streak of seven consecutive titles (1994-00) by defeating the Knights in last seasons championship game.

The Knights have also won eight consecutive Virginia Independent Schools State Championships (since 1994). Prior to 1994, when the Knights played in the CGAA (Catholic Girls Athletic Association) they won six of eight regular season titles and four of eight postseason tournament titles.

Though none of Orndorff's former players have ever competed at the USA Olympic Softball Trials, over two dozen players have been selected either first or second team All-Met (Washington Post) - and 15 other players have been selected honorable mention All-Met. Scores of former Knights have been selected All-WCAC (or All-CGAA) throughout the years.

Regarding the current O'Connell team, Orndorff said, "This years team has been a pleasant surprise. We are pretty young and I didn't expect us to be this good this early. This team really doesn't have one or two super players (like some of our previous teams did). We are getting timely hits from the bottom of the batting order. We are playing as well currently as we have in years past."