The Bishop Ireton Lady Cardinals knocked off the O'Connell Lady Knights 3-1 to claim their first ever WCAC softball championship. The game was played May 29 at Barcroft Park in Arlington in a steady rain.

O’Connell returned the favor the next day by defeating Ireton to win the Virginia Independent State tournament.

With the score 0-0 after two innings in the WCAC game, Ireton (the visiting team) did its damage in the top of the third. Junior Ellen Horen got the ball rolling with a hard single through the middle. Sophomore Gina Cogliano bunted safely and a poor Knights throw put runners on first and third.

Ireton senior Jess Luckett was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Junior cleanup hitter Beth Dalmut hit a single to right which gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, and left the bases loaded.

Freshman Elise Lopez received three consecutive balls from O'Connell junior All-Met pitcher Cara L'Etoile. With the count "three and one," Lopez drilled a long single to center field that scored two more runs and turned out to be the decisive RBIs of the contest.

"She (L'Etoile) appeared to be struggling somewhat. I told myself that the next pitch that was over the plate, that I was really going to put my heart into it and send it [for a ride]. Those two RBI's was definitely a big turning point in the game," said Lopez.

Neither team scored in the fourth, fifth or sixth innings. With the score 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Knights had one last chance.

Ireton’s Luckett retired the first two batters, but O'Connell All-Met catcher "Andy" Alexander beat out an infield single to give the Knights hope.

A wild pitch put Alexander on second base. Junior Trish Sexauer drilled a long double to left-center, which scored Alexander and made the score 3-1.

With tri-captain and first-team All-WCAC third baseman "Chucky" Simons coming up to bat, O'Connell was one swing away from tying the contest. On Luckett's first pitch, Simons drilled a long line drive shot to medium deep right field. Fortunately for the "Cardinal and Gold," junior right fielder Kayla Kelleher was in good position.

"I knew how to line up, knowing that she could hit it pretty far," said Kelleher. "Right when it sailed off her bat, I thought it might be a little over my head. I moved to my left and I caught it going somewhat backwards with both of my feet a little bit up in the air. Defensively, we definitely had confidence in ourselves today."

The victory was Ireton's first ever WCAC Softball Championship and also marked the first time that Ireton has beaten arch-rival O'Connell in 13 varsity seasons.

"The rain was somewhat of a factor, but it affected both teams equally," said O’Connell Head Coach Tommy Orndorff. "Ireton's Tom Luckett had his team very well coached. They wanted it more today than we did."

"Jess brought her ‘A’ game from the pitcher’s mound and that was key," said Elise Lopez.

"It's great to be part of the first team here at Ireton to defeat O'Connell. Jess did a very good job hitting the corner of the plate as the game progressed," said Ireton junior catcher Beth Dalmut, the only diocesan athlete to letter in volleyball, basketball and softball this school year.

"Both teams had opportunities to score. We took advantage of ours a little better than they took advantage of theirs. Our goal all season was to hang the WCAC championship banner in our gym, and that's what we'll be able to do now," said Ireton’s Head Coach Tom Luckett.

O’Connell Boys' Tennis

The Bishop O'Connell Knights boy’s tennis team, coached by veteran Bob Kluba, experienced some bumps in the road, but still turned in a fine season. The Knights finished 8-6 overall, 7-5 WCAC, during the 2003 season.

Junior Mani Barajas-Alexander played (no.1); junior Nebyu Retta played (no.2); senior Trong Nguyen-Dinh played (no.3); both senior Sean Andrews and junior Chris Rouse split time at (no.4); freshman Jonathan Retta played (no.5) and junior Geoff Crane played (no.6).

In most matches, Barajas-Alexander/Nebyu Retta - teamed up in doubles (no.1); Nguyen-Dinh/Jonathan Retta teamed up in doubles (no.2); Rouse/Crane - teamed up in doubles (no.3).

In terms of best overall single season records: Crane (13-5), Barajas-Alexander (11-4), Jonathan Retta (8-3), Rouse (7-3) and Nebyu Retta (7-7) - paced the Knights.

At the recent WCAC tournament, Rouse/Crane turned in a remarkable performance in doubles (no.3). The twosome knocked off their previously undefeated Gonzaga opponents 10-8 and finished the season with an overall record of 8-2. Also, in doubles (no.1), Barajas-Alexander/Nebyu Retta finished as WCAC runnersups and finished the season with an overall record of 9-7.

Chris Rouse (no.4) and Geoff Crane (no.6) also finished as WCAC tournament singles runnersups.

"All of the rain really hurt our ability to practice which in turn affected our chemistry. We also had our number one returning player from last year transfer to another school, which forced us to juggle our lineup. We were probably a better team than our overall record showed," said Kluba.