o'connell softball

O’Connell Girls Look to Defend WCAC Softball Title

By David Steinbacher
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of 3/15/07)

The Bishop O'Connell Lady Knights are poised to defend last season’s WCAC softball title. O’Connell, coached by Tommy Orndorff, has an experienced team returning, yet there is a good crop of younger players as well. The team got off to a great start on March 14 as it defeated McNamara 21-0.
The school (27-1 last season) returns one of the areas top pitchers in senior Kelley Engman.
"Kelly is unofficially our captain,” said Orndorff. “Pitching is the name of the game and she's one of the best in the entire area. Last year, she personally finished 24-0 overall with an ERA of 0.48."
The Knights feature 16 players on their current squad, including three senior starters and six starting underclassmen.
In addition to Engman, senior Katie Nutaitis will anchor the catching chores and senior shortstop Erin Marrone will anchor the infield.
"Katie played first base for us last year, but she will move back to the catcher’s position where she played during both her freshman year and her sophomore year," said Orndorff.
"Erin led us in batting last season with a .469 average and seven doubles," he said.
Looking ahead to the future of his three seniors, Orndorff said Engman has signed with Boston University, Nutaitis has signed with the College of Charleston and Marrone has signed with the University of Notre Dame. The three players have started all four years at O’Connell.
"We're looking to all of our seniors this season for leadership," said Orndorff.
The starting underclassmen include freshman first baseman Madeleine Giaquinto, junior second baseman Katherine Portell, junior third baseman Devon Metcalf, freshman left fielder Sarah Eidt, junior center fielder Kelly Miller and junior right fielder Colleen Carty.
Key reserves include seniors Meaghan Mahoney, Katy McGinley, Kindall Smith and Lauren Wisemiller, as well as sophomores Jessica Grillo and Tori Portell and freshman Alexa Fleming.
Wisemiller, Nutaitis and Carty also played volleyball for head coach Michael Casey.
Regarding last season, the Knights won both the WCAC title, as well as the VIS state title. O’Connell has won numerous CGAA/WCAC softball titles in its history. Under Orndorff's leadership, the Knights have now won the three most recent WCAC titles (all with Engman on the mound.
"We've definitely got a solid team. We could be every bit as good as the team that we had last season. We're solid defensively and we've got one of the best hitting teams in the entire area," said Orndorff, who is assisted by Paul Engman and Karin Wieting.

O’Connell Boys Finish Second in State Tournament
The recent high school basketball season concluded with the Bishop O'Connell Knights finishing second in the state tournament. The Knights, coached by Joe Wootten, dropped a 51-48 contest to Benedictine (Richmond) in the finals.
Benedictine led 13-11 after the conclusion of the first quarter. The Knights led by the narrow score of 30-29 at halftime.
With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, O'Connell led 40-31. The Cadets, however, closed to 41-37 at the conclusion of the third quarter.
In the decisive fourth quarter, Benedictine outscored O'Connell 14-7 to win the contest. The Cadets actually outscored the Knights 20-7 over the games final 10 minutes.
Jason Clark (17 points), Kendall Marshall (15) and Frank Ben-Eze (seven) paced the Knights offensively. O'Connell concluded the season with an overall record of 17-15. Both Clark and Marshall were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
In the semifinals, O'Connell defeated St. Stephens/St. Agnes; in the quarterfinals, O'Connell defeated Collegiate; also in the quarterfinals, Paul VI bowed out to St. Stephens/St. Agnes).
In the Division II Boys’ title game, Notre Dame Academy of Middleburg defeated Roanoke Catholic 63-46. The Dragons advanced to the title game with an 80-48 semifinal victory versus Atlantic Shores.

Marymount Falls in Title Game
In local college basketball action, the Marymount women’s team
(No. 2 seed) dropped a 53-42 contest to top-seeded Mary Washington University (Fredericksburg) in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) title game.
Marymount made its 13th finals appearance in the 17 years that the CAC has sponsored a title contest. The Lady Saints finished 18-10 overall this season.
The fourth-seeded Marymount men dropped an 89-76 contest to fifth-seeded St. Mary's (Md.) in their quarterfinals contest as well.

Local Graduates Competing in NCAA Action
Three recent male diocesan graduates are playing college basketball in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Marcus Ginyard (O'Connell '05) and the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels won the ACC Tournament with a 73-58 quarterfinal win versus ninth-seeded Florida State; a 71-56 semifinal victory versus fourth-seeded Boston College (BC) and an 89-80 final win versus 10th-seeded North Carolina State University (NCSU).
Ginyard added four points versus BC and two points versus NCSU.
The Tar Heels are scheduled to square off with Eastern Kentucky in the NCAA tournament March 15 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Dave Neal (O'Connell '05) and the fifth-seeded Maryland Terrapins dropped a 67-62 first-round contest to 12th-seeded Miami in the early stages of the ACC Tournament. Neal played briefly but did not score.
The Terrapins are scheduled to square off with Davidson (N.C.) in the NCAA tournament March 15 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Andy Burns (Ireton '06) and the second-seeded Virginia Cavaliers dropped a 79-71 first-round contest to 10th-seeded NCSU in the early stages of the ACC tournament. Burns did not play in the game.
The Cavaliers are scheduled to square off with Albany (N.Y.) in the NCAA tournament March 16 in Columbus, Ohio.