A golden comeback: Carroll softball rallies for the Class 5A state championship

There was no grand speech from Bishop Carroll coach Steve Harshberger when his team’s championship dream was down to its final three outs.

The message was simple.

“Get on,” Harshberger said. “Then the next person get on, then keep getting on and don’t stop getting on.”

The Golden Eagles made their final outs count, rallying for four runs to engineer a stunning comeback win in Friday’s Class 5A state tournament semifinals, building a wave of momentum that carried over to a 12-2 run-rule victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in the championship game at Wilkins Stadium.

It was the 15th state title in program history, the first since 2021 and the seventh — with a run of five straight from 2011-15 — in the last 13 years.

“After (the semifinal win) we said, ‘If we can do that, then we can do anything in the championship,’” Carroll junior Allyson Orth said.

Given Carroll’s 5-2 deficit entering the top of the seventh inning in the semifinal against a Maize South pitcher who hadn’t lost all season, it might have a place secured as the most improbable of Harshberger’s four titles.

The rally began with a lead-off walk by Keira Stripling, followed by a double from Orth and an RBI single by Cambell Riordan to trim the deficit to 5-3.

“We knew the pressure was on, but we work on pressure situations all season,” said Riordan, who hit seven home runs this season with 64 RBIs and a .565 batting average. “We knew that was our last chance and we didn’t want to be in that third-place game, no one ever does. We knew what we had to do.”

What Carroll had to do to complete the comeback was stand in the box and take pitches.

Ani Marcotte walked, Olivia Navarro plated another run on a sacrifice fly for the first out in the inning, then Riordan scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 5-5. Zoe Buessing walked to load the bases again, then Desiray Segura walked to bring home Marcotte, the go-ahead run.

Maize South escaped the jam without further damage, but failed to generate an attack in the bottom of the seventh inning and went down in order. The Mavericks (26-4) finished fourth place after losing to top-seeded Spring Hill in the third-place game.

“I told them, ‘Once you do something like that, you’ve got to finish it. Don’t let anybody stop you. It’s all yours,’” Hershberger said. “

Aquinas certainly couldn’t stop Carroll in the final, as the Golden Eagles banged out 15 hits and Aquinas’ defense committed four errors that added up to a run-rule victory.

Riordan finished 3-for-4 in the final with a team-high four RBIs, while fellow senior Ani Marcotte and Olivia Navarro each drove in two runs and Lilly Martin tacked on another RBI hit. Orth registered the win in the circle, striking out seven.

“It’s such a great feeling because we have a little sign that is going on the back of our dugout,” Orth said. “To have 2024 on there and to know I was a part of that and it’ll be on there forever is really special.”