In softball-rich Anne Arundel County, the Chesapeake-Broadneck rivalry has been the hottest in the last three years largely due to the pitching duels between Cougars' senior Lauren Gibson and Broadneck junior Kourtney Salvarola.

Thursday, the No. 1 Bruins (6-0) threw a curve ball when they sent junior Ashley Thomas, an All-Metro shortstop and No. 2 starter, to the mound and came away with an impressive 3-0 win over the No. 3 Cougars.

Like most games the teams have played in the past two years -- Broadneck has taken the regular season and county championship games in both seasons only to have Chesapeake win the Class 4A East region title game on the way to consecutive state titles -- it came down to execution and attention to detail.

Enter Thomas.

With two on and no outs in the top of the first inning, she slammed an inside pitch from Gibson over the left field fence to provide all the runs she and the Bruins would need. After the game, she said Gibson has always pitched her outside, so she made the adjustment to have the outside pitches covered but was still able to turn on the inside pitch.

With the early lead, Thomas was able to overcome butterflies on the mound by staying around the plate and trusting her defense. She surrendered just three hits, but struck out only one with some fine plays behind her contributing to the complete team win.

-- Glenn Graham