St. Frances sparkles on diamond now, too

By Sandra McKee
The Baltimore Sun

May 22, 2009

When it comes to winning championships, St. Frances no longer lives by basketball alone.

Earlier this week, the Panthers baseball team won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference championship. It's the first non-basketball title in school history.

"It has been a long, hard five years," said Panthers coach Brian Boles, who started coaching St. Frances in 2005. "I am so proud of our guys. We've followed the saying, 'Championships are won before the game is played.' My players bought in to that and they put in the work - even over Christmas break they were in the weight room - to make this happen."

St. Frances (21-6) won the title Tuesday with an 8-3 win over St. John's Catholic Prep.

Junior pitcher Devan Hill (6-2, 0.77 ERA) went the distance, striking out eight and allowing five hits and one earned run. Junior Kenneth Bivens, with his team up 4-2, hit a three-run double in the fifth inning. Junior Darrell "Boom" Anderson (.511 batting average) went 4-for-4. And sophomore Devante Brown caught an exceptional game, Boles said.

"It was a great, total team effort," Boles said. "I'm looking forward to building on this. And it's going to be awfully exciting to see our championship baseball banner hanging in the gym with all those basketball banners."