Central Bucks East defeated Neshaminy 4-2 to capture the District One AAAA championship on Friday at William Tennent. To view photos of the title game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Mary Jane Souder
WARMINSTER – Kayla Ventura went through her usual between-pitch ritual, kicking the loose dirt around the pitching rubber, and then the Central Bucks East freshman went into her wind-up, delivering a pitch that would vault the Patriots into the history books.
The ball – swung on and missed for the third strike – had barely hit catcher Julia Schoenewald’s glove when Ventura was mobbed by jubilant teammates. The Patriots, thanks to their 4-2 win over the top-seeded Redskins, had just captured the coveted District One AAAA title.
The celebration was about to begin.
“I was standing out there in the seventh inning with two outs, and I could not believe it was real,” senior tri-captain Allie Chase said. “I couldn’t grasp it.
“I was like, ‘This is incredible.’ I wasn’t sure what I should do – if I should jump, run, hug someone. It was amazing. In the four years I’ve been here, this is the most exciting game we’ve ever played.”
It also was by far the biggest, and there were stars galore for the seventh-seeded Patriots, who – after surviving 10th-seeded Methacton in eight innings in a second round game – knocked off the tournaments third, second and top-seeded teams to capture the district title.
“It’s pretty cool,” coach Erin Scott said. “The girls deserve it so much.
“I had high hopes for today, but you never know. Anything can happen on any given day. I wasn’t overly confident because I knew we played Neshaminy last year and we knocked them out (in the second round). I knew they would be ready.”
For all the success the Patriots had this season, one thing was missing – a banner.
“It’s so awesome,” Caroline Schoenewald said. “It’s so cool. I don’t even know what to say. It’s just so exciting.
“This is what we wanted forever. It’s our goal. We get a banner. We didn’t win the league. We had to win it.”
Schoenewald accounted for three of her team’s eight hits and none loomed larger than her line drive single just off the glove of the shortstop in the first inning to plate Allie Chase with the game’s first run.
“Scoring in the first inning is always huge,” said Chase, who collected a two-out single and moved up to second on a passed ball. “That’s the advantage of being the away team – you get to bat first, you get to put runs on the board and put the pressure on the other team to come back and put that many runs up too.”
Scoring early has been a pattern for the red hot Patriots. They scored a pair of runs in the first inning of their 3-2 upset of second-seeded Hatboro-Horsham and then plated three in the first inning of Thursday’s 4-2 win over Pennsbury.
“It’s very important to come out early and get that first run so you know you have confidence in your team, and it pumps you up,” Schoenewald said. “You know you can do it, and everyone knows they can hit her.”
Armed with a 1-0 lead, Theresa Haug was in complete command for her five-inning stint in the circle, allowing only a two-out single to Jen Walker in the second and lead-off single to Julia McGovern in the fourth. The freshman hurler, who fanned two, retired 15 of the 17 batters she faced.
“Haug wasn’t slow – she’s effective,” Neshaminy coach Dave Chichilitti said. “She throws the ball with good movement, and she threw to spots.
“We knew where the spots were going to be, but we had to be a little more patient because it wasn’t overwhelming; she’s not a power pitcher.”
Scott stayed with a pattern that has been extremely effective, lifting Haug after five nearly flawless innings for the team’s ultimate finisher – Ventura.
"I can't believe she took her out, but that was their strategy,” Chichilitti said. “They stuck to their strategy and it worked for them. I respect that.”
The Patriots gave Ventura a cushion, striking for three more runs in the sixth. Julie Schoenewald drew a leadoff walk, and Caroline Shoenewald collected her second bunt single in as many days. Brady Tilottson followed with a single to load the bases.
Lauren Quense came up with a huge strikeout for the inning’s first out, but Carla Ruscio, in one of the game’s best at-bats, battled back from an 0-2 count to draw an eight-pitch walk that forced in a run.
Senior Sierra Huckfeldt followed and delivered the game’s biggest blow, lining a two-run single to left center to put the Patriots on top 4-0.
“That was unbelievable,” Scott said. “It just goes to show – you take any of our batters lightly, and they’re going to take advantage of it.
“She can hit, and I was getting frustrated because I heard some fans on their side saying, ‘No stick.’ I’m like, ‘No you didn’t’ because I’m confident, and I know what they can do. It just goes to show – senior, heart, focus, leadership.”
Twenty-four hours earlier, in her team’s win over Pennsbury, Huckfeldt struck out twice a.jpg)
nd was lifted for a pinch hitter in her third at-bat. On Friday, when it mattered most, the senior first baseman answered the call.
“It’s really important to not ever get down on yourself because the moment that you think you can’t do it, you’re probably not going to be able to,” Huckfeldt said. “It’s really hard to stay positive.
“My coaches and my teammates have been keeping me up. They’ve been telling me I can do it, and it’s been making me believe that I can. I’ve had big hits early in the season, but I’ve also struggled too, so it’s been up and down. It feels really nice to get a hit when we really need it.”
Any thoughts that it was going to be easy were put to rest in the bottom of the inning. Diana LaPolambara reached first on a one-out infield single off the handle, and rare back-to-back errors on grounders by McGovern and Quense allowed the Redskins to plate a pair of runs.
“The thing about our team is we just don’t lose confidence,” Chase said. “We all have so much confidence in each other, in our pitchers, in our defense, and at practice, all we do is practice situations with runners on second and third, so whenever we have runners on second and third, it’s like, ‘Okay, we’ve done this a thousand times.’”
Ventura escaped further damage by calmly retiring the next two batters she faced, the first on a strikeout and the second on a grounder to third.
"We didn't start hitting until the sixth inning, and you can't do that a team that's a good team at this point in the season,” Chichilitti said.
In the bottom of the seventh, Selina Alicea lined a one-out double to left, but a popup to second base for the inning’s second out set the stage for a strikeout that sealed the win for the Patriots and forced the top-seeded Redskins to settle for silver.
“We’re still in states,” LaPalombara said. “It’s just one game. We need to win four more games.
“I definitely think this can fuel the fire. We had one loss in a non-league game (to Nazareth Academy on April 5), and we haven’t lost since until today. I personally as a senior know how it feels, and I told them, ‘You better not want to feel this again because this is terrible.’”
The emotions of the other side of the field were a direct contrast as the Patriots celebrated their memorable run to a district title.
“We have all seniors,” Caroline Schoenewald said. “We know we can go far, we know we can do it.
“It was our goal all along to make it to states. Now we have done it. It’s awesome. Even just our conference is insane, and to make it into playoffs and win districts and making it to states, it’s a really big accomplishment for our team.”
Schoenewald took a close look at the medal hanging around her neck.
“For it to say champions on the back, that’s cool,” she said. “I’ll keep it forever.”
Scott, meanwhile, described the experience as surreal.
“I didn’t go into this expecting it,” the Patriots’ coach said. “Even today, I was confident, I was excited about it, but you never know.
“I know that’s a phenomenal team. I knew we had to play as a team, they had to get the job done and keep doing what they’ve been doing. I’m just really proud. I’m just really kind of emotional about it because I love these kids. All these seniors – it just makes it so much fun to coach them.
“They’re great friends, and when they’re grown up and have their own kids, they’re probably going to talk about this. That’s a neat feeling as a coach.”
On Monday, the district champion Patriots will face Girls High, District 12’s second place team, at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School at 6 p.m. Neshaminy will face District 12 and PCL champion St. Hubert’s at Temple Ambler Campus at 3 p.m.
#3 PENNSBURY 5, #13 NORTH PENN 0
Valerie Buehler would certainly have been forgiven if she hadn’t come out with her best stuff in Friday’s third place game. After all, the Falcons’ senior hurler had already thrown a pair of complete games on back-to-back days, and the Falcons were coming off a heartbreaking loss to Central Bucks East in the district semifinals one day earlier.
Showing no ill effects from that grueling stretch, Buehler tossed a gem.
“Val was wonderful,” coach Frank McSherry said. “She pitched three days in a row in this heat, and she only gave up one hit today on a bad hop single that went over Christina Bascara’s shoulder.
“She was really good, really good, and our kids came out swinging the bats.”
The Falcons scored all the runs Buehler would need in the bottom of the third when Mackenzie Obert delivered a clutch two-out single that plated Jess Greenwald, who had tripled. The Falcons tacked on two more runs in the fourth and then closed out the scoring with two in the sixth for the 5-0 final.
Farryl Groder led the Falcons with two hits – both doubles and two RBIs.
“She had a rough day yesterday with two popups to the shortstop, and she had two big hits and two RBIs,” McSherry said.
Also delivering a pair of hits were Suzanne Swanicke, Christina Bascara and Taylor Boltersdorf. Michelle George had a double and two RBIs.
All told, the Falcons pounded out 11 hits off sophomore hurler Jackie Bilotti.
“As bad as we were yesterday, that’s how good we were today,” McSherry said.
On Monday, the Falcons (19-4, 12-2 SOL) will travel to Lebanon Valley for an opening round PIAA Tournament game against District 3 champion Lebanon Valley at 4:30 p.m. The Maidens (16-9, 7-7) will face District 11 champion Northampton in a 7 p.m. contest at Patriots Park in Allentown.
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