Souderton SB State Title Notebook

The Souderton softball team captured the program’s first ever softball state title, thanks to its 8-3 win over Lower Dauphin in the PIAA Class AAAA championship game at Penn State University. To view photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.

“We Ran This”

Those three words effectively summed up a magical season for the Souderton softball team that culminated with the Indians’ 8-3 win over Lower Dauphin in last Friday’s PIAA Class AAAA title game at Penn State University.

All season long, the Indians were driven by their motto ‘We Run This,’ and run it they did, determining their own fate with an unforgettable trip through the state tournament.

The dust had not settled on Friday’s win when white t-shirts – the brainchild of athletic director Tom Quintois - appeared out of nowhere declaring the Indians the 2014 State Champions. On the back of those shirts was the phrase “We Ran This.”

“It’s just your mentality,” senior captain Haley DeLany said. “They say that 90 percent of softball is mental and only 10 percent is actual skill.

“We work on our skills – we work hard at it, but the key is to have a good mentality during a game.”

The team was devoid of big-name stars, but that didn’t matter. Each game, a different player stepped to the fore.

In Friday’s title game, the Indians’ outfield of senior Amanda Brush, junior Dayna Shelly and sophomore Angie Carty stole the spotlight at the plate. Each of the three collected two hits with Shelly finishing 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run scored, Carty, 2-for-3 with one RBI and two runs scored, while Brush was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Add it up, and the Indians’ outfielders combined for six of the team’s 10 hits and also drove in five of eight runs.

“I think teamwork made it happen,” DeLany said. “Going with that leadership, believing in each other and focus.

“Those were big things that went along with all of this.

Pitcher perfect – If ever a pitcher was a perfect fit for her team, it was Erelle Sowers. The senior hurler - quietly and without fanfare - got the job done game after game for the Indians during their magical postseason run.

Her composure on the mound was never more evident than in Friday’s state title game that saw Lower Dauphin benefit from a hit batter, three hits and two errors to plate a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning.

Sowers was in complete command the rest of the way, retiring the Falcons in order in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings and allowing just three hits after the first inning – two after the second. The Falcons managed a sixth inning run, but by that time, the Indians led 7-2.

When it was over, an emotional Sowers credited pitching coach Dan DeMarco for his role.

“Knowing him, he would be so proud,” she said. “He couldn’t be here today, but I know he was watching. He was so proud of me for actually getting this far.

“I’ve been going to him for six or seven years now, and he’s taught me everything I know – how to even think on the mound is everything. I give so much of my accomplishments to him because he deserved it.”

Over the course of the Indians’ postseason run, Sowers repeatedly credited batterymate Morgan Yoder for providing a calming presence behind the plate.

“We communicate really well, but she is really mentally strong,” Yoder said. “The thing about her is she doesn’t worry about speed, but she worries more about her spin and where the ball ends up.

“She practices a lot. She practices with her pitching coach when she feels as though she’s a little out of whack. She just works really hard, and she’s smart about everything. She doesn’t worry about the hitter, she worries about herself.”

Yoder wasn’t surprised to see Sowers come back strong after a shaky start.

“The first inning, I think she just kind of worked herself up,” Yoder said. “We had never played in that kind of environment, so I think it was more of a shock to her.

“After the first inning, we talked and said, ‘Be confident. You know you have the hitting behind you. Forget about it. That was our bad inning.’ Mentally, she just needed to get grounded and relax.”

The rest is history. Friday’s game marked the end of a long relationship for Sowers and Yoder.

“I’m going to miss her a lot,” Yoder said. “We’ve been together for so long. It’s definitely going to be a change, but it will be something I’ll never forget.”

Road warriors – A third place finish in the District One AAAA Tournament guaranteed that the Indians would be on the road for as long as they remained alive in the state tournament since the third place District One team is slotted in the western part of the tournament bracket.

Between the team’s two road trips to Messiah College, another to Bloomsburg University and Friday’s trek to Penn State, the Indians logged over a thousand miles. They turned those trips into parties on wheels, playing karaoke and Headbanz. Last Friday they found a new way to while away the time.

“We danced on the bus,” senior Amanda Brush said. “That was our thing for today. We were dancing.”

The seniors weren’t operating on a whole lot of sleep with a schedule that included graduation the preceding night, a 6 a.m. departure and the not-so-little-matter of a state title game awaiting them at the end of the 200-mile road trip.

“It was hard to sleep, but I still had a lot of energy,” Brush said.

Special seniors – A lot has been written about Souderton’s four senior captains, and with good reason. Amanda Brush, Haley DeLany, Paige Shelly and Erelle Sowers were the heart and soul of a squad that won 12 of 14 games to close out the season en route to the state crown.

“Throughout the whole season, they have been great leaders on and off the field,” coach Steph Rummel said. “They’ve been stepping up and doing what we need them to do every single game, whether with the bat or in the field, and they’ve been keeping everybody with them.

“A big part of the great leadership qualities they have is that they bring their team with them. That’s what we needed. We needed them to all follow the seniors, and they led very well this year.”

Sowers, Shelly, Brush and DeLany batted one, two, three and four, respectively. The senior captains not only occupied the top four spots in the batting order, they anchored the Indians’ defense. Sowers was the workhorse on the mound while Shelly was a vacuum at third base, fielding everything in her vicinity and gunning down runners with her patented laser throws. DeLany, a lefty, was the Indians’ golden glove first baseman, and Brush, aka Crossfit, might have been the team’s best athlete, tracking down balls and making several impossible catches in center field. Shelly, DeLany and Brush all occupied spots on The Inquirer’s all-area first team.

Continental conquests - The Suburban One Continental Conference can make an extraordinary claim. Three of the last four PIAA Class AAAA state championship teams were from that conference. Hatboro-Horsham won the state title in 2011, Central Bucks South captured the state crown in 2012, and after a one-year hiatus that saw District 7’s Canon McMillan eke out a win over Neshaminy for the state title in 2013, Souderton kept the conference’s remarkable tradition alive by winning the 2014 title.

Making that feat even more remarkable is the fact that all three of those titles were won by coaches in their first full year at the helm. Joe DiFilippo won in his first year at Hatboro, Dan Hayes did the same in his first season in charge at CB South, and Steph Rummel – who took over the reins with seven games remaining in the 2013 season – also won in her first full season.

“I love it,” DiFilippo said. “I hope this goes on forever.”

Hatboro-Horsham also captured the state crown in 2008.

Here and there - Senior Paige Shelly and junior Dayna Shelly - Souderton’s own version of ‘Sister Act’ - put on quite a showing in Friday’s title game. While Dayna was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored, Paige was 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scores. The siblings were the Indians’ top two hitters this season.

-Souderton’s players and coaches took another road trip on Thursday, this time to Harrisburg where they were the guests of Pennsylvania State Representative Robert Godshall. They received special certificates of recognition and were given a tour of the capitol. On Thursday night, the team was honored by the Souderton Area School Board.

-Souderton closed out the 2014 season with a 21-5 record, capturing the SOL Continental Conference crown as well as the PIAA Class AAAA state title. The Indians finished third behind Avon Grove and North Penn in the District One AAAA Tournament. They are the first female team to win a state title in Souderton history.

2014 State Championship Season at a Glance