Pennsbury and North Penn advanced to Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinal round. Pennsbury/Quakertown photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
PIAA 6A quarterfinals
#1-5 PENNNSBURY 6, #1-4 QUAKERTOWN 2
Revenge was sweet indeed for the Falcons.
No one had forgotten the fact that it was a young Quakertown squad that had stunned the top-seeded Falcons in a District 6A quarterfinal contest, earning a 5-2 win on the Falcons’ home turf.
The Falcons turned the tables in Thursday’s rematch, earning a win that vaulted their team into Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinals.
“The last time we played them Quakertown played a really good game, their kid (Syd Andrews) pitched a really good game, and we didn’t give our best – it wasn’t our best,” Pennsbury coach Frank McSherry said. “But I think today we played much better than we did the first game and that certainly helped.”
If the Falcons needed something to bolster their confidence, they got it from Ainsley McClure. The junior ace struck out the side in the first and second innings and had eight strikeouts through three innings. The Panthers did manage three hits in that span, including back-to-back two-out singles in the third by Ava Beal and Emma Hilton, but McClure ended that potential rally with a harmless popup to shortstop Caitlyn Martell for the inning’s final out.
The Falcons put a run on the board in the bottom of the third, thanks to three straight one-out singles by Riley Mahony, Rowan Mulholland and Jess Rowe (RBI). They took that 1-0 lead into the fifth when they erupted for four runs.
Taylor Askey got the ball rolling with a bunt single, and a Panthers’ miscue on a bunt by Martell put a pair of runners on base with none out for the Falcons.
“It’s a shame because we did work on that a lot at practice the last couple of days – bunt coverages, but it didn’t translate,” Quakertown coach Dave Scott said.
McSherry explained his decision to play some small ball.
“You look to see what the defense is giving you,” the Falcons’ coach said. “It’s situational, it’s all situational – time of the game, who you have up, what’s the score. There’s so much. We might not do the same thing the next time.”
A walk to Mahony loaded the bases and set the stage for three consecutive RBI singles by Mulholland, Jess Rowe and Quinn McGonigle. Sammy Raub’s sacrifice fly plated a run that gave the Falcons a 5-0 lead.
The Panthers put a dent in that advantage when LauraRose Morelock belted a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Pennsbury got one of those back in the bottom of the inning when Martell, who laced a two-out double to right, scored on a Mahony single.
The Panthers didn’t go down quietly. Grace Baker and Cadence Lewis opened the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles, but Martell robbed Beal of a base hit with a highlight reel play – a diving grab of a low line drive in the third base hole.
“As a team, we love defense – we love to have Ainsley’s back,” Martell said. “Any ball I think I gotta reach – we’re going after it. Everyone lays out.”
A walk to Hilton loaded the bases, but McClure came up with a huge strikeout for the inning’s second out, and with the bases loaded, McClure coaxed a hard ground ball to Martell out of Andrews. The Falcons’ shortstop fired to first, and the win was in the books.
“They battled, there’s no doubt about it,” McSherry said of the Panthers. “After the second and third time when they saw (McClure), it was a little different. I’m sure the heat had something to do with it too, but we loved how she started. It gave us just a ton of momentum, a ton of momentum. She came to throw today.”
Rowe – who started the season batting ninth but is now in the cleanup spot – was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.
“I feel like it’s a little more pressure, but I’ve always kind of done well under pressure,” Rowe said. “Batting nine was a nice break, but this is kind of where I belong.
“My goal for this year was to just do decent because I hadn’t played on the team before. I’m not aiming to be the best, I’m just aiming to do something.”
Mulholland was 3-for-4 with one RBI, and Mahony was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
Morelock’s 3-for-3 effort with a home run and two RBIs led the Panthers.
“This is a great group of girls, and I’m honestly honored to be playing with them for another year,” the Panthers’ junior catcher said. “I was crying, there were a couple of other girls that were crying.
“It’s a bummer. Today we just weren’t as mentally strong as Pennsbury. They’re a great team, a great organization. Props to them for being stronger than us. They’re going to go far.”
The future is bright for a Panthers’ squad that returns its entire starting lineup next season.
“It’s going to be incredible,” Morelock said. “We’re going to do a lot more stuff, a lot more things next year.”
Pennsbury (23-3. 16-0 SOL) will face #1-3 Haverford in Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinal contest at a site and time to be determined. The Fords upset district champion Spring-Ford 5-3 in a state quarterfinal contest.
“We got knocked out in the first round of states two years ago, so this is a really big jump,” Rowe said. “But I believed in us from the start because we have a really good group of girls.”
“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Martell said. “We aren’t really looking too far ahead. We know we have good teams at each step. We just have to play our best softball.”
Quakertown saw its remarkable postseason run end, finishing the year with a 20-6 record (13-2 SOL).
“Overall, it was a great year – a lot of firsts for the program, so that’s all really good stuff,” Quakertown coach Dave Scott said. “Today, unfortunately, we showed our age. I knew it was coming at some point in this process. It was actually delayed more than I thought it would be.
“So to get this far has been just exceptional. I just think the moment got a little big for them, the game got a little fast for them.”
Quakertown 000 000 2. 2-9-2
Pennsbury 001 041 x. 6-10-0
#1-5 NORTH PENN 4, #3-3 PENN MANOR 0
Mady Volpe has been the very definition of dominant.
Since the Knights were upset by Haverford in the District One 6A quarterfinals, the Coastal Carolina-bound senior has thrown four consecutive shutouts. In her most recent on Thursday, Volpe allowed just two singles while striking out 14 and walking one. In the last four games combined, Volpe struck out 44 and allowed just 10 hits.
“The best thing I can say is she’s just damn good,” NP coach Rick Torresani said. “What else can I say? When she’s on, she’s great. Yes, she’s had her moments. We let her down in the Haverford game with six errors, and the Pennsbury game could have gone either way, but she’s just been on. Her focus has been so good.
“The two hits they had today were not hard hit. She just dominated. In the team’s defense that we played, I don’t think they faced pitching like that.”
The Knights got all the runs Volpe would need in the third inning. Rachel Lowry led off with a single, and then Julia Shearer legged out a bunt single. Both runners advanced on Sarah Sabocsik’s sacrifice bunt, and with two outs, Gianna Cimino – who has been on a tear – delivered a two-run double.
For good measure, North Penn added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. With one out, Sabocsik doubled to right field and Annabelle Smink singled. One out later, Bri Wilmot lined a single to right, plating a pair of runs for a 4-0 North Penn advantage.
Volpe, who retired 14 in a row during one stretch, put an exclamation point on a glittering performance, striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh.
“Mady’s just pitching the way we know she can,” senior Carley DiGiuseppe said. “I have so much confidence playing behind Mady. I remember in past years I was always the one cheering her on, always the loudest in the dugout, and even now, I’m in the outfield and I’m always yelling her name and cheering her on. Mady is a great pitcher.”
DiGiuseppe and Volpe both were 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Knights’ 14-hit attack. DiGiuseppe’s three-hit effort came on the heels of a two-hit game in Monday’s win over Northampton.
“She struggled early, and I kept joking with her – ‘You keep doing that, and you’re going to bunt every time up,’” Torresani said. “Then all of a sudden she started hitting the ball hard. It might have been at a player, but she was hitting the ball hard and on the ground.
“I was a little bit worried about today because their pitcher isn’t fast, and she just came out, and it didn’t matter. The other night the pitcher was fast and she hit the ball. She’s worked very hard. Her attitude from last year to this year day one has been awesome. She’s a kid who has made a complete change in attitude.”
“In the beginning of the year, I was struggling,” DiGiuseppe said. “I’m seeing the ball a lot better, and I just wait for my pitch. I just try to relax and breathe and do what I know I can do.”
Smink was 2-for-4.
North Penn (24-2, 15-1 SOL) will face District 7’s second place team, Canon McMillan, in a PIAA 6A semifinal at a site and time to be determined. Canon McMillan is just 11-10 on the season, but the Knights are taking nothing for granted.
“Our team’s goal coming into the season was to just play North Penn softball and do what we know we can do, play our games hard, play them like we know we can play them,” DiGiuseppe said. “Even if we do have a loss, we just learn from it, we leave it in the past and we move forward. We play every game pitch by pitch and we just keep going.”
“We know that no matter how good your ranking is, no matter how good people say you are, you just have to brush all of that off because anything can happen in these games, and that’s been shown through everything that’s happened. No one can predict anything. We just have to relax and play North Penn softball and things will turn out great.”
North Penn 002 000 2. 4-14-1
Penn Manor 000 000 0 0-2-0
#7-2 CANON-McMILLAN 5, #1-2 NESHAMINY 3 (10 innings)
Abby Allen’s first hit of the postseason was a memorable one – a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10thinning that brought the Redskins’ season to a heartbreaking end.
The two teams were deadlocked 2-2 heading into the 10th. The Redskins took a short-lived 3-2 lead when Kylie Siwek delivered a clutch two-out RBI double.
A Neshaminy miscue on a bunt allowed the tying run to cross the plate, setting the stage for Allen’s heroics.
Neshaminy closed out its season with a 19-7 record (12-4 SOL).
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