CR South & North Penn advanced to the semifinals of the PIAA 6A Tournament with wins on Thursday. Quakertown/Central Dauphin photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f860927651
PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals
#1-5 Council Rock South 1, #3-3 Warwick 0
The 0-2 pitch looked perfect when it left Lexi Waring’s hand.
By the time Warwick’s batter swung, it was eye level. Yet another rise ball that fooled the Warriors, who spent the afternoon chasing one rise ball after another. This one – for Waring’s 14th strikeout of a dazzling performance – was for the game’s final out of Thursday’s state quarterfinal.
“I think my rise is probably most what they were swinging at,” Waring said, crediting her batterymate. “Obviously, Grace (Stepp) as usual did a great job back there, framing and all.”
“She’s so good,” Stepp said of Waring. “She really battled back today – especially on the 3-0 count, came back and struck her out.
“Her rise was coming in as a strike and had really good movement. It comes in at the letters and peels up.”
The Warriors left the bases loaded in the seventh – one of their only threats of the game, and that came after a Rock South error, a Warwick single and a two-out walk.
The win vaulted the Golden Hawks into Monday’s PIAA 6A state semifinal against the winner of Friday’s contest pitting District 1 champion Downingtown West and Downingtown East.
“It’s awesome,” Waring said. “We’ve never been here before, so it’s definitely special.
“Obviously, we all hoped for this, but we didn’t know how this season would turn out. I think after we got midseason we were like – okay, we can do this.”
“It’s crazy,” Stepp said. “I knew we could, and we finally have. It’s always been – we’re doing It, keep going.”
For Scott Molle, the program’s third coach in four years, it’s been quite a debut season.
“Unbelievable – what a great feeling,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “These kids are just playing their hearts out. We’re getting used to the 1-0 games now.
“You have to play your best in the playoffs, and we’re doing that. Offensively, we could have gotten more going, but it’s the playoffs – getting those timely hits and getting those runs in at the right time, and we did that in the first.”
The game basically came down to two innings – the bottom of the first when the Golden Hawks capitalized on their lone runner to reach third base and the top of the fourth when the Warriors failed to capitalize on a similar opportunity.
The Golden Hawks manufactured the game’s only run in the bottom of the first inning when Helen Woloshyn – whose blazing speed makes her an all but impossible out – opened the game with a bunt single, and one out later, she stole second on the second pitch to Stepp.
“As you get deeper into the playoffs, you face better pitchers,” Woloshyn said. “You’re not going to get as many good pitches to hit, so you kind of have to go with a plan, know what pitch you’re looking for.”
It’s all but automatic that Woloshyn will be running when she reaches first.
“He gives me a sign – it’s fun,” the speedy center fielder said. “I love running, and he trusts me.”
“We adjusted a little bit today,” Molle said. “We watched that catcher on some video and saw what she could do.”
“She’s got an arm,” Woloshyn said. “You have to time it well – you can’t get off late or that ruins the whole thing. You really have to get off in time.”
“We waited for the right time to do it,” Molle said. “It’s usually first or second pitch, but we waited longer than usual.”
Woloshyn advanced to third on a wild pitch, and her baserunning loomed large when she scored what would be the game-winning run on a fly ball to the shortstop just beyond the infield.
“Speed is great,” Waring said. “As soon as she gets on, it’s an automatic double because as soon as she’s on first, she just steals second.”
In the top of the fourth, University of Buffalo commit Bella Smithson – Warwick’s most dangerous bat – led off with a booming triple to right field. It could have spelled trouble, but it didn’t, thanks to the game’s biggest defensive play – a strikeout double play.
Waring struck out the next batter, and Stepp fired a strike to third baseman Katie Aamland for the tag of Smithson.
“We just made eye contact,” Stepp said of her unspoken communication with Aamland. “We knew she was taking a really big lead, and she was turning her back going toward the bag. I knew I had to get an out for our team.”
The play allowed the Golden Hawks to maintain their 1-0 lead. It turned out to be the Warriors’ lone legitimate scoring opportunity until the seventh inning.
“Lexi struck a girl out on an inside pitch, and we saw the previous two pitches – how far she was coming off,” Molle said. “She was just standing there when Grace threw it back. Grace sees everything. She fired it, Katie got it, slammed it down. It wasn’t even close. Amazing play by Grace.”
“It was a great throw and Katie made a great tag,” Waring said. “That was huge. It’s the tying run, so it’s huge.”
Thursday’s 1-0 win was the second in as many games for the Hawks, and no one would have guessed when the Hawks manufactured a first inning run that it would hold for seven innings.
“Sooner or later, we’ve got to hit, but it worked out,” Stepp said. “We kept the defense tight and did what we could.”
Warwick’s Kate Shaak turned in a gem of her own in the circle, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out seven and walking three.
As a result of Thursday’s win, the Golden Hawks – in their program’s first ever trip to the state tournament – are in the final four.
“It’s really fun,” said Woloshyn, who transferred to Rock South for her senior year and had an immediate impact. “All of these girls have so much grit. They can pull anything out of anywhere. It’s really fun to watch.
“I thought we had the potential, but I never thought we’d get this far. I’m really proud of the girls because they really pulled through. Every single game we’ve been focused and worked our butts off.”
“It’s unbelievable,” Molle said “Each team only had two hits. It’s playoffs – I like it.”
Council Rock South (22-3, 14-2 SOL) will continue its historical postseason journey on Monday when the Golden Hawks will face Downingtown West or Downingtown East in a state semifinal contest.
Warwick 000 000 0 0-2-0
Council Rock South 100 000 x 1-2-2
#1-3 North Penn 4, #7-1 Seneca Valley 0
Bella Nunn was ‘the other’ pitcher in Thursday’s state quarterfinal contest against a Seneca Valley squad led by Clemson commit Lexie Hames.
By game’s end, Nunn was the pitcher, stealing the spotlight with a no-hitter through six and two-thirds innings and settling for a one-hitter after Seneca Valley ‘s Kara Pasquale collected a two-out double in the seventh.
“It sucked,” Nunn said with a laugh. “But I needed to focus on the win and take what I could get,” Nunn said.
That two-out hit could not detract from Nunn’s brilliant shutout performance that included 10 strikeouts.
“I knew it would be a duel, and I wanted to outpitch her, so I was trying to just take it inning by inning and win each inning,” Nunn said. “It helps a lot when my team is backing me up in the field and at the plate. That was big along with the energy we brought – that helps me out too
“All my pitches were working today. I just told myself not to get ahead of myself. I just needed to take it pitch by pitch, inning by inning and stay calm and collected and not freak out inside.”
Nunn’s performance may have come as a surprise to Seneca Valley, but there was nothing surprising about it to her teammates.
“She comes up big in so many spots,” senior Casey Sokol said. “She’s so reliable, and she knows that we have her back. I’m so proud of her and so confident that she could take us all the way.”
“Bella just pitched an awesome game,” NP coach Rick Torresani said. “She knew what she had to do. We got in a little trouble in the first inning, and she fought out of it and then just went through the game. She was hitting her spots and just doing everything right.
“She wants to prove to everybody – yeah, we’ve had some great pitchers in the program, but she wants also to be known as a great pitcher too. She’s just doing everything right. I’m just so proud of her. She doesn’t lose her composure, doesn’t lose her cool, just bares down and today just pitched a great game.”
The first inning was pivotal for both squads. In the top of the first, the Raiders threatened, loading the bases with one out after a Knight error, an intentional walk to Hames and another walk.
Nunn coaxed a popup to center field for the inning’s second out and struck out the next batter she faced to close out the inning unscathed.
And if the Knights’ confidence needed a boost going against Hames, they got it in the bottom of the inning with one sweet swing of Gianna Cimino’s bat. The senior leadoff batter turned on the second pitch of the game and lined a solo home run to left field.
“She gave me two screwballs – I actually didn’t think it was gone because it jammed me slightly,” Cimino said. “Then I watched it, and I saw it was gone.”
How big was Cimino’s blast?
“That was huge – that definitely set the tone for everyone, and it hyped me up for my pitching,” Nunn said. “It showed everyone that we can hit that pitcher. It gave us a lot more confidence, and it definitely shook (Hames) up mentally the rest of the game.”
“It was huge,” Sokol said. “We were all so hyped, and it really just set the tone for the whole game.”
“I feel it was huge,” Cimino said. “We’ve heard a lot of good things about this pitcher, and me hitting that and my team backing me up there – it just showed everyone this pitcher was hittable, and when we all work together, it works out.”
In the bottom of the second inning, the Knights manufactured a run without collecting a hit. Tallie Smink drew a leadoff walk, moved up to second on Brandi Groarke’s sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on Izzy Tubertini’s groundout. Smink scored on a third strike wild pitch, and the Knights led 2-0.
In the third, the Knights added a run when Sokol, who led off the inning with a walk, stole second and third and scored on a Seneca Valley error.
Tubertini led off the fourth inning with a bunt single, and one out later, Cimino walked. Liv Stevens singled, plating Tubertini to put the Knights on top 4-0. That proved to be more than enough for Nunn.
Not to be overlooked in Thursday’s win was Torresani’s strategy to walk Hames intentionally on all three of her trips to the plate.
“I wasn’t going to let that kid hit – she’s a good hitter,” the Knights’ coach said. “I would have done it with bases loaded. I said, ‘I’m not going to let her hit,’ and I stuck to my guns even though I wanted to challenge her when we were up 4-0. I said, ‘No.’ Bella knew going into the game we were going to walk her (three) times.”
“I feel like that was a smart move by us,” Cimino said. “We heard she was a great pitcher and a great hitter. That was a big, big part of us winning because we heard that she was a really good hitter.”
The win vaulted the Knights into the state semifinals for the fourth straight year.
“Everybody at the beginning of the year thought we were going to be nothing,” Torresani said.
After Thursday’s win, the Knights are just one win away from their third trip to the state title game in the last four years.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in,” Sokol said. “I’m so grateful to be in this program and to be with these girls. It has made me able to adapt to pressure and big situations. I don’t think it’s ever going to sink in with me that we do this, but I’m so grateful to be in this program.”
“I am super excited,” Nunn said. “It’s nice to show everyone that doubted us that we’re just as good this year.”
“It feels amazing,” Cimino said. “From going (28-0) last year and winning states to now getting almost back there, it’s a great feeling because a lot of people did doubt us. It’s just great.”
The key, according to Sokol, is staying together.
“Communication has been big,” she said. “Talking to each other and staying together in the face of adversity is the biggest thing for us.”
North Penn (23-3, 14-2 SOL) will face District 3 champion Central Dauphin in Monday’s state semifinal contest.
Seneca Valley 000 000 0 0-1-1
North Penn 111 100 x 4-3-3
#3-1 Central Dauphin 11, #1-2 Quakertown 1 (6 innings)
It wasn’t the ending they had hoped for, but it didn’t take long for coach Rich Scott to put Thursday’s season-ending loss in a state quarterfinal contest in perspective.
“It was truly an amazing season,” the Panthers’ coach said. “I’m so proud of the girls. They battled all season long. We had some injuries from the get-go. Girls that couldn’t even play this season – who knows? They could have made a difference.
“What a great team. Just simply amazing. They’ve raised the bar so high for Quakertown softball, which I’m really proud about. No other Quakertown team has ever won 23 games, so they’re up there by themselves right now, and everyone else that comes along has to work their way there.”
The tone for this one was set early.
In the top of the first, Ava Beal was safe on an error, and Skyler Williams followed and hit a rocket that was somehow speared by pitcher Stella Gasper. It was hit so hard that Beal, despite having just a small lead, had no prayer of getting back to first and was doubled off.
In the bottom of the inning, the Rams used a bunt single, a walk and a Panther miscue to load the bases with none out. Meghan Fisher smashed a home run over the left field fence, and despite just one ball leaving the infield, the Lady Rams led 4-0.
In the top of the third, Kira Jefferson led off with a single, and Abbey Wagner’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed, putting a pair on board. One out later, Beal singled to left, plating Jefferson to make it a 4-1 game, but that’s where the rally ended.
The Panthers would get no closer the rest of the way.
“I felt confident in us,” Wagner said. “We just came off a 6-0 comeback, so I thought ‘We got this, no problem,’ but sometimes it doesn’t go the way you planned.
“It was a good season, a good season – I wanted to go a little farther hopefully, but sometimes games end up like this. As a team, we hit many goals, so I’m happy.”
Like Wagner, Scott also remained confident.
“I was confident up until around the sixth inning when they kept scoring more runs,” the Panthers’ coach said. “Until then, I was definitely confident that we could still come back.
“They had little bloopers – we didn’t get any. Two balls down the first base line – we haven’t had a ball hit like that all season, and they had two in a row. That’s part of the game.”
The Panthers lose seven seniors – five starters – to graduation.
“A tremendous senior class,” Scott said. “We’re going to miss them big time, but that’s the way life is. They’re great kids. They truly are great athletes and great kids in the classroom. I can’t be more proud of them.”
Quakertown closed out its season with a 23-3 record overall. The Panthers captured a share of the SOL Liberty Division title with a 15-1 record.
Quakertown 001 000 1-4-5
Central Dauphin 401 042 11-12-5
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