Exactly how good was the caliber of softball in the Suburban One League this season?
Look no further than the district tournament brackets which – including Upper Merion’s selection as the seventh seeded team in Class AAA – feature 12 teams from the SOL. Six of the top eight seeds in Class AAAA are from the SOL with only Owen J. Roberts and Bishop Shanahan breaking up the SOL’s monopoly of teams receiving byes on Monday.
The tournament’s top seed is yet to be decided but will be the winner of Monday night’s SOL National Conference showdown between archrivals Neshaminy and Pennsbury at the Bristol Fields at 7:30 p.m. While the winner gets the district’s top spot, the loser will be the tournament’s fourth seed.
SOL Continental Conference champion Hatboro-Horsham, last year’s district runner-up, is the tournament’s second seed. Souderton turned heads by finishing second to the Hatters and earning the district’s number six seed after not receiving an invite to last year’s district tournament.
Defending district champion Central Bucks South is the sixth seed, and rounding out the top eight is a North Penn squad that finished fourth in the tough Continental Conference.
By sharp contrast, the PAC-10 received just three spots in this year’s tournament – a fact that created some furor when a Boyertown squad that captured the conference tournament title with its win over Owen J. Roberts on Saturday was not invited. OJR, the conference’s regular season champ, is the district’s fifth-seeded team while second place Spring-Ford is seeded 14th and third place Perkiomen Valley is the 17th seed.
Bishop Shanahan rounds out the top eight as the tournament’s third seed. Five SOL teams begin action on Monday. Below is a brief preview of those five games.
#22 West Chester Henderson at #11 Council Rock North
West Chester Henderson
- 10-9 overall
- Finished fifth in the Ches-Mont League
- Season highlight was a 2-1 win over previously undefeated Bishop Shanahan on April 29.
- Lost three of five to close out the season, including a 10-0 loss to Downingtown West on Saturday
Council Rock North
- 11-3 SOL, 12-5 overall
- Third place team from the SOL National Conference
- Season highlight was a 7-1 win over Pennsbury on May 5. It was the first time Rock North defeated the perennial conference power in more than a decade.
- Sophomore Dom Pinto had a 16-game hitting streak that ended in the team’s final regular season game.
- The Indians won six of their last seven games, dropping their final regular season game 10-0 to Neshaminy.
- Last year’s trip to district playoffs was the first in five years for the program.
Players to watch: Morgan Lewis (Pitcher), Caytlin Friis (Shortstop), Melissa Hand (Second Base), Dominique Pinto (Catcher)
Coach Hollie Woodard says: “Last year we lost in the first round to Haverford, and I think it was one of those things where we thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was, and we kind of psyched ourselves out a little bit. We were a little overwhelmed since it was the first time any of us had ever been in playoffs, and one of our big goals this year is to go further than we did last year. Our goal last year was to be above .500, so when I look at it in perspective of what we were reaching for last year to get to a playoff game – we were flying really high and feeling really satisfied.
“This year there is no sense of satisfaction with just making the playoffs. My girls are hungry. This is a big game. This is like the Pennsbury game – this is the game we want. I think we’re going to see a different team on Monday than last year.
“All my seniors – Morgan Lewis, Caytlin Friis, Alyssa Smith and Alex Tremitiere – are my emotional leaders. I think a lot of it is going to come down to my seniors being motivated, but I also need my juniors to not take it for granted because we don’t know what will happen next year. I’m asking them to play like seniors.
“The top four in our lineup are our run producers, but with us, it really takes a whole team to get motivated and get hot and then make those plays on defense. When we played Neshaminy, it was very clear from the first batter that we did not have what it took.”
#20 West Chester East at #13 Wissahickon
West Chester East
- 14-6 overall
- Finished fourth in Ches-Mont League after capturing league title in 2010
- Lost three of five games to close out season after winning first six to open season
Wissahickon
- 10-2 SOL American Conference champions
- 13-4 overall
- Won five of six to close out season
- The Trojans are looking to erase memories of last year’s opening round loss to Downingtown East in a game that saw Wissahickon rally from a 3-2 deficit to knot the score in the top of the sixth when the game was halted because of rain. Instead of resuming the game the next day, the contest was ruled official (the Trojans found out late that night), and the score reverted back to the end of the fifth inning with the Trojans trailing 3-2.
Players to watch: Katie Ziegler (Pitcher), Gretchen Guaglianone (Third base), Rebecca Marinucci (Second Base), Karen Laksh (Catcher), Alex Comonitski (Shortstop)
Coach Jerry Hartman says: “It was a tough way to lose last year, but obviously, we’re a year older, and we have the nucleus of players back. We’re taking it one game at a time. We had a nice season. We won our league, which was one of our goals, and I told our kids at practice – we’re going to go out there and play hard and have some fun out there as well.
“Katie Ziegler has done a great job for us, and Gretchen Guaglianone has come up with some big hits. Karen Laksh does a nice job handling Katie. She makes a lot of the calls and is able to keep Katie focused. Rebecca Marinucci had a bad back at the beginning of the year, and she’s starting to hit the ball better and round into form. Alex Comonitski had a nice year - she hit about .300 and had very few errors and was real steady in the field. The list could go on and on.
“I think the key is we have to limit our mistakes. It seems like those games where we have passed balls, errors, base running mistakes – those are things that will hurt you in these types of games. We have to execute and be smart at what we’re doing out there.”
#17 Perkiomen Valley at #16 Central Bucks East
Perkiomen Valley
- 12-7 overall, 12-6 PAC-10
- Tied for third place in PAC-10 regular season standings
- Lost to Spring-Ford 2-1 in PAC-10 Tournament semifinal
- Common opponent: Perk Valley lost to Souderton 2-0
Central Bucks East
- 11-7 overall, 7-7 SOL
- Fifth place finish in Continental Conference
- Highlights of season were 6-2 win over Souderton on May 16, snapping the Indians’ 11-game winning streak, and a 5-4 win in 10 innings over North Penn on April 26
- Patriots won four of six games to close out season
- The Patriots were shut out just once this season (7-0 to Hatboro-Horsham on April 29). Eight of nine players in East’s lineup closed out the regular season hitting over .300 with two players batting over .400.
Players to watch: Ali Vavala (Center Field), Laura Murray (Shortstop), Brittany Aughenbaugh (First base), Caroline Schoenewald (Second Base), Julia Schoenewald (Catcher), Jayme Ziegler (Pitcher), Sierra Huckfeldt (Pitcher), Jess Haug (Third Base), Allie Chase (Left Field), Sam Gladnick (Right Field), Kaylynn Johnson (DP)
Coach Erin Scott says: “I was a little nervous going into the district seeding meeting, but I was really confident in the team we had this year and think they deserved it. We won all of our non-league games we needed to win whereas in the past we hadn’t, and when we took the game from Souderton, that gave me confidence going into the meeting. There was a lot of respect given to the teams in our conference.
“In past years, we’ve always had good hitters, but it seemed like it wasn’t consistent. That was one of my focuses to get some consistency. A lot of people have been contributing this season. If our three and four hitters aren’t producing, our nine and one hitters are, and we’ve kind of made it work.
“I’m telling them to take it one game at a time. It’s definitely a winnable game Monday. It sounds like their pitcher is their strength, and they have some good hitters in the top of their lineup. I think if we can play clean defensively and hit the way we’ve been hitting, we should be okay, but I want to emphasize to them that any time you face a playoff team – that team is good. We need to take this game really seriously and make sure we’re ready to go.”
#18 Plymouth Whitemarsh at #16 Upper Darby
Upper Darby
- 15-4 overall
- Finished second to Haverford in the Central League
- Split with Haverford during regular season, winning early season meeting 4-2 on April 11 but falling to the Fords 9-3 in their regular season finale on Friday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh
- 9-6 overall
- 8-4 SOL, tied for second in American Conference
- The Colonials won six in a row to close out season, including a 9-5 win over Norristown on Thursday and a 9-1 win over Upper Merion a week earlier.
Players to watch: Erica Miller (Pitcher), Alexa Borkowski (Catcher), Tori Baratucci (Infield), Corinne Watson (Outfield), Jennifer Lurty (Outfield), Rachel Konowal (Outfield)
Coach Dana Moyer says: “We are going into our game with Upper Darby focused and ready and with a definite game plan – to play like they have been. We have been on a run over the past few weeks. We are going to be without one of our starters because of a previously scheduled school trip, but luckily, the team is extremely versatile.”
#21 Norristown at #12 Downingtown East
Downingtown East
- 16-4 overall
- Third place finish behind Bishop Shanahan and Downingtown West in Ches-Mont League with 15-4 record
- Two of East’s four losses came at the hands of Bishop Shanahan
- Won six of seven to close out regular season
Norristown
- 12-5 overall
- 8-4 SOL, tied for second place in American Conference
- Won five of seven to close out regular season
Players to watch: Gabbie Berry (Third Base), Stephanie ‘Sweat’ DiNolfi (Second Base), Gwyn Botley (Pitcher), Julia Santoro (First Base), Gina Pellechio (Left Field), Sammi Kidd (Center Field)
Coach Jon Kandrick says: “I told the kids - this game is no different than any other game we have played. I have never been the kind of coach to stress – this is a big game, and we have to do this and we have to do that. One thing that is different than the regular season – I stress that we have to win one inning at a time. If we win more innings than they win, we’ll win the game.
“I told them to relax. One of the biggest problems coaches have with playoffs is that the kids get all tense, and they’re all worried about something they shouldn’t be worried about. I told them to go into the game loose. We have nothing to lose in this game. We need to play our game and can’t let them force us to play their game.
“If we make the routine plays and play good defense, we will win the game. I always have faith in our offense. I have scouted Downingtown East. They’re a good team, and they play in a tough league, so that third place is a little deceiving. I expect a good game tomorrow. As it always does in playoffs, it’s going to come down to who makes the least amount of errors.
“For us, it all starts with Gwyn Botley. If Gwyn is hitting her spot and keeping the ball low, that will start us off. Sweat DiNolfi is our leadoff batter – she’s quick, and she’s the start of it for our offense. Gwyn is number two in our order, and she’s been hitting the ball well. If we’re lucky enough to get those two on and then Gabbie Berry comes up to bat, we’re ready to go at that point. It might be a one-run game. You never know in the playoffs. I told them to stay loose and have fun and play our game. If we do that, we’ll do fine.”
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