The 2011 season was a season for the ages for the Suburban One League.
Pennsbury and Hatboro-Horsham made history when they did battle for the state title in June. Not only was it the first time two teams from the same league squared off to play for the state softball crown in any classification, it also was the first ever state title showdown pitting two squads from the same district.
Even more impressive was the fact that three of the final four teams were from the SOL as Hatboro defeated Neshaminy in a state semifinal game. That’s quite a statement about the quality of softball that is played in the SOL.
It’s been more than two months since the Hatters rose from the ashes to earn a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Falcons, but it’s worth reliving the magic of that day. It’s also never too late to recognize the league’s finest players as we close the book on a magical 2011 season.
Golden girls - Chrissy James watched in disbelief as her gold medal fell from its ribbon and onto the driveway as she prepared to board the coach bus that would transport her Hatboro-Horsham softball team home from Penn State University.
“This is the worst best day of my life,” said James as she tried to re-attach her medal to the ribbon.
In truth, not even a broken medal could take the luster off a day that was arguably the very best of the Hatters’ young lives. Friday’s dramatic 4-3 win over Pennsbury in the PIAA Class AAAA title game had given the Hatters the improbable but impressive trifecta – conference, district and state titles.
It’s the stuff dreams are made of.
“From the beginning when we all practiced as a team together, I knew we would go really far just because of all the chemistry and all the talent there was,” senior Danielle DiFilippo said. “Every single player on our team could play anywhere you asked them, and that just makes a really great team.
“It allows you to go far and do great things.”
Debut to remember – When Kelly Krier opted to not return to the sidelines because of an ongoing contract dispute in the school district, Joe DiFilippo took over the helm of a Hatboro squad with lofty expectations.
If it sounds like the recipe for disaster, guess again.
Under the first-year coach, the Hatters captured the tough Continental Conference crown and followed that with a District One AAAA title before winning the coveted state title.
“It was a great experience,” the rookie coach said. “Any time you’re in a sport and you achieve the goals you set at the beginning of the season, it’s a success.
“To see these kids play on the field and just refuse to lose games – it was great.
“I have coached a lot of ball. I coached baseball at (William) Tennent for five years, and we got them into the playoffs for the first time in a long time, but this tops that – it’s not even close.”
Making DiFilippo’s situation especially unique was the fact that his daughter Danielle was one of three senior captains.
Although his daughter will be taking her talents to Millersville University this fall, DiFilippo will be returning to the Hatter sidelines for the 2012 season.
Small ball nets big results – For those who think bunting is a lost art, meet the 2011 Hatboro-Horsham softball team. Every player – one through nine – can lay down a bunt, and that is no small feat.
“We work on it all the time,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “It is one of the most fundamental things in softball.
“The one thing we didn’t do all year was go away from the game of softball. Sometimes it’s so easy to let them go up and swing away because I know I’ve got kids who can crush the ball, but we stay within ourselves and play the short game.
“Most of this team has been playing together since they were 12 years old. Even this year going to the cages – every time we hit, we bunt. I do a lot of soft toss with the kids, and the on-deck batter is working on bunting. That is a forgotten part of the game.”
In the pivotal sixth inning that saw the Hatters rally from a 3-1 deficit to go on top 4-3, three straight Hatters bunted. It began with Jackie DiPietro collecting a bunt single, and that was followed by successful back-to-back suicide squeeze plays by Melissa Spinosa and Chrissy James. Spinosa’s bunt not only plated a run, but the speedy lead-off batter but was safe at first on a Falcon miscue.
Coach DiFilippo’s belief in his players’ ability to bunt was underscored when he gave the suicide squeeze sign to James – who had fouled off her first two bunt attempts - in the pivotal sixth inning despite the fact that she had two strikes.
“It was on the whole time,” the Hatters’ coach said. “I wasn’t taking it off.
“I took it off with the 0-2 pitch because I figured it was a waste pitch, and I didn’t want her to go chase it and have Jackie (DiPietro) picked off, but I put it back on again.”
DiPietro, who represented the tying run on third base, wasn’t a bit surprised.
“I was ready for it,” she said. “I knew it was going to come.
“We’re really confident. It worked all year, and we knew in that situation we had to get it done. Once we got things rolling – I just had a feeling good things were going to happen.”
It was DiPietro’s bunt for a base hit that got the ball rolling for the opportunistic Hatters, and one thing led to another.
“We’re usually not a really loud and obnoxious team, but we needed to get the energy going,” DiPietro said. “In the sixth inning, we brought it up, and we got things going.”
Shaffer is one cool customer – Maggie Shaffer is a no-frills pitcher. The junior mound ace doesn’t overpower batters – she fanned just two in Hatboro’s state title win, but she is the master at hitting her spots. Beyond that, Shaffer has found a way to keep her emotions under wraps when she’s on the mound, a trait that was underscored in the Hatters’ state title win.
“I think my job in the infield is to calm everyone down because everyone is so excited,” Shaffer said. “I was like, ‘Guys, calm down, just get an out, and we’ll be fine.’”
Calmness – it seems – runs in the Shaffer family. Her father, Jamie, is a golf pro.
“To be a very good golfer, you have to go out and do whatever it takes, and that’s the kind of temperament she has,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “I don’t know if we would have been where we were this year without her. I knew going into the season that offensively I had a very good lineup.
“I wasn’t sure what the 43 feet would do to Maggie because she was such a location pitcher, but I thought to myself – there’s no possible way we don’t score four or five runs. I know Maggie’s not going to give that many up, so I knew we’d be successful.”
Despite facing the best teams the state had to offer, Shaffer closed out the year with a 26-2 record and a dazzling 0.92 earned run average.
“That’s unbelievable,” DiFilippo said. “That’s putting that team together with her going out on the mound and giving up one run. To stop that lineup from scoring – it’s not going to happen.”
Spinosa quietly comes up big – Lost in the shuffle of the Hatters’ remarkable comeback win over Pennsbury was Melissa Spinosa’s highlight reel catch in center field in the third inning of the state title game. Her spectacular diving catch – the defensive gem of the game – robbed Pennsbury leadoff batter of D’Anna Devine of extra bases and gave pitcher Maggie Shaffer one of three one-two-three innings on the day.
“Melissa has been making great catches all year,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “That was a great catch, a great catch.”
In addition to playing outstanding defense, Spinoso was money batting out of the leadoff spot for the Hatters this season.
“All year – we get that run in the first inning,” DiFilippo said. “Melissa gets on, Chrissy bunts her to second and Julie or Danielle drove her in. We lived with that all year.
“When you go up 1-0 with a pitcher like Maggie, you think you’ve won the game.”
State title game fast facts:
- Pennsbury might have come up short in its bid for a state title, but with six returning players in its lineup, the future for the Falcons is decidedly bright. Val Buehler, Mackenzie Obert, Christina Bascara, Suzana Swanicke, Jess Greenewald and Michelle George didn’t look like sophomores, and they certainly didn’t play like sophomores en route to a second place finish in both districts and states and a National Conference crown.
- Hatboro and Pennsbury are teams that were defined by their discipline on the softball field. Errors were not part of either team’s game. Yet in both meetings between the two teams, the Falcons and Hatters combined for seven errors.
- Winning state titles has been a family affair for the Hatters. Three starters from this year’s squad had older sisters who were starters on the 2008 state title squad. Senior Julie Wambold – whose older sister Katie played second base for the 2008 squad – was actually the designated player on Hatboro’s title squad as a freshman. Junior shortstop Valerie Sadowl’s sister Amanda was the star pitcher on the 2008 squad, and junior third baseman Chrissy James followed in the footsteps of older sister Jessie, who was the catcher on the 2008 state championship squad. All three were on hand to see their younger siblings make history.
Best of the best in 2011 – Earning top billing as the premier players in their respective conferences were William Tennent senior Ashley Alden (National Conference), Hatboro-Horsham senior Julie Wambold (Continental Conference) and Norristown senior Gabbie Berry (American Conference).
Alden is awesome – How intimidating is Ashley Alden when she steps into the batter’s box?
Apparently very intimidating.
Alden drew 24 walks during her senior season – 21 were intentional. To combat the intentional walks, coach Gary Bizacquino elected to bat Alden leadoff. It didn’t matter – she still drew intentional walks.
“We started off many games – especially when we were away – that she was walked and on first base,” the Panthers’ coach said. “You rarely see intentional walks, but she had 21 of them. There’s a reason why teams were doing it – they feared her because they knew if they made one mistake, she would capitalize on it.
“She could have easily gotten frustrated. We used to tell her every day, ‘You have to be focused on every pitch because you never know if they’re going to try and sneak on past you.’”
Trying to sneak a strike by Alden usually had disastrous results – just ask Council Rock coach Hollie Woodard. In Alden’s seven at-bats against the Indians last spring, the sweet-swinging senior saw a grand total of three pitches that were thrown for strikes. She hit all three for home runs, including back-to-back home runs in her first two at-bats when the Panthers traveled to Rock North in an early season meeting.
Then, on the first pitch of the game in the first inning at Tennent, Alden smacked a shot that rolled down the hill for a solo shot.
“Hollie said to me, ‘She will never see another strike from me again. I will tell my pitcher to throw it over the cage if she has to,’” Bizacquino said.
So feared was Alden that she actually drew an intentional walk with two outs and the bases loaded in a game against Truman.
Despite seeing very few strikes, Alden closed out her final high school season with a .519 batting average (27-of-52). Included in those 27 hits were eight home runs, six triples and two doubles. She scored 29 runs and contributed 23 RBIs. She also stole six bases.
“She is by far the best player I have seen,” Bizacquino said. “She practices like it’s a game situation. She’s so fundamentally sound.
“I could put her anywhere and never had to worry about it.”
Bizacquino went on to recall a game where he played Alden in the outfield for the first four innings of a game.
“She made two running catches in center field like she played it every day,” he said. “She’s just that good.
“There’s a reason why she’s going to Rutgers on a full scholarship. She can do anything she wants when she puts her mind to it, and the frightening part is she still has stuff to get better at.”
Wambold a winner – Adding Julie Wambold to the Hatters’ lineup this season was the single biggest addition to any team in the SOL. Moving the senior star from shortstop to catcher late in the season, according to her coach, may have been the move that tipped the scales in the Hatters’ favor this year.
“That was the best move we made all year – getting Julie involved in every pitch,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “Kelsey Koelzer’s elbow was hurting, and I had known Julie had caught.
“At the beginning of the year, she said, ‘I’ll play wherever you need me to play.’ We brought it up to her, and she was more than willing to do it. Having Julie involved in every pitch helps a lot.”
Wambold not only was a superb defensive catcher, she also was one of the most feared hitters in the state. During the district playoffs, she hit home runs in back-to-back games, including a home run in the Hatters’ 8-5 win over Pennsbury in the district title game.
“She is so quick to the ball,” DiFilippo said. “Everything she hits is hard. Even when she grounds out, the infielder has to make a nice play to throw her out.
“She’s so darn fast. She really is. She is the real thing.”
For the season, Wambold – who batted out of the three hole – hit .550 with 26 RBIs and nine home runs. She is equally capable of legging out a bunt single.
“She was unbelievable,” coach DiFilippo said. “A phenomenal year is Melissa (Spinosa) and Danielle (DiFilppo) batting .400, but Julie hitting close to .600 is just unbelievable.”
Wambold will be attending Syracuse University on a softball scholarship.
Berry does it all for Eagles – Gabbie Berry is a natural catcher and is projected to catch at the collegiate level, but coach Jon Kandrick didn’t think twice about playing his senior standout at third base.
“I talked to Gabbie about it and told her, ‘I don’t know if I can afford to move you off third base. You’re that good and that unique to us,’” Kandrick said. “We didn’t have a shutdown pitcher where people weren’t going to pull the ball, and we needed her on third base.
“Gabbie isn’t a selfish player, and she said to us, ‘I’ll play wherever you need me to play. Tell me where and I’ll go.’ That’s not an easy thing for a kid to say, especially a kid who has played catcher full time on her other teams.”
Berry hit a torrid .567 (38-for-67) with 23 runs scored, but it was her defensive prowess that made her invaluable to her team.
“The last few years – when balls were hit to her, I didn’t even watch her make the play because I knew it was going to happen,” Kandrick said. “I have all the confidence in the world in Gabbie.
“We could have played Gabbie anywhere, and she would have done well, but you know what – there’s nobody better than Gabbie at third base. I was blessed to have her there. She’s a very good athlete and a great kid. She’s one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever seen.”
Berry was a sophomore when Kandrick took over the helm in 2008.
“One of the first kids I’d heard about coming in was Maggie Creciun because she was a transfer from Kenrick and was a big name,” Kandrick said. “Maggie’s dad said to me, ‘Maggie’s a good player, and you’ll have fun with her, but wait until you see this Gabbie. She’s quiet, but she’s that good.’”
Kandrick was not disappointed.
“She was just phenomenal,” he said. “Right away, I knew we were going to put her at third base.”
This fall Berry – the recipient of a softball scholarship - will be majoring in biology at Millersville University with her sights set on a career as a veterinarian.
“She’s a wonderful, wonderful kid,” Kandrick said. “She’s a straight-A student. My assistant coach said to me she didn’t know if she could come back without having a Gabbie on the team. She just meant that much to our team.
“She was an absolute pleasure to coach. The one bad part about our last game because we played so well (in a 1-0 district playoff loss to Downingtown East) was knowing that I’m not going to have an opportunity to coach Gabbie again. She’s a kid that you knew what you were getting from her, and she never disappointed you.
“I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s a wonderful kid, and she works so hard. I know she’ll be successful at the next level.”
Postseason accolades – Coming as no surprise was the fact that the SOL dominated The Philadelphia Inquirer’s All-Southeastern Pennsylvania Softball team. Hatboro senior Julie Wambold was the player of the year, earning first team honors at shortstop. Both pitchers on the first team were from the SOL – Hatboro junior Maggie Shaffer and Souderton senior Liz Parkins. Shaffer closed out the year 26-2 while Parkins was 16-5 with a 1.01 ERA. She struck out 239 in 152 innings. Parkins also was named the surprise player of the year.
The entire first team infield belonged to the SOL. In addition to Wambold at short, William Tennent senior Ashley Alden earned first team honors at first base while Neshaminy senior Courtney Clee was the first team second baseman. Central Bucks South junior Morgan Decker was the first team third baseman. Alden hit .519 for the season with seven home runs while Clee batted .492, scoring 30 runs from her leadoff spot. Decker hit .375 with an on-base percentage of .426.
Two of the three outfielders were also from the SOL – Pennsbury senior Kelsi Bunda and Truman’s Ashley Black. Bunda will be taking her talents to Holy Family next year while Black will play at Central Connecticut State.
Earning first team honors as the designated player was Pennsbury senior D’Anna Devine, who anchored the Falcons behind the plate and batted .462 out of the leadoff spot.
Earning second team honors were Pennsbury sophomore pitcher Val Buehler, Neshaminy sophomore pitcher Lauren Quense and Pennsbury sophomore shortstop Mackenzie Obert.
Joe DiFilippo and Souderton coach Courtney Hughes shared coach of the year honors. Hughes, in her second year at the helm, led the Indians to a fifth place finish in the district as well as the state quarterfinals while DiFilippo led the Hatters to conference, district and state titles.
Sister Act– Ashley Alden might not haunt opposing pitchers in the SOL next season, but her sister will. Nikki Alden burst onto the scene as a freshman and put up the kind of numbers that are unheard of from most veterans, let alone a rookie in the tough National Conference.
The freshman phenom batted .507 (32-of-63), and it was an extremely productive .507. Alden had five home runs, three triples and 10 doubles, amassing 29 RBIS during a spectacular rookie season. During one remarkable week, Nikki drove in 15 runs, collecting five RBIs in three straight games.
“I told her ‘Whether you’re Ashley Alden’s sister or not, there’s no pressure on you. Whatever I get out of you is going to be a plus because you’re a freshman,’” coach Gary Bizacquino said. “I always told her to go up, relax and just play, and she did.
“She did a beautiful job. I couldn’t ask – forget about a freshman – a junior, senior or whatever to do what she did. I’m ecstatic for her.”
Alden also saw some work on the mound, and she is expected to see more in the future.
“She’s a great girl with a great attitude, and she’s also a fierce competitor,” Bizacquino said. “I have to say – I had the best seat in the house, watching Ashley and Nikki play.
“Would I love to have them for one more year? Absolutely. Who wouldn’t, but I can’t be selfish. I’m just honored to have them the one year we had them. They are two great kids.”
Kandrick steps down – It wasn’t an easy decision, but Jon Kandrick opted to step down from his position as head coach at Norristown to pursue a career as an athletic director.
“What I didn’t want to do was hold on to the Norristown job and then be forced to make a last-minute decision,” he said. “It’s not fair to the girls.
“They knew I was getting my master’s degree, and they knew it was most likely done at the end of this year, but it was still a tough decision to make. You get really close to the girls. I feel as though I put a lot of time and energy building the program up, but I knew with getting my master’s, that was the direction I was heading.
“I love sports, and I can’t see myself not being involved in sports. I’ve been around a lot of really good athletic directors, and that’s what I want to do now.”
Kandrick doesn’t expect to stay away from the softball sidelines for too long, if at all.
“If the opportunity comes around and I don’t find a full-time job at that point, I will look to volunteer somewhere,” he said.
Stay tuned.
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