The SOL American-Continental squad was faced with the daunting task of winning four games on Monday if it hoped to stay alive in the 2009 Carpenter Cup competition.
Not to worry. The players had everything under control.
“We just said - take it inning by inning and just keep working, minimize the number of errors and get ahead by scoring some runs,” Central Bucks East’s Robyn Ziegler said. “We just had to take it one step at a time and win each game.”
It sounds easy enough, and apparently it was as the SOL benefited from a forfeit in its 9 a.m. game against Mercer County and then rolled to three straight wins to earn a spot in Tuesday’s championship round – one of three teams in the 16-team tournament still standing.
“It’s quite an accomplishment,” head coach Heather Boyer said. “It goes to show the commitment these girls have – not only to be part of the Carpenter Cup, which is quite an honor, but they’re not just here to get that accolade. They’re here to compete and really perform.
“It’s tough to earn your way out of the loser’s bracket, but they won three games today – four with the forfeit. It speaks to their enthusiasm for the sport, and it shows quite a bit of resiliency to come back game after game.”
A key to the day was the pitching tandem of North Penn’s Kellianna Bradstreet and Ziegler. While Bradstreet worked the first four innings of each game, Ziegler closed it out.
“They have really balanced each other out quite nicely,” Boyer said. “It’s a good routine we’ve got going on.”
Ziegler admits she’s very comfortable in the role of closer. It’s a job she handled in high school where she finished off games for teammate Mel Frank.
“It’s been great,” she said. “I’m kind of used to it, and I’m glad it’s working out this way.
“She (Bradstreet) is great starting the game, and me coming in and finishing has worked to our advantage. I think we mesh very well.”
Boyer admits she was concerned when her squad made the early-morning trip to Philadelphia only to discover they would not be playing since Mercer County had elected to take a forfeit.
“I was a little nervous,” the Upper Dublin coach said. “The girls drug themselves down here by eight o’clock in the morning, and they show up and don’t have a game.
“It was a letdown because you’re sitting around for two hours before you have to do anything. The only upside was we got to watch the game and got a sneak preview of the team we would be playing.”
That sneak preview was apparently all the SOL needed as it downed Chester County 3-0 in its first game of the day. The SOL plated all three of its runs in the sixth inning. Bradstreet got things started with a one-out single but erased on a fielder’s choice. Central Bucks East’s Brittany Devlin singled, and North Penn’s Christie Mallozzi drew a walk to load the bases.
An infield single by Upper Merion’s Mia DiLella plated a run, and two more runs crossed the plate on Ziegler’s clutch two-out single, giving the SOL its final margin of victory.
“That (win) was very big,” Ziegler said. “Coming off the loss in our last game on Thursday, and a lot of us had travel (softball) this weekend, so it was very nice to have that first win to start off a great day.”
Bradstreet tossed four one-hit innings while Ziegler – who notched the win – worked three scoreless innings, allowing a pair of hits. North Penn’s Alyssa Campbell was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
In game two, the SOL earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over Olympic Colonial. The SOL got on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Mallozzi singled to lead off the inning and then stole second. She moved up to third on a slap single by Norristown’s Maggie Creciun and scored the game’s first run when North Penn’s Mary Ward (RBI) hit a grounder that was misplayed.
Olympic Colonial knotted the score in the bottom of the inning, but in the top of the fifth, North Penn’s Miranda Sergas drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on Upper Dublin Sam Haber’s bunt. She scored on an error on a grounder by Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Renee Stiteler (RBI).
Bradstreet notched the win, allowing one hit while fanning four in four innings of work. Ziegler struck out four in three shutout innings. Creciun was 2-for-3 to lead the SOL.
In its final game of the day, the SOL defeated Jersey Shore 4-1. Bradstreet earned the win, allowing three hits while striking out three in four innings. Ziegler notched the save, striking out a pair and allowing one hit in three innings.
Jersey Shore took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first. The SOL won it with a four-run outburst in the third inning. Haber got things started with a one-out single to left. Creciun was safe on an error, and Ward made it hurt, delivering an RBI double to left. Sergas laid down a successful suicide squeeze, plating Creciun. Norristown’s Gabbie Berry was safe on and error that plated Ward, and Sergas stole home for the 4-1 final.
“It’s very exciting,” Ziegler said. “It’s awesome to keep going like that in such a competitive mindset and just keep sticking it out and playing as hard as we could.
“We had only two practices, and it’s very interesting to see how far we can go.”
The win propelled the SOL into Tuesday’s 11 a.m. game at FDR Park against Delaware South. The winner will face Berks County in the 1 p.m. championship game. A 3 p.m. game will follow if Berks – the tournament’s lone undefeated squad – loses in the one o’clock game.
The SOL National-Bicentennial squad saw its season come to an end when it fell to Jersey Shore 5-3. The tone for this one was set in the first when Jersey Shore plated a pair of runs to go on top 2-0.
The SOL National-BAL got one of those back in the second when Pennsbury’s Kait Schilling delivered a sacrifice fly to center. Jersey Shore responded by scoring three more runs in the third to go on top 5-1. The SOL National-BAL made things interesting in the seventh.
Bristol’s Ashley Cantiello got things started with a leadoff single, and one out later, Council Rock North’s Chloe Pinto delivered an RBI double to left. Back-to-back errors allowed a second run to cross the plate, but that’s as close as it would get as the SOL National-BAL (2-2) saw its Carpenter Cup run come to an end.
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