Central Bucks South will face SOL archrival Hatboro-Horsham in Thursday’s District One AAAA title game.
“What more could you want?” South mound ace Fran Carrullo said.
In truth, what more could anyone want?
These two squads have made a habit of playing games that come down to the wire, and extra innings are commonplace when the SOL Continental Conference rivals meet. Consider only that the two teams split their regular season series with both teams winning by identical 1-0 scores.
Last year, the Titans swept the Hatters, but both were one-run games with one of the games going to extra innings.
The only game that wasn’t close, according to coaches of both squads, came two years ago when a Hatter squad that went on to win the state title notched a double-digit win.
“That time they just crushed us, but we typically have gone extra innings with them,” South coach Jennifer Robinson said. “We played a 13-inning game one year, and I remember multiple times going to a second pitcher because I didn’t want to use my pitcher more than eight innings.
“It just seems like fate that we have met them again in this game. I’d be happy no matter who we’d be playing, but it just gives the game that much more allure to be in the opposite bracket and to meet back up with them in a clash of the ‘Titans.’”
“It’s two very competitive teams who respect each other,” Hatboro coach Kelly Krier added. “I think it’s a great district title game. We have had a lot of great battles this year to help prepare us for (Thursday).”
Both squads boast just two seniors in their respective lineups – Megan Kelly and Chelsea Edwards for the Hatters and Taylre Stocks and Shana Steigerwalt for South, and there is very little that these two teams don’t know about each other.
“It’s going to be a great game going against Hatboro-Horsham,” Steigerwalt said. “They’ve always been our biggest rival. We know it’s going to be a really good game, and we’re just excited to come out and play our best softball.”
Kelly echoed those sentiments.
“South is a really good team,” she said. “I have known these girls for a while. They’re right next door to us, and we have been playing them in summer ball. It’s exciting.”
Thursday’s title game will be played at Council Rock North High School at 4 p.m.
Central Bucks South (1-2)
Fran Carrullo and her Titan teammates have a little score to settle when they take on the Hatters in Thursday’s district title game.
The last time the two teams met, Carrullo was nowhere near the field but instead was at home battling a 103-degree fever.
“I was definitely mad I had to miss that game,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want to play your neighborhood rival and beat them? I kept calling my dad and asking for updates.
“They did beat us (1-0), but our team is very pumped to come out and play them again tomorrow.”
Carrullo made a verbal commitment to accept a softball scholarship to St. John’s University, and she points to that commitment as a significant moment in her career.
“When you play softball at the college level, you can’t be walking people and throwing the ball all over the place, so it really forced me to grow up as a pitcher and start perfecting things,” she said.
Speaking of perfecting things - a remarkable stat will show that Carrullo has walked just six batters all season. That’s one game’s worth for some pitchers, but talk to the Titans’ mound ace, and she thinks that’s too many.
“I don’t know why it makes me so mad,” she said. “I don’t like to give anything to people. I want to make the batters work.
“I’m working hard, and I’m going to make them work hard in the batter’s box to try and hit me, so giving them a base makes me nuts. I’m very competitive, and I’m a perfectionist when it comes to pitching. I guess walking batters is just not my thing.”
Carrullo boasts a dazzling 13-1 record with her only loss coming in the first game of the season against Council Rock North.
For the Titans, Thursday’s title game also will be an opportunity for redemption. In last year’s district title game, they were six outs away from a 2-1 win when Spring-Ford rallied for three runs in the sixth inning and a 4-2 win. Carrullo tossed the first four innings, allowing three hits and one run.
“It was very shocking,” Carrullo said of the loss. “Nobody could believe that we were up the whole game but couldn’t come out on top. It just makes us want the district finals even more.”
The Titans entered the season with decidedly lofty expectations.
“We set our standards so high at the beginning of the season,” said Steigerwalt, the Titans’ standout leadoff hitter. “It’s good to set high goals and know they’re being accomplished.”
Added Carrullo, “Our goal was to be Suburban One League champs, district champs and state champs because we did lose in the district finals and we lost in the state semifinals last year.
“We have basically the same team, and we wanted to come back and show what we have this year.”
The Titans took care of first things first and defended their Continental Conference crown.
“Before setting a goal of winning a district title, we wanted to make sure we made states again,” Robinson said. “On top of that, we wanted to make sure we got to the (district) title round again because we knew we could do it again with the team we had.
“We wanted to advance at least as far as we did last year in the state playoffs. We know we have the capability to do so. It was just making sure that translated onto the field because it certainly didn’t in our first game out.”
The Titans had an early wake-up call when they were upset by Council Rock North in their season opener. Their only loss since then was their 1-0 loss to Hatboro-Horsham.
“We learn from all of our mistakes and work that much harder in practices and games,” Steigerwalt said. “If anything, we take them as learning experiences.”
The Titans and Hatters finished one-two in the Continental Conference standings. Both teams have just two losses.
“It’s going to be a great game,” Robinson said. “They’ve always been our biggest rival, and we’re just excited to come out and play our best softball.
“We have to keep our minds in the game the whole time, and we have to take advantage of our opportunities when we get them. Maggie Shaffer is a very good pitcher, and we have to step up to the plate aggressively just as we have done the past couple of games. If we do make mistakes, we have to keep our heads in it and come out and make the next play.”
“We definitely have to jump out early and jump out fast,” Steigerwalt added. “We want to give Fran insurance runs so we can play our defense. We want to try and get as many runs as we can as early as we can.”
If the past is any indication, Thursday's title game should be a classic battle.
“This game could go either way,” Carrullo said. “I’m pretty confident, but Hatboro always brings a great game. I am so pumped.”
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Steigerwalt added. “This team is incredible. I’ve played with most of these girls in travel ball, and just coming together in my last season as a senior, it’s just great being back in the championship game.
“Only good things can come from here.”
Hatboro-Horsham (1-4)
While the second-seeded Titans came into the season heavy favorites to return to the district title game, the Hatters were another story entirely. They not only boasted a very young squad but also lost their starting shortstop during the course of the season.
“It’s really special to see where this team has taken itself,” Krier said. “There’s so much that happens within a team that other people don’t see. You have ups and downs, you have struggles.
“We’ve had our fair share of those, but the girls have never brought it out to the playing field. They learned to work together. Some girls had to grow up a little quicker by being thrown into positions they weren’t expecting, and they all responded very positively.
“Going into the season, I thought we would have success, but going to the district final and some of the wins we’ve had – this has really been a special treat.”
Krier credited her senior captains – Kelly and Edwards – for the team’s positive mindset and went on to recount some of the season’s highlights that pulled her squad together
“Maggie (Shaffer) throwing a perfect game, coming back and winning games in the seventh inning, the 1-0 CB South win, the Garnet Valley win, how well they have been playing in the playoffs – things like that all coming together,” the Hatters’ coach said. “Even the win the other day against Downingtown (West) and a freshman – Kelsey Koelzer - hitting a grand slam.
“That’s what’s nice about this team. Chelsea and Megan are the stars obviously because of their age and experience, but the supporting cast has stepped up in so many ways. In every game, there’s another name I’m talking about. It’s great to see the girls experience their little time in the sun, and I’m really looking forward to the game.”
Kelly and Edwards also acknowledged that a trip to the district final might have seemed like a stretch at the beginning of the season.
“To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about playing in the district championship game,” Edwards said. “I didn’t know what our team was going to be like.
“We have a very, very young team, and after losing our starting shortstop, I wasn’t sure how the season would turn out.”
“I knew we had the potential to go far,” Kelly said. “But whether or not we could actually do this, I didn’t think at first we could, but we came together as a team.
“We had more team chemistry this year, and we just started pulling it together on the field.”
A turning point in the second, according to both captains, could well have been the Hatters loss to Central Bucks East.
“That was a wake-up call,” Kelly said. “At the beginning of the season, a lot of girls thought they were very good already, but we had done nothing to prove that we were good.
“When we lost to CB East, that was a wake-up call – even the teams that aren’t as good as us can beat us if we let them. I’m sure thinking back on it – for a lot of girls on our team, it still makes their blood boil. It was a good reminder, and you know what it feels like to lose, and you don’t want to do that again. You want to do your best and always bring your ‘A’ game.”
Kelly was a starter on the 2008 Hatter squad that won the state title.
“As a senior, I’m really excited,” she said. “I have been here before, and coming back – I didn’t know if it would happen or not.
“This is really great, and maybe we can do something previous Hatter softball teams haven’t been able to do. Maybe we can win districts.”
For the seniors, a trip to the district title game is especially gratifying.
“It’s amazing,” Edwards said. “I just want to give it my all and have fun.”
Will she get any sleep the night before the game?
“I’m going to try, and when my coach asks me if I got any sleep, of course, I’m going to say I did, but I don’t know how much sleep I’ll actually get,” Edwards said.
Sleep or no sleep, both teams will come ready to play when they square off for the third time this season in Thursday’s high stakes district title game.
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