#4 Hatboro-Horsham 6, #5 Downingtown East 2
Megan Kelly and her Hatboro teammates had to be thinking their coaches had gone just a bit mad when they moved the pitching machine in 10 feet closer for Thursday’s batting practice.
“I was like, ‘This is ridiculous. This is 85 miles per hour. It doesn’t have to be 85 miles per hour,’” the Hatters’ senior captain said. “She moved it up really close, and it had to be so fast.
“We didn’t have time to look at the pitch. You had to react. We were hitting the ball all over the place, but that’s okay.”
Coach Kelly Krier had her reasons.
She knew there was no one on her staff that could simulate the speed of Downingtown East’s Caroline Raymond, who has been clocked at 68 MPH and is heading to the University of Massachusetts on a softball scholarship.
Last year, Raymond, a first team all-state selection, was 20-1 with a miniscule 0.37 ERA.
“The girls were not happy with us,” Krier said of her team’s unorthodox batting practice the preceding day. “They thought we were being ridiculous. They thought we were being evil.
“The expressions on their faces were priceless today when they saw that first pitch come in. This girl (Raymond) can throw. She’s the real deal. She’s the fastest pitcher I have seen in high school, without a doubt.”
Suddenly, those batting practice swings against a pitching machine that was far too close didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.
“It was funny because my first swing I was swinging ahead of the pitch after 85 MPH yesterday – not really, but it felt like it,” Kelly said with a laugh. “I have faced a lot of pitchers, and she throws really hard. She has a lot of power. She was a very good pitcher.”
Raymond may have been very good, but on Friday, the Hatters and pitcher Maggie Shaffer were better.
Kelly might well have set the tone when she collected a leadoff single in the bottom of the first.
“We just wanted to go out and make contact, get runners on base,” Kelly said. “When I got a hit my first time up, I was like, ‘Oh good, we can hit this pitcher. We can do it.’
“We had a great first inning. We put everything together and just made it happen.”
Did they ever!
Chrissy James – who led the Hatters with a pair of hits - followed with a perfectly-placed bunt single between third base and the pitcher, and one out later, Chelsea Edwards was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kelly scored on a bases-loaded walk to Jackie DiPietro, and that brought freshman Kelsey Koelzer to the plate.
Koelzer – not the least bit intimidated by the prospect of facing Raymond - hit the first home run of her high school career over the left center field fence for grand slam that put the Hatters on top 5-0.
“Erika (Lee) pulled her over and said, ‘You have no idea right now how big that was,’” Krier said of her assistant coach. “I have Kelsey in class. She is just confident, very bright and hard working. You would never know talking to her she was a freshman.”
A misplayed fly ball to right field off the bat of Melissa Spinosa turned into a four-base error, and the Hatters led 6-0.
“I thought for sure it was going to be a one-run game,” Krier said. “It was unbelievable.”
The Whippets plated a pair of runs in the sixth. It could have been worse, but Shaffer worked her way out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam by striking out the side. All told, Shaffer – despite battling a fever – fanned 12 batters, out-dueling perhaps the state’s highest profile pitcher.
“Maggie stepped up big time,” Krier said. “She rested between innings, drank Gatorade, and on the field, she just toughed it out. She was a trooper.”
The Hatters collected six hits off Raymond, who struck out six, walked six and hit a pair of batters.
“What separated us today from other teams she faced is we didn’t swing at pitches out of the strike zone,” Krier said. “I think other teams and other players she faced she was able to just mow them down.
“I think that’s because the girls worked hard yesterday.”
The win ensured the Hatters a berth in the state tournament.
“They just worked really hard,” Krier said. “We have a few younger sisters and relatives of girls from past teams who have been a big part of the program, and I think they want their success too, and they want to be a part of that.
“They love the game, and from what I can tell, they really like each other as teammates and friends. They’re just hard workers, and they have overcome so many obstacles – personal injuries, changes in lineup and changes in personnel. They have just done it in a very special way, a quiet way.
“We’re going to continue to let things happen and control what we can. Today we had this whole idea of believing in yourself. If you don’t believe you’re going to win, then you’re not going to win – I actually heard a Philadelphia Flyer say that on TV this morning, and I was like, ‘I’m so using that today.’ They just did really well. I’m really proud of them.”
The magnitude of Friday’s win was not lost on the players.
“This is so big,” Kelly said. “Everyone said, ‘Oh, you have a really young team. Do you think you’ll make it to states?’
“We did that today, and we’re really excited to be in the state tournament and even to go the rest of the way through districts. Hatboro-Horsham hasn’t won districts yet. That would be awesome to do if we could.”
The lone obstacle standing between the Hatters and a trip to the district title game is a Bishop Shanahan team that sent Owen J. Roberts home for the season with an 8-0 win.
#2 Central Bucks South 7, #10 North Penn 0
Fran Carrullo appreciates nothing more than a few ‘comfort runs’ when she takes the mound.
Sophomore Morgan Decker took care of that little matter with one sweet swing of the bat in the first inning, lofting a monster blast to the fence in deep right center for a two-run home run and a quick 2-0 Titan lead.
“I’m pretty sure it was a fastball down the middle,” said Decker. “You just know it’s your pitch, and no matter what kind of pitch it was – I knew it was mine.”
South coach Jennifer Robinson acknowledged that Decker has been looking good at the plate.
“Her swing has been so good and so on at batting practices and regular practices,” the Titans’ coach said. “She just hits those solid line drives time after time.
“That was the best swing I’ve seen her take since she’s been here. It was fantastic. Morgan is powerful, but she’s a singles, doubles hitter. She just got every ounce of that ball with the sweet part of her bat. You can’t teach that kind of hitting.”
No one was happier to see Decker connect than Carrullo.
“Oh my god, that felt so good,” she said. “I know Morgan wanted that so bad.
“She knows I love my comfort runs. She came in and said, ‘I got you your comfort runs, Fran.’”
Armed with an early lead, Carrullo went out and tossed a gem. She did not allow a hit until North Penn’s Steph Kulp lined a two-out single to right in the seventh inning.
Carrullo, it turns out, had no idea she was tossing a no-hitter for six and two-thirds innings.
“I was so focused,” she said. “I don’t even know what I have going on out there – I just try and get it done. I was more worried about winning today.”
The win ensured the Titans a coveted berth in the state tournament.
“It means a lot to get back to states,” Carrullo said. “We can go back and show what kind of team we have this year. We stopped in the (state) semifinals last year, and I hope we don’t stop there this year.”
Carrullo’s mastery of the Maidens doesn’t begin and end with Friday’s masterpiece. This was the junior pitcher’s third win over the Maidens this season – all were shutouts.
“I’m almost at a loss for words to talk about what she does for our team,” Robinson said. “She just has such command of her pitches.
“I talked to her about the last game, and there were some things I wanted her to fine tune. She does exactly what you ask her to do. You have to think when you get up a couple of runs that she’s going to get it done for you. She’s not a one-woman show out there, but she’s forcing them to hit grounders and pop-ups.”
The Maidens, meanwhile, are puzzled by Carrullo’s mastery.
“I couldn’t tell you (what it is),” senior Mary Ward said. “She has speed and movement. She’s a good pitcher, and we just haven’t been able to hit her. That’s a tribute to her.”
The Titans added a single run in the second when Michelle Gessner, who had walked, scored on Jae Epstein’s sacrifice fly to right.
In the fourth, Shana Steigerwalt lined a one-out single to center, and Epstein legged out a bunt single. Haileigh Stocks – who led the Titans with three hits - followed with an RBI single to center. The Maidens elected to walk Decker intentionally to load the bases, and the Titans made it hurt when Lauren Klepchick drew a walk to force in a run.
Gessnner’s two-out single to right plated the sixth run, and Decker raced home on a wild pitch for the 7-0 final margin of victory.
On the mound, Carrullo retired 16 of 17 batters prior to Kulp’s two-out single in the seventh.
“I knew they prepared to play us because we had played them twice before,” Carrullo said. “I knew they wanted to come back and get us, but our team also prepared.”
Two days earlier, the Titans survived a bit of a scare in Wednesday’s second round game against Spring-Ford. They went into the bottom of the sixth staring at a 1-0 deficit before rallying for three runs.
“I think that made us realize we’re going to have to work harder,” Decker said. “We can’t just come in here thinking we’re going to just walk through.”
According to Ward, the tone may have been set with Decker’s mighty home run.
“It was a huge momentum killer,” the Maidens’ senior third baseman said. “But I really thought at that point we wanted it so bad that it wasn’t even going to make us put our heads down. I thought we were going to jump right back at them after that inning.
“We were making contact, but we weren’t finding the gaps.”
For the third time in four years, the Maidens saw their dream of earning a berth in the PIAA Tournament come to an end.
“It’s a shame we just can’t get over the hurdle,” coach Rick Torresani said. “What happens to us is we’re always facing a ‘defending’ something in that third game. CB South is a good team. You have to be able to score some runs against them, and we couldn’t do it.”
“It’s so disappointing,” said Ward, biting back tears. “We worked so hard from September on. We really thought we had it this year.
“I was out there, and it was hard to think it was the last time I was playing with these girls. We’re with each other every day. We have so many memories. It’s going to be so hard to leave. Watching the girls (who graduated) come back – we have that to look forward to, but it’s not the same. It’s going to be tough. It’s tough already.”
Torresani bids farewell to six seniors.
“A bunch of awesome girls – they gave everything they had for three years,” the Maidens’ coach said. “They never complained, and they worked hard.
“They are one of the hardest working teams, and they kept the program where it should be.”
The Titans advance to Tuesday’s semifinal round where they will face Coatesville, which defeated Garnet Valley 4-0 in a quarterfinal game on Friday.
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