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A brief recap of Central Bucks South’s 10-0 win over Central is included below the boxscore for the Pennsbury/St. Hubert’s contest.
PHILADELPHIA – Alyssa Becker stood on first base after picking up a two-out bunt single in the seventh inning of Monday’s District One AAAA opener against St. Hubert’s still believing her Pennsbury squad could erase the 2-0 deficit that had been staring the Falcons in the face since the third inning.
“We do come from behind a lot,” Becker said. “We are good at that, but we couldn’t really make it happen today.”
Becker’s bunt single gave the Falcons hope, but nothing more.
Bambies’ hurler Melissa Robinson fanned the next batter she faced to put the finishing touches on St. Hubert’s 2-0 win that sent the Falcons home for the season.
“It’s very disappointing,” Becker said. “I’m really upset.”
Moments early, coach Frank McSherry was addressing the subject of his seniors during his post-game interview when he spotted Becker standing nearby.
“It’s always tough to see the seniors leave,” Pennsbury’s veteran coach said.
And then pointing in Becker’s direction he continued, “It will be real tough to watch this senior leave because, man, did she step up.
“She went from a jayvee player to just a part-time base runner last year, and she came in this year and just played great, great softball and had some huge hits with two outs.
“I’m really proud of how Alyssa Becker performed. I know coach (Dave) Murphy is really proud of her too.”
The Falcons lost because they never could solve the mystery of pitcher Melissa Robinson, who allowed back-to-back singles to Alyssa Shirley and Kirby Groves in the first inning but then scattered just four hits over the next six frames.
“In the first inning when we were hitting the ball, I thought, ‘Okay, we see where the ball’s moving, and we’ll put more (hits) in play,’” Becker said. “She threw a good game.”
Becker had two of her team’s hits – both came on bunt singles. Nine Pennsbury outs were recorded on pop-ups, the final three of the game on strikeouts.
“I don’t know – we were just under the ball a lot,” Groves said. “Our swings weren’t level - we were just upper cutting.”
Groves, like her teammates, was optimistic when the Falcons collected back-to-back singles in the first.
“We were pretty confident,” she said. “We felt we came out really strong, and we thought we would continue to do that, but it kind of died as the game went on, which was not good at all.
“Their team had a lot of energy. Obviously, they fed off their crowd a lot. Their crowd was in it the whole time. Their energy was higher than ours, and they beat us with that.”
The Falcons put their leadoff runner on board in three of the next four innings. In the second, Brooke Downs singled down the left field line. She moved up on Sarah Gosselin’s sacrifice bunt but was stranded on second.
In the third, D’Anna Devine beat out an infield single to short and advanced to second on Shirley’s sacrifice. Robinson coaxed harmless fly balls out of the next two batters she faced – Groves and Lauren Rossi.
“I don’t know what it was – a screwball maybe,” Becker said. “I couldn’t really tell because I’m left handed most of the time.
“She was making everybody pop up. I know in the (second) inning – even batting left handed, I popped it up. If we would have gotten on top of her, we would have hit the ball a lot better and maybe had a different outcome.”
Becker led off the fifth with a single and moved up to second on Kelsi Bunda’s sacrifice. The script followed a familiar scenario as Robinson retired the next two batters she faced.
“We got beat by a better team today,” McSherry said. “We expected to do more, but you have to give her (Robinson) credit. She pitched really, really well.
“They got the hits they needed, and we didn’t. Today they were the better team. We didn’t beat ourselves. We got beat.
Falcon hurler Kait Schilling pitched well enough to win. The junior mound ace allowed just three hits, but unfortunately, two of those came in the same inning – the third – when the Bambies plated both of their runs on a two-strike, two-run single by Robinson.
Those runs turned out to be more than enough for Robinson, who fanned five and did not walk a batter.
“I’m disappointed because it’s my last year and the last game of my (high school) career,” Groves said. “I didn’t want to end it like this.
“We wanted to end it on a positive note, and it’s very disappointing that it ended like this.”
McSherry bids farewell to a pair of four-year starters in Rossi and Groves.
“I taught them in eighth grade, and it’s real tough to see them go,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Plus their leadership – they really set the tone for our kids. When they were going well, it gave everybody a boost, and we went well.”
The Falcons closed out the year with an 18-5 record.
ST. HUBERT’S 2, PENNSBURY 0
Pennsbury: D’Anna Devine 2b 3 0 1 0; Alyssa Shirley dp 2 0 1 0; Kirby Groves 1b 3 0 1 0; Lauren Rossi ss 3 0 0 0; Rebecca Erb 3b 2 0 0 0; Mirella Wells ph 1 0 0 0; Brooke Downs c 3 0 1 0; Sarah Gosselin cf 2 0 0 0; Alyssa Becker lf 3 0 2 0; Kelsi Bunda rf 2 0 0 0; Kait Schilling p 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 24 0 6 0.
St. Hubert’s: Brittany Meehan ss 3 1 1 0; Kristen Tyrrell 1 0 0 0; Gina Sciarrone lf 2 0 0 0; Melissa Robinson p 3 0 1 2; Samantha Coyle 1b 3 0 1 0; Mary Kate Foley c 3 0 0 0; Lisa Robbins 3b 2 0 0 0; Lindsey Tuscano ph 1 0 0 0; Tara Robinson rf 2 0 0 0; Brianna Kenney cf 1 1 0 0. TOTALS 21 2 3 1.
Pennsbury 000 000 0-0
St. Hubert’s 002 000 x-2
E-St. Hubert’s 0, Pennsbury 1. LOB-Pennsbury 6, St. Hubert’s 5. 2B-Coyle. SAC-Gosselin, Bunda, Shirley.
IP H R ER BB SO
Pennsbury
Schilling (L) 6 3 2 2 3 4
St. Hubert’s
Robinson (W) 7 6 0 0 0 5
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 10, CENTRAL 0 (Five innings)
Everybody got a piece of the action in Central Bucks South’s 10-0 rout of Central in a PIAA Class AAA Tournament opening round game at Spring-Ford High School on Monday.
Nineteen players saw action for the Titans in a contest that was halted after five innings when the mercy rule went into effect.
“That was important to me to have them participate in the state tournament,” coach Jenn Robinson said. “The only down side is now I have to work the next two days getting the pitch speed up and the bat speed up.
“We adjusted to a very slow pitcher. Now we have to do the opposite.”
On the mound, Devon Utterback and Francesca Carrullo were untouchable, combining for the abbreviated no hitter. Utterback, who notched the win, fanned nine in four innings while Carrullo struck out two in the final frame.
The only contact the Lancers made, according to Robinson, came on a pair of bunts back to the mound.
Offensively, the Titans were led by the two-hit performances of Morgan Decker (2 doubles, RBI), Lauren Klepchick (double) and Taylre Stocks (double, RBI). Molly Hare added a triple to the Titans’ 13-hit attack.
The Titans plated a single run in the first and added two more in the second. A six-run outburst in the third blew the game wide open, and they brought an early end to the game with one run in the fifth.
The Titans will face Governor Mifflin – a surprise winner over Owen J. Roberts - in a state quarterfinal game on Thursday.
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