By Nate Oxman
For a brief moment after Lauren Rossi made contact it appeared as if the Pennsbury cleanup hitter’s shot to center field might just have had enough juice to take it over the fence.
But with her back just shy of the iron, Spring-Ford centerfielder Liz Johnson squeezed the ball into her glove and provided a fitting ending to a 3-0 Falcons defeat Tuesday at Upper Merions’ Walker Park.
The eighth-seeded Rams converted three costly third-inning errors into two runs, tacked on another with a solo home run in the sixth, and benefited from uncharacteristic mistakes by the Falcons throughout to advance to Thursday’s District One Class AAAA final vs. third-seeded Central Bucks South. The Titans defeated defending district champion Owen J. Roberts in the other semifinal.The loss put the fourth-seeded Falcons into Thursday’s playback game vs. second-seeded Owen J. Roberts to determine the district’s third and fourth seeds heading into next week’s PIAA tournament.
“You can’t play like that against good teams when you’re this deep in the playoffs,” said Pennsbury coach Frank McSherry. “And we know that. We made some mistakes, but our kids will bounce back. We’ll regroup. They’re good kids. They know they made some mistakes. But it’s over.”
The Falcons appeared eager to strike early after loading the bases with two outs in the bottom half of the first inning, thanks to a single to right by Kirby Groves, a Rossi walk, and an infield single by Becca Erb.
But with the bases loaded, Brooke Downs ripped a line-drive directly back to Rams’ pitcher Mandi Rush to extinguish the threat.
After both teams went down in order in the second, Johnson reached base on a bloop single to center. She advanced to second on an errant throw to first on a Rams’ bunt.
Alexis Karkoska then cracked a single up the middle to score Johnson, but while Sasek was rounding third and heading for home, the Falcons executed a flawless relay to Downs, who blocked the plate perfectly and applied the tag to keep the score at 1-0.
But the Falcons’ tough luck continued when the next batter, Vicki Pettine, belted an off-speed Kait Schilling pitch to left-center that couldn’t be hauled in, allowing Karkoska to score to make it 2-0.
The Falcons rallied with two outs once again in the bottom half courtesy of back-to-back singles by Groves and Rossi. But with runners on second and third, Rush notched a huge strikeout to end the inning.
Two scoreless innings followed and then the Rams’ Missy Simpson smashed the first pitch of the sixth well over the fence in left-center to put the Falcons into a 3-0 hole.
Pennsbury pulled into scoring position once again in its half of the sixth after a leadoff single by Rossi, followed by a single up the middle two batters later by Downs, put runners on the corners with one out.
Alyssa Becker drew a two-out walk to load the bases for Kelsi Bunda, but the Falcons faithful let out a collective gasp, followed by a collective groan, after Bunda’s blast to the gap in right-center was tracked down on-the-run by Bri Rowlands.
“I think we had a lot of opportunities, but we just couldn’t make something happen and get a run in,” said Rossi. “I mean they’re a good team, but I think we just beat ourselves overall.”
The Falcons misfortunes paused briefly in the seventh when Alyssa Shirley reached base on a throwing error, but quickly returned on the very next at bat when a chopper off the stick of Groves hit Shirley in the helmet while on her way to second, resulting in offensive interference. Rossi followed with the deep shot to center that just wasn’t deep enough and the Falcons were finished.
“I was just trying to make solid contact to make something happen with two outs,” said Rossi. “Once something starts it can always be a game-changer so that’s what I was trying to do.”
Rossi and Groves led the Falcons with two hits apiece. Schilling struck out three and walked three while allowing seven hits in the mistake-laden loss.
“I think we just have to come back, play strong offensively and defensively, and make fewer mistakes,” said Rossi.
SPRING-FORD 3, PENNSBURY 0
ab r h bi
Sasek lf 4 0 0 0
Karkoska 2b 4 1 2 1
Pettine ss 3 0 1 0
Norris 3b 4 0 1 0
Kqira 1b 4 0 0 0
Simpson dp 3 1 2 1
Rowlands rf 2 0 0 0
Whitmore c 2 0 0 0
Johnson cf 1 1 1 0
Rush p 0 0 0 0
ab r h bi
Devine 2b 4 0 0 0
Shirley dp 4 0 0 0
Groves 1b 4 0 2 0
Rossi ss 3 0 2 0
Erb 3b 2 0 1 0
Downs c 3 0 1 0
Gosselin cf 2 0 1 0
Becker lf 2 0 0 0
Bunda rf 2 0 0 0
Schilling p 0 0 0 0
Spring-Ford 002 001 x—3
Pennsbury 000 000 0—0
Ip h r er bb so
Rush (W) 7 7 0 0 3 3
Schilling (L) 6 7 3 2 3 2
- Log in to post comments
0
