North Penn edged Chambersburg 1-0 in eight innings in Tuesday’s PIAA 6A semifinal game at Millersville University to earn a spot in Thursday’s state title game at Penn State University. Photos provided courtesy of Kadi Schenk of KM Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f983803863 (Team selfie courtesy of North Penn softball)
PIAA 6A Semifinal
#1-1 NORTH PENN 1, #3-3 CHAMBERSBURG 0 (8 innings)
The moment was vintage Julia Shearer.
The Knights’ senior ace had spent the better part of eight innings keeping the Trojans guessing, so it was appropriate that her final pitch of
Tuesday night’s PIAA 6A thriller would leave yet another batter frozen in the box for a called third strike – the ninth of 15 strikeout victims caught looking at a called third strike.
Before the batter was out of the box, the field at Seaber Softball Stadium on the campus of Millersville University was a sea of emotion, and a Knights’ squad whose celebrations are typically reserved could at last celebrate – really celebrate.
“It’s just pure joy,” Shearer said. “It’s just an indescribable feeling.
“It feels so good after two years to get back to Penn State. I was saying before – it’s such a fun experience there, and my senior year to go out on the Penn State field is amazing.”
“I’m in shock,” said senior Annabelle Smink, who doubled to lead off the eighth inning and scored the game’s only run. “I’m actually on a high. I don’t even know what’s going on.”
The celebration was a long time coming – 365 days to be exact.
One year ago to the day, North Penn suffered a heartbreaking 2-0 loss to Spring-Ford in the state semifinals. The Rams scored a pair of unearned runs in the fourth inning and that stood. The game ended with a highlight reel catch of a sinking line drive off the bat of Shearer with a North Penn runner on second base.
“I cried really bad last year – this year, I am all happy,” Smink said. “Throughout the whole year, that was always in the back of our mind – we should have won that game.
“One team made an error, and it was us that day. It happens, and we move on. Now guess what – we get to go to the state championship game.”
“We were living through that all summer,” Shearer said of last year’s loss in the state semis. “We came out with a whole new attitude, a whole new mentality this season. Obviously, it’s showing.
“We were really upset after that game, but we were more angry that we didn’t show our full potential. Even though we didn’t have the best day at the plate today, it really showed in our defense how locked in we all were. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime – I guess twice-in-a-lifetime experience to play at Penn State, and we were all gunning for that.”
Shearer was once again brilliant, allowing just two hits – a two-out double in the third inning that was followed by an infield single that resulted in a putout at home plate. It was the Trojans only scoring threat of the game as they managed just one baserunner the rest of the way – a hit batter with one out in the sixth. Shearer, who faced only 26 batters in eight innings, threw 96 pitches – 73 for strikes.
The Knights scored the game-winner in the top of the eighth that began with Smink ripping the first pitch she saw into the right center field gap for a standup double.
“It hit the perfect part of the bat,” Smink said. “I had to make an adjustment – I did not hit today, and I had to go up with an open mindset, ‘I’m going to hit the ball.’
“She threw a lot of first pitch strikes, and we did not take account of that. She was tough, she threw well. That’s a very good team.”
Smink moved up to third when the Trojans committed their lone miscue of the game on Brie Wilmot’s infield grounder, and the Knights had runners on the corners with none out.
Again, Miller came up big, striking out the next batter she faced, but Sophia Orth lofted a sac fly to center field that saw Smink – after tagging up – ruled safe at home plate on a headfirst slide.
“Coach says, ‘Go,’ and I’m going,” said Smink, who leaped into the arms of a waiting Shearer. “The exhilaration – I don’t know how high I jumped, I was so far in the air. She caught me. I don’t even know. It was such a good feeling.”
The safe call at home plate was not met with the same enthusiasm on the Trojans’ side of the field, but no amount of pleas or appeals could change the controversial call.
Shearer took care of business in the bottom of the eighth, inducing a grounder to second out of the first batter she faced and then striking out the next two to put an exclamation point on the exhilarating win.
“I think those last three batters – I was the most locked in that I have been the whole game,” Shearer said.
Although their work is not done, the Knights – for one night – celebrated their hard-earned win.
“I don’t have words – all I can do is cry,” NP coach Rick Torresani said. “I don’t know what to say. First of all, I want to give it to that team and their pitcher. They did such a great job. They were into it the whole game, but these kids never gave up.
“Then Annabelle (Smink) getting a hit, and Sophia (Orth) playing third base like she played it her whole life, and Julia (Shearer) was just not going to be denied. She was just unbelievable, but the defense behind her was great. What can I say? It was just an awesome game.”
In a contest that saw both teams struggle to generate offense, the Knights stranded nine baserunners over the last six innings – the Trojans just two for the game.
North Penn loaded the bases with one out in the second. Bella Nunn drew a leadoff walk, and Casey Sokol was hit by a pitch. Kylee Miller struck out the next batter she faced, and Shearer drew a walk. Another strikeout and a groundout to first ended that threat.
In the third inning, Gianna Cimino and Orth collected back-to-back one-out singles, but a line drive double play killed that potential rally.
“When we had those chances and didn’t score, I thought, ‘Please don’t lose this game because I’ll be up for days wondering,’” Torresani said. “But you know what – Annabelle came through. These kids won’t be denied, won’t be denied. Now we’re going up against a good Hempfield team that I know nothing about. We’ll see what happens.”
The win was the Knights’ 27th of the season without a loss, and there’s no denying the pressure that goes hand in hand with the lofty expectations this year’s North Penn squad lived with since falling to Spring-Ford in last year’s state semifinal.
“As a team as a whole going undefeated, there’s pressure on us every single game – no matter if it’s a regular season game or a state semifinal game, it’s always there,” Shearer said. “We’ve gotten used to the feeling, I guess I’d say, but we’re going to play our same game.
“We knew that something would click eventually as long as I pitched the way I pitch and the defense provided for me. Everything was going amazing in the field. I think that was the key for how we got through it today, but the pressure’s always there.”
Four days earlier, Shearer was named 2023 Gatorade PA Softball Player of the Year. It is the second time she received that recognition, and there was no mistaking Chambersburg was looking to be the team that knocked Shearer and the Knights from the ranks of the undefeated.
“They wanted to beat me – I know that for a fact,” Shearer said. “Their dugout was extremely noisy. I could hear it sometimes, but I would tune it out as soon as I heard it. That’s not something I have to worry about. It’s out of my control. I don’t think of that stuff, but the pressure’s always on. I feel like I’ve grown as a player dealing with that pressure.”
There’s no mistaking the confidence Shearer’s teammates have in their star pitcher, insisting she was unfazed by her latest honor even if her opponents weren’t.
“Julia didn’t even think about it,” Smink said. “She played her game, and we all did too. We came right behind her and played great defense today.”
The Knights managed just six hits off Miller, who fanned seven in a standout effort of her own. Cimino accounted for two of those hits. Miller’s effectiveness is underscored by the fact that the Knights’ one through four batters were a combined 1-for-13.
“You practice fast, you practice slow with a rise, but this kid could move it anywhere and hit her spots and with a lot of spin, and that’s what happens,” Torresani said. “We’re going to Penn State – that’s all that matters.”
North Penn (27-0, 16-0 SOL) will face District 7/WPIAL champion Hempfield (21-3) in Thursday’s PIAA 6A state title game at Penn State University (4:00 p.m.). Hempfield is back in the state title game for the first time since 2018 and is aiming for its fifth state crown. The Knights return to the state title game after capturing the state championship in 2021.
Orth at home on third
Sophia Orth’s natural position is behind home plate as catcher, but the junior looked very comfortable at third base in Tuesday’s state semifinal.
“We put her out there because we knew she could block a ball, she was quick enough from catching that she wasn’t afraid of it, and her arm was accurate enough to make the throws, and she did it again,” Torresani said. “She did everything.”
In a contest that saw the Knights’ defense make just nine plays with Shearer making two of those, Orth made three of the other seven. Her snag of a grounder in the hole to lead off the seventh may have been the defensive play of the game, robbing Sam Paetow of a base hit.
“I’m going after it – I know I’m going after it until I don’t get it,” Orth said. “If it goes by me and AB (Smink) gets it, I just know to get out of the way, but I’m going aggressive after every ball that’s hit toward me. Everything I can get – I’m going to get. That’s what my mindset is out there.”
Orth credited the team’s favorite pastime away from softball for helping hone her reflexes at third base.
“For softball, we play pickleball a lot, and I think that helps,” she said. “We have a whole pickleball club going on here.”
Orth also had one of the game’s biggest at-bats with runners at the corners and one out in the top of the eighth inning. Her sacrifice fly to center plated Smink with the game-winner.
“I just knew I had to be aggressive at the plate but controlled,” she said. “My first at-bat I swung at one kind of high, and I knew the rest of my at-bats I had to be disciplined but still be aggressive at the plate and just put it in play. I knew AB could do it, so I just needed to hit something in play. It felt really good seeing her get called safe.”
North Penn 000 000 01 1-6-0
Chambersburg 000 000 00 0-2-1
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