North Penn came up just short in Thursday’s District 1 6A title game against Downingtown West. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-4 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 3, #1-2 NORTH PENN 2
The medals presentation was about to begin after Thursday’s District 1 6A title game at Immaculata University when – at the sound of a loud thunderclap – both teams were instructed to leave the field immediately.
The Whippets didn’t have time to celebrate, and the Knights didn’t have time to lament the loss. Elia Namey’s final words as she gathered her equipment suggested that the senior captain had already turned the page and was looking forward to the next chapter – the PIAA 6A State Tournament.
“That’s been our mindset all year,” Namey said. “We’re definitely going to be ready for our game on Monday. That’s been our goal all year – states.”
Thursday’s game saw the Knights’ bats – after an impressive first inning – go unusually quiet against pitcher Natalie Beebe. The secret to the West hurler’s success could be summed up in one word – changeup. Beebe had an effective one.
“We were trying our best to read the ball out of the pitcher’s hand – it was a really nice changeup,” Namey said. “We tried to fight it off so we could get a pitch we liked.
“A few of us did, but a few of us couldn’t really get a piece of her like we wanted to. We just tried to keep everyone up each at-bat. It wasn’t our day, I guess.”
The Whippets might well have set the tone for the game in the top of the first. Boston University commit Cait Coker – who looked every bit as good as her .655 batting average suggests – doubled to lead off the frame, and she scored one out later when Taylor Posner hit a two-run home run.
The Kinghts answered with a run in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Jordan Pietrzykoski collected an infield single, and Amanda Greaney lined a single to left, setting the stage for Namey. The senior first baseman ripped the first pitch she saw into the gap in left center. A run crossed the plate, but the second was gunned down at home, and the Whippets still led 2-1.
Coker led off the third with a double to left and scored on a single by Posner that put the Whippets on top 3-1.
With Beebe effectively mixing in her changeup, the Knights struggled, collecting just two hits in the next five innings after getting three in the first.
“I couldn’t figure out the strike zone on a lot of pitches, especially the changeup,” coach Rick Torresani said. “The girls were coming to me and saying, ‘Coach, we don’t know what is a strike when it’s a changeup or what is a strike when it’s outside.’ I said, ‘Listen, you just have to adjust.’ Sometimes that gets in your head.
“Should we have done better? Yes. Should we have hit line drives and hard ground balls, which they were having trouble fielding? Yes, and we didn’t. If you get pitching, which we got, and if you get good defense, which we got, you’ve got to have the timely hitting, and we didn’t have it.”
Jamie Beer led off the seventh with a single, and Volpe came oh-so-close to knotting the score as her monster drive over the fence in left was just foul. Lizzy Stark was safe on a two-out error, allowing Beer to score, but Beebe retired the next batter she faced on a popup to third base to close it out.
“We haven’t been behind in a while, and it’s been a while since we only scored one run or two runs because usually we have an inning where we score three or four in one inning,” Torresoni said. “I thought that would happen in the sixth with who we had coming up, and it didn’t. In the seventh, the bottom of the order got us a run.”
Volpe absorbed the loss but allowed just three hits after the Whippets got three hits and two runs in the first. She struck out 10 – including the side in the fourth – and walked two.
“In defense of Mady, I gave her a couple of pitches to that first batter (Coker) that if I had known her a little better I wouldn’t have done that,” Torresani said. “It’s obvious with that swing, she’s that good of a hitter.
“Mady is a good pitcher, and on those two, she got the hit. I threw a changeup in her third at-bat and she hit it back to Mady. Usually when we give up a couple of runs early we’ve always come back. They only scored three runs, and they were early. We’re all figuring we’re going to come back. That team got past (top-seeded) Spring-Ford. They were on a roll.”
Although Downingtown West had captured the district title, the Knights are still very much alive for the bigger prize.
“The kids know the goals they’ve set – winning districts was one, yes, but their whole mindset since day one has been to get to State College, so we’ll see,” Torresani said.
Pietrzykoski and Greaney led the Knights with 2-for-3 efforts at the plate.
For the Whippets, Posner (2-for-3, HR, 3 RBIs, run) and Coker (2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 runs) did all of the damage.
North Penn (22-2, 11-1 SOL) will return to action in Monday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament where the Knights will face the District 11 runner-up, the loser of Friday’s Parkland/Northampton game.
Downingtown West 201 000 0 3-6-1
North Penn 100 000 1 2-6-0
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