Pennsbury’s Ainsley McClure tossed a perfect game in Friday’s District One 6A quarterfinal win over Garnet Valley. Photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography and John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
District One 6A quarterfinal
#1 PENNSBURY 8, #9 GARNET VALLEY 0
One batter at a time.
It sounds so simple, and in Friday’s District One 6A quarterfinal contest, Ainsley McClure made it look every bit as easy as it sounds, living by her own simple philosophy and retiring 21 consecutive batters ‘one batter at a time.’
In the process, McClure turned a gray and dreary Friday into something magical for her teammates as well as the fans who packed the sidelines, attaining something very few pitchers ever attain - perfection.
“I didn’t even realize it until the last batter,” McClure said. “We were all so focused and into the game. Everyone was cheering and so excited for everything. (Shortstop Caitlyn) Martell starts running at me, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, wait – why is she running at me?’ I’m always one batter at a time and team effort.
“The energy we had today was incredible. I swear – half the school showed up. Some teachers dismissed their D periods (1:09-2:15 class period) to come watch the game. Just the Pennsbury spirit today was insane.
“Our players – they were 100 percent in, up on the fence. There wasn’t a moment when someone wasn’t cheering. The defense when they got a ball would go after it as hard as they could. We were hitting. Everything just fell into place, and it felt like real Pennsbury softball. It’s just the best possible way to go into states.”
To those who know McClure best, it’s hardly a surprise that the senior standout is quick to talk about everything except her own brilliant performance, which included 17 strikeouts, 13 in a row to start the game.
“She normally is not focused on that at all,” senior catcher Rowan Mulholland said. “She’s always for the team. She realized when we were hitting hands with the other team, and she said, ‘Wait, was that a perfect game?’ after we all charged the mound.
“She is just very focused for her team, she’s never about herself, and she never has been. I’ve played with Ainsley since maybe I was 10 years old, and she’s never been about herself.”
While McClure may not have been aware that she was throwing a perfect game, her coach was.
“I brought them all together before the seventh inning except for Rowan and Ainsley – I said to them, ‘You guys go and do your thing,’” coach Frank McSherry said. “I said to the others, ‘Listen, I know you’re not supposed to talk about it, but she has a perfect game going, so you’ve got to give up your body. You’ve got to dive for whatever. Don’t let anything get by you.’”
It turns out Mulholland was equally unaware that McClure was working on a perfect game.
“It was funny – I was getting ready to go out for the seventh inning, and our assistant coach was whispering something to me,” Mulholland said. “He was mouthing ‘Perfect,’ and I was like ‘Murphy? What – is it his birthday?’ Everyone was like ‘Rowan, no.’
“I was so confused until I literally got onto the field, and I was like ‘Oh.’ We’re always so in the moment and just focused on making sure no runs score. We knew the team we were playing today – when they get on base, they run very well and they play very strategically, and we were making sure no batters got on base today. That was our main goal.”
McClure made one of the game’s toughest defensive plays, pouncing on a bunt to lead off the seventh and firing to first for the out.
“I started to suspect towards the end because everyone was like holding their breath the last pitch, and I thought back – no one’s been on base,” she said. “That’s not just a pitcher win, that’s a defensive win.”
In truth, McClure’s defense needed to make just three plays since she came up with one of the four putouts. The game’s toughest play came on a hard shot to third baseman Sammy Raub that she fielded and fired to first for the out to lead off the sixth inning.
“Sam – first pitch, a pretty hard ground ball, and she just threw an absolute dart to first base,” McClure said.
McClure struck out the second batter she faced in the seventh, and Mulholland squeezed a foul popup behind the plate for the game’s final out, and the celebration began.
“She was very close to a perfect game against CB East,” Mulholland said. “It was the last out and Amelia (Funston) got a hit and slashed the perfect game. I didn’t realize until the very end. I was hoping it would happen for her today because it was such an awesome way to happen with all those fans – there was a million fans from our school there today.
“When that (foul) popup went up in the air – first of all, I was like ‘I really hope it doesn’t hit our backstop and I need to catch this right now for her. I need to give her this.’ It was very exciting. I’ve never actually had that happen before. I was hoping that it would happen in the CB East game, but I’m so happy she got the opportunity again. She’s such a dominant pitcher. It doesn’t surprise me that she was able to do it.”
When the final out was recorded, the Falcons’ ace – wearing an almost puzzled look - put her hands above her head as her teammates charged the circle.
“It was like profound relief,” McClure said. “I was shaking. It was awesome. The overwhelming positivity and love I felt from my team during that – it was great.”
An indication of McClure’s dominance was the fact that the Jaguars did not hit one ball out of the infield.
“She’s so focused,” McSherry said. “You could tell before the game – she was ready to give her team the best opportunity to succeed.
“You can’t say she was ready to throw a perfect game, but she was ready to play today, there’s no doubt about it, and I think our whole squad came ready. Our bench was so loud and alive. It was really a whole team effort even though Ainsley pitched a perfect game, and it’s hard to say that, but it was a total team effort.”
A team win
While McClure was getting the job done in the circle, her teammates were doing the same at the plate, putting a run on the board in the bottom of the first when Mulholland, who singled, scored on Laney Freiband’s two-out single.
The Falcons added two more runs in the second. With two outs, Caitlyn Martell reached first on a bad hop single and immediately stole second, eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Quinn McGonigle drew a walk and stole second, and she scored when Mulholland lined a single to right.
In the third inning, Presley Foote contributed an RBI single, and in the fourth Martell and McGonigle delighted the Falcon faithful with back-to-back home runs on mighty blasts to center field that gave the Falcons a 6-0 lead.
“They were both bombs,” McSherry said. “They were over the second fence – the little league fence beyond our fence. They were way past it.”
Pennsbury added single runs in the fifth – without a hit – and sixth when McGonigle, who tripled, scored on a groundout by Mulholland.
“Our game we played on Wednesday – there was a moment when we were playing that game that we peaked with our cheering, and then toward the end of the game it started to go down,” Mulholland said. “It was very frustrating. The seniors and the coaches as well – we pointed out that we’re in the playoffs now, and we can’t be getting flat, and we can’t take anything for granted.
“I think the fans did help amp us up. I think that was the most fans we’ve seen. It felt so great to see such a huge crowd of people there. It was truly really special for us because at our school a lot of sports – our volleyball games, our basketball games, our football games - get a lot of recognition. I feel like in the past couple of years, we’ve gotten more and more fans each year. It was awesome as a senior seeing how many people are actually supporting us.
“We wore our jerseys today, and I was walking down the hallway at school, and there were so many people I didn’t even know who they were, and they were saying ‘Oh, good luck today,’ and it feels so special because softball isn’t normally a sport a ton of people come to. The seven seniors on the team - we’ve wanted this since we were playing together when we were seven. This being our last year, we just want to win the whole thing.”
Pennsbury (21-1, 16-0 SOL) will host #4 Haverford in a semifinal game on Tuesday. Haverford defeated #5 Downingtown East 9-1.
Garnet Valley 000 000 0 0-0-0
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