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PLYMOUTH MEETING – The mood was decidedly somber during the post-game medal ceremony for a Central Bucks South softball team that was forced to settle for silver as a result of Thursday’s 4-2 loss to Spring-Ford in the District One AAAA championship game.
The Titans may have been down but not for long. “It’s always hard to be runners-up, second place, but we have states,” senior Nicole Rodi said. “States is the most important part for us, and we really want to do well.
“Hatboro-Horsham came back last year and won states after they lost the district final. We’re disappointed, but this will make us work harder in states and make us want it more.”
The Titans’ medals might have been gold had it not been for a career day at the plate by Spring-Ford’s Alexis Karkoska. The senior second baseman accounted for four of her team’s seven hits, including a double and home run.
“She was outstanding, she really was,” South coach Jenn Robinson said. “You really have to give her credit – it was left field, center field, right field, up the middle, into the gap. She did a phenomenal job hitting.”
The performance of Karkoska, according to Ram coach Tim Hughes, typified a playoff run that has seen a different player come up big in every game.
“She was just one part of a team we had this year – when they clicked, they clicked, and they are clicking now,” he said. “She had a good day. Sometimes it’s the next person, but today was her day.”The Titans actually held an 8-7 advantage in hits, and they certainly didn’t lose for lack of opportunities – all told, they stranded 10 base runners.
“We hit the ball all day,” Robinson said. “We put runners in scoring position the whole time, but we had trouble bringing them in.”
That apparently has been a familiar scenario for Spring-Ford’s opponents as pitcher Mandi Rush, who will be taking her talents to Alvin College in Austin, Tex., once again came up with the outs when her team needed them most.
“The last three games against Downingtown West, Pennsbury and now C.B. South – we have worked our way out of jams, and we have been able to get away with it,” Hughes said. “We tried to minimize our mistakes and get a couple more hits than they did.”
The Rams struck first when Karkoska roped a solo home run into the right center field gap in the top of the first. The Titans scored a textbook run in the bottom of the inning.
Shaina Steigerwalt led off the frame with a single over the third base bag, and she moved up to second on Molly Hare’s sacrifice bunt. One out later, freshman Morgan Decker delivered an RBI single to left, knotting the score 1-1.
The Titans broke that tie in the fifth. Haileigh Stocks led off the inning with a double down the right field line, and Rodi brought her home with a clutch two-out infield single.On most days, a one-run lead with six outs to go might be golden for the Titans. It wasn’t on Thursday.
Karkoska opened the sixth with a double down the right field line. She moved up to third on a groundout and then beat the throw to the plate on a slow chopper to third by J.P Norris. Prenna Keira followed with a bloop single over the drawn-in infield, and Bri Rowlands lined a two-out RBI single to center to put the Rams on top 4-2.
“We had some things today that weren’t typical of us, but none of them were game-changing errors,” Rodi said. “It was a combination of them just getting hits that fell in and just putting the ball in play at the right time.”
Mel Molnar led off the sixth with a line single to center, but she never advanced past first as Rush retired the next three batters she faced.
The Titans put a runner on board in the seventh but came up empty.
“We usually string a bunch of singles together, but we just couldn’t get them out there today,” Molnar said. “We always manage to come back, but we couldn’t string the hits together.
“Once they scored more runs than us, some people got a little down. Usually we’re not like that. We’re pretty up, but it hit us pretty hard. It’s definitely a learning experience.”The loss was South’s first since April 23 when the Titans were stunned by Quakertown. They responded to that loss with 12 straight wins.
“I have my head held high, and my team should as well because we have played so well to get here, and we did play an outstanding game for six innings, but then we had a little rough spot,” Robinson said. “You win as a team, you lose as a team. I’m still proud of this team.”
The Titans will return to action on Monday when they will take on the District 12 champion at Spring-Ford in a 4 p.m. contest.
SPRING-FORD 4, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2
Spring-Ford: Allie Sasek lf 4 0 0 0; Alexis Karkoska 2b 4 2 4 1; Vicki Pettine ss 4 0 0 0; J.P. Norris 4 1 1 1; Prenna Keira 1b 3 1 1 1; Missy Simpson dp 3 0 0 0; Bri Rowlands rf 3 0 1 1; Jess Whitmore c 3 0 0 0; Liz Johnson 1b 2 0 0 0; Mandi Rush p 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 30 4 7 4.
Central Bucks South: Shaina Steigerwalt lf 4 1 1 0; Molly Hare 2b 3 0 0 0; Haileigh Stocks dp 4 1 2 0; Morgan Decker 3b 3 0 1 1; Lauren Klepchick c 3 0 1 0; McDonald cr 0 0 0 0; Nicole Rodi rf 4 0 1 1; Taylre Stocks 1b 2 0 1 0; Mel Molnar 2 0 1 0; Francesca Carrullo p 2 0 0 0; Dani London ph 1 0 0 0; Devon Utterback p 1 0 0 0, Vitelli cf 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 27 2 8 2.
Spring-Ford 100 003 0-4
Central Bucks South 100 010 0-2
E-CBSouth 2, SF 1. LOB-SF 6, CBSouth 10. 2B-Alexis Karkoska, Haileigh Stocks. HR-Alexis Karkoska. SAC-Hare.
IP H R ER BB SO
Spring-Ford
Rush (W) 7 8 2 2 4 3
Central Bucks South
Carrullo 4 3 1 1 0 2
Utterback (L) 3 4 3 3 0 0
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