There’s a rumor circulating that the winning team in Carpenter Cup play will have the opportunity to meet the Phillies. Or, at the very least, the squad that captures the championship will be honored at a future Phillies game.
That apparently was all the incentive the SOL American-Continental squad needed to earn a 4-2 win over Mercer County in the winner’s bracket final on Tuesday afternoon at FDR Park.
“We were really excited,” Central Bucks South sophomore Ally Horvath said. “We said, ‘All right guys, if we win this, we get to meet the Phillies.’ It just pumped everyone up.”
Horvath was pumped up enough to pitch three perfect innings to earn the win on the mound.
“I was basically just trying to hit my spots and just trying to keep the ball moving,” she said. “I just wasn’t expecting to come out here and pitch because on my high school team I didn’t really pitch. I wasn’t really expecting to pitch here, and it’s definitely a big deal.”
It’s also a big deal that – as a result of Tuesday’s win - the SOL American-Continental earned a spot in Wednesday’s title game where it will face the winner of Wednesday morning’s contest pitting Lehigh Valley versus Mercer County. Each of those teams has one loss while the SOL is the lone team in the tournament without a loss.
“I know they said this is the furthest this team has ever been,” Horvath said. “We came in, and we weren’t really expecting it, but we wanted to play to win. It’s really exciting.”
The SOL came out of the gate with its bats on fire.
.jpg)
With one out in the first, Central Bucks East sophomore Allie Chase collected a single and immediately stole second. She moved up to third on North Penn junior Jess Mower’s fly ball to the outfield and scored when Central Bucks East sophomore Julia Schoenewald singled to center. Norristown junior Sammi Kidd was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and a second run crossed the plate when Norristown junior Gina Pellechio drew a two-out walk, putting the SOL on top 2-0.
“We weren’t the home team, and we told them – you need to come out and score early and take the momentum, which is exactly what the girls did,” said Upper Dublin coach Heather Boyer, the head coach of the SOL American-Continental. “Ally (Horvath) came out and pitched beautifully.
“Their first two hitters are very strong slappers with very good speed, and we knew we needed to keep them off the bases. Ally did a great job of hitting her spots and just really pitched well. She did it all by hitting her location. She didn’t have strikeouts, but she was effective in the pitches that she threw.”
The SOL’s lead grew to 4-0 in the fourth inning.
Horvath got things started when she was safe on a one-out error. She was forced out on Central Bucks West junior Cassie Zanolini’s grounder back to mound. Zanolini immediately stole second and scored when Chase delivered a two-out single to left.
Chase, who moved up to second on the throw home, scored when Mower followed with a single to left.
Mercer County got two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning – both runs were unearned, and Katie Ziegler kept them off the scoreboard the rest of the way as the SOL went on to earn the 4-2 win.
“Everyone was so pumped up for this game,” said Upper Dublin sophomore Ashleigh Sharp, who had a hit in her only at-bat and three putouts in right field. “We said, ‘All right, if we win this game, we’re automatically in the championship game, so we’re not losing.’ That was our attitude today.“This year’s team has done a good job of getting used to playing with each other. We’re pretty close, and winning three games on Monday put us in such a good spot.”
For Sharp, whose Upper Dublin squad won just two SOL games this spring, playing for a championship is especially exciting.
“It was a tough season,” she said. “This is great – just all the competitiveness that everyone has. It’s all brought together, and everyone is working together to get that championship.”
Chase, Schoenewald and Holweger paced the SOL with two hits each. Schoenewald also scored a pair of runs.
The SOL will have two chances to capture the Carpenter Cup title. If the SOL wins its 11 a.m. contest, the Carpenter Cup title is theirs. If they lose, the SOL will find itself in a winner-take-all game at 1 p.m.
“It’s great position to be in,” Boyer said. “It takes the pressure off.
“The girls did a really, really nice job. They’re very quiet and very focused, and they’re here to accomplish a goal. They’re all very competitive, successful softball players that want to win while they’re down here, and they have been very focused on that since the get-go.
“There have been groups of kids in the past that have come down and been really friendly and cheery and rah-rah. These guys have been much quieter, but they have definitely jelled together. They’re quietly focused, quietly fierce.”
So far, it’s been a winning formula.
SOL American-Continental Mercer County
Cassie Zanolini c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Weinberg 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Allie Chase cf | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Hunter 3b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Ashleigh Sharp rf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Gonzales cf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Jess Mower ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Sensi ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Michelle Holweger 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Smith lf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Julia Schoenewald 1b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Whittaker c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Sammi Kidd lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bendetti c | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Jenn Halcovage ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mendez p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Gina Pellechio rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Bendetti p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Erica Miller lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Stephanie DiNolfi 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Harrigan 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tori Barattucci 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bush 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ally Horvath p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Ewill rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Katie Ziegler p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kinsey rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 28 | 4 | 10 | 4 | TOTALS | 27 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
SOL | 200 200 0 4-10-2 | ||||||||
Mercer County | 000 020 0 2-5-2 | ||||||||
E-Mercer County 2, SOL 2. 2B-Chase. | |||||||||
SOL | |||||||||
Ally Horvath (W) | 3.0 0 0 0 0 1 | ||||||||
Katie Ziegler | 4.0 5 2 0 3 4 | ||||||||
Mercer County | |||||||||
Liz Mendez (L) | 3.0 6 2 2 1 1 | ||||||||
E.Bendetti | 4.0 4 2 0 0 1 | ||||||||
- Log in to post comments
0
