To view action photos of the CB South/Neshaminy and Pennsbury/Garnet Valley games, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
Living to see another day…
Pennsbury and Central Bucks South are alive and well in the District One AAAA Tournament while Neshaminy and North Penn saw their seasons come to an end. Upper Merion also fell in Class AAA district play, dropping a 6-2 decision to Marple Newtown.
Tuesday’s Class AAAA district semifinals will pit a pair of SOL teams against two Pioneer Athletic Conference squads. Pennsbury, which earned a 2-1 win over Garnet Valley in nine innings, will do battle with Spring-Ford. The Rams handed top-seeded Downingtown West its first loss of the season with their 2-0 win in a quarterfinal game on Friday.
Central Bucks South, a 3-1 winner over Neshaminy, will square off against an Owen J. Roberts squad that last year sent the Titans home for the season with a 5-0 win in a quarterfinal game. On Friday, the defending district champions defeated North Penn 9-5 in quarterfinal action.
Pennsbury 2, Garnet Valley 1 (9 innings)
Kait Schilling was the ‘other pitcher’ in Pennsbury’s quarterfinal game against a Garnet Valley squad that sent the much-publicized Courtney Spina to the mound.
Spina was good, but Schilling was better.
While the Falcons collected eight hits off Sprina, who fanned five, the Jaguars had just four hits off Schilling, who struck out three.
“Both pitchers just really, really pitched well,” said Falcon coach Frank McSherry. “We played tremendous defense.
“Lauren Rossi had an unbelievable game at shortstop. She took a couple of hits away from kids in the hole – she had to go hard to her right and threw kids out. They have a lot of speed on that team, but her (Rossi’s) hands are so fast. She has hit tennis balls being hit at her 90-100 MPH, so it’s no big deal when a ground ball is coming toward her.”
The Jaguars put a run on the board in the top of the first, but true to form, the Falcons answered in the bottom of the inning. D’Anna Devine drew a leadoff walk, and she moved up to second on Alyssa Shirley’s sacrifice bunt.
After a groundout for the inning’s second out, senior Kirby Groves delivered a clutch two-out single to plate Devine.
The next seven innings belonged to the respective pitchers.
“Courtney Spina pitched a great game, but our kids battled,” said McSherry. “We did a pretty good job.”
A key was the Falcons ability to adjust to Spina’s outpitch – the curveball.
“She keeps it on the outside part of the plate and moves it off the plate,” McSherry said. “We knew it was coming, and we made some adjustments to that.
“She got a couple of our kids on high fast balls, and she changed speeds. She just has a nice repertoire of pitches. She’s a senior, and she’s been doing it for a long time. She’s been doing it in some really big games because they’ve gone deep in the state playoffs the last two years.
“To Kait Schilling’s credit, she matched her pitch for pitch. She has pitched really well in big games for us. She puts the ball in play, and our kids played great defense.”
Finally, in the ninth, the Falcons broke the scoring drought. With two outs, Kelsey Bunda delivered a basehit that ignited the rally.
“She hit a rocket off the second baseman’s leg, definitely one of those too-hot-to-handle hits,” McSherry said.
Devine followed with a basehit to right that sent Bunda all the way to third. Shirley delivered the game winner, slapping a single over the third baseman’s head.
“We’re thrilled because we know how tough Spina is,” McSherry said. “It was big for our kids. They fought hard, and Kait – I’m really happy for her and proud of her. She has faced some pitchers that have had bigger names than she has, and she has pitched her best games.”
Owen J. Roberts 9, North Penn 5
North Penn took a 2-0 lead in the third inning of its game against Owen J. Roberts.
That was the good news.
The bad news was that the Wildcats scored six in the fourth and three more in the sixth on their way to the 9-5 win over the Maidens. Seven of the Wildcats nine runs were unearned.
Sophomore Kellianna Bradstreet absorbed the loss, allowing seven hits – four in the sixth when the Wildcats sealed the Maidens’ fate. She walked five and fanned four.
Alyssa Campbell led the Maidens with three hits, including a two-run double in the Maidens’ three-run uprising in the fifth inning. Miranda Sergas also had a pair of RBIs for the Maidens, who saw their season come to a disappointing end.
Central Bucks South 3, Neshaminy 1 (See game feature)
Francesca Carrullo and Devon Utterback combined efforts for the big win. The duo allowed just four hits while striking out 12 – both allowed two hits and both struck out six. Utterback worked the final three innings and notched the win as the Titans broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of runs in the fifth.
Freshmen Morgan Decker and Lauren Klepchick each delivered RBI singles for the Titans in the frame.
Marple Newtown 6, Upper Merion 2
Upper Merion managed just two hits off winning hurler Elise Rosanio while Marple collected 10 hits of Viking pitcher Melissa Kulp. Marple scored all the runs it would need in a five-run first inning and then added a single run in the fifth.
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