Wednesday’s District One Tournament softball action featured some stunning upsets. Check out all the action. To view photos of the CB South/Wissahickon and Pennsbury/Pennridge games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
#1 PENNSBURY 1, #17 PENNRIDGE 0
The seeds suggested Wednesday’s opener pitting the Falcons against the Rams wouldn’t be much of a game, but Falcon coach Frank McSherry knew better.
“Any team can beat any team,” the veteran coach said. “We haven’t played in a week, and it hurt us.
“I hate this game. It’s a double-edged sword – you get the bye, so you rest up and get healthy and you don’t have to play as many games, but it’s hard to stay sharp.”
McSherry went on to laud the effort of the Rams.
“They played a really good game,” he said. “Their pitcher (Paige DeCew) threw a great game. She made us go after her pitches, rather than us being patient and waiting for our pitches, so you have to give her credit.
“If it wasn’t for Val (Buehler), and if it
wasn’t for a freshman we put in who got her first two varsity hits, we might lose the game. I was disappointed with the way we played, but I don’t want to take anything away from Pennridge. They committed no errors and made the plays.”
Buehler scattered three hits, struck out seven and did not walk a batter in a winning effort.
“Val just threw really, really well,” McSherry said. “She only walked one and retired the last eight batters and the last 11 out of 12.”
If Buehler was affected by the six-day layoff, she didn’t let it show.
“He had me pitching every day,” she said. “Since it was a six-day break, and three of those days we didn’t practice. – it didn’t make us lazy, but we weren’t as alert as we usually are.
On the other side of the diamond, Pennridge coach Paul Koehler had nothing but praise for his team’s performance.
“From where we were to where we are and the beauty is – I could play a hundred of those games,” the Rams’ coach said. “It was just a great game.
“Both teams had runners in scoring positions, the pitchers were making great pitches, and the defense was making good plays. It was a fantastic game to be part of and to watch. The girls played really well, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
The Rams served early notice that they were a force to be reckoned with when Emily Mayhew ripped a fullcount pitch to deep center field for a double. The Rams successfully sacrificed Mayhew to third, but with one out and a runner in scoring position, Buehler showed that she was a force to be reckoned with as well, striking out the Rams’ three and four batters to effectively kill that threat.
“We had a runner on third in the fourth with two outs, and we had a runner at second in the fifth with one out,” Koehler said. “Val Buehler is just too tough.
“In every instance, she either got weak ground balls or K’s to get out of the jam.”
Buehler acknowledged that she does go for the strikeout on occasions.
“When there is someone on, you know they can’t advance, especially with a 1-0 game – there’s even more pressure that she can’t touch home plate,” she said. “When it comes to this tournament, your record and your league play doesn’t mean anything. This is a clean slate, and we knew they were going to come out playing their best. Definitely after the first inning, it hit us hard.”
The Falcons plated the only run Buehler would need in the second inning. Lauren Cregan drew a base on balls, moved up to second on a sacrifice and scored on a bloop single to right center by freshman designated player Dani Litwin.
Litwin was pressed into emergency duty since the Falcons were without junior first baseman and cleanup hitter Suzanne Swanicke (illness).
“She’s our freshman catcher, and she’s been playing jayvee,” McSherry said of Litwin. “She might have had one or two at-bats before this.”
The Falcons threatened in the third when Litwin led off the inning with a double and moved up to third with one out after a sacrifice bunt. Pitcher Paige DeCew stopped a hard ground ball and fired home for the inning’s second out.
In the top of the sixth, the Falcons had runners on second and third with one out, but DeCew came up with a huge strikeout and fly ball to center field to escape unscathed.
“They threw everything at us, and we answered,” Koehler said. “The only run they scored was after a walk and a heartbreaking single.”
DeCew, who absorbed the loss, scattered seven hits. Litwin led the Falcons with two hits.
“It was crazy,” Buehler said of Litwin’s varsity debut. “She always played on the JV. She did get two jerseys, but she never did get too much playing time.
“When she went up there and did what she had to do and made contact, she made us all proud.”
The Rams, who closed out the season with a 12-11 record, have just one senior (Emily Hofmann) and two juniors on their roster.
“I said to them after the game, ‘You’re a bunch of crusty old veterans now,’ so there will be high hopes for next year,” Koehler said. “They’re excited.”
The Falcons (20-2) will face Methacton in a quarterfinal game on Friday. On Wednesday, they were just happy to escape with a win.
“Coach McSherry told us he was disappointed just because we didn’t play to our potential, and he pointed out the fact that it is so simple to lose,” Buehler said. “It’s the easiest thing ever, and even though we came out on top in this game, the littlest thing could have hurt us – just like a bad hop. It just played in our favor that we won, but if you don’t get the hits and keep scoring, it’s so easy to lose.”
#18 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, #2 NESHAMINY 1
The Patriots rocked the district softball world with the stunning upset of second-seeded Neshaminy, but their stellar performance in Wednesday’s upset didn’t surprise their coach.
“I almost felt like I had a secret because I know how good my team is and has been all season,” coach Erin Scott said. “We had injuries and we had things that held us back.
“Today was the best game of our season. Unfortunately for Neshaminy, everything came together, everything fell into place I’m so excited for them. This was an awesome win.”
The Redskins brought a gaudy 18-1 record into the game with their only loss coming at the hands of Pennsbury (1-0 in nine innings). The Patriots, meanwhile, were 11-9 with a 7-7 record in conference play.
“We just had no expectations for that game,” junior Julia Schoenewald said. “We had been saying, ‘They have everything to lose, and we have nothing to lose.’
“They were the ones expected to win. They had that burden of pressure on their shoulders, and we’re like, ‘Hey, we’re just going to play. We’re leaving it all on the field.’”
East’s Jayme Ziegler, who rushed home from the game to participate in an orchestra concert, allowed six hits while striking out three to earn the huge win.
“She hit all her spots,” Schoenewald said. “She did incredible, and she got all their girls to pop it up. They were out in front of it, and they couldn’t really get their timing down or adjust, and they were getting frustrated.”
“Jayme pitched awesome,” Scott said. “She hit her locations. I was calling the pitches, and she threw the ball exactly where I wanted her to throw the ball.
“They can hit. I’m calling pitches, and I’m thinking, ‘Okay, what can I call here?’”
Scott and Ziegler pushed all the right buttons on Wednesday, and the result was the Patriots’ upset win.
The tone for the game, according to Scott, might well have been set in the first inning when the Patriots got on the scoreboard without the benefit of a hit. With one out, Caroline Schoenewald struck out but was safe at first when the ball got by the catcher. She advanced to third on a sacrifice and wild pitch and scored when Allie Chase lofted a sacrifice fly to right center.
“That set the tone for the entire game,” said Schoenewald. “Caroline struck out, but she still made it to first, and rather being down an out, we had a runner on first.
“She scored, and we didn’t expect that. We didn’t have expectations that we would even be in that situation at all, and they weren’t expecting that either so they were caught off guard too.”
If the Redskins weren’t concerned before, they certainly were after Julia Schoenewald ripped an 0-1 pitch over the right field fence for a solo home run to put the Patriots on top 2-0 in the fourth inning.
“It was an outside curveball,” Schoenefeld said. “I knew she was going outside, so I was looking to take it the opposite way. I knew it was a good hit, but I didn’t know it was gone. I rounded first, and the umpire did that little wave of the hand. That’s when I knew it was gone. I was in shock as I was running around the bases, and I couldn’t stop smiling when I rounded third. My whole team was waiting to cheer me on. It was great.”
According to Scott, preparing to face a power pitcher like Quense was no easy task.
“We focused on being able to hit fast pitching,” Scott said. “We kept them up in the box so they could take away the movement of the ball.
“She was throwing the ball high and outside, and Julia took it where it was pitched and did exactly what she had to do.”
Quense brought the Redskins back in the game when she cut her team’s deficit to 2-1 when she hit a fullcount pitch over the fence for a solo homerun.”
The ‘Skins had their share of opportunities. In the second, Laura Altenburger led off with a double, but Ziegler came up with a huge strikeout and escaped with her team’s lead still in tact.
The Redskins threatened in the fifth, but catcher Julia Schoenewald threw out a baserunner attempting to steal. That played loomed large when freshman Sarah Snider-Leonhauser doubled.
In the sixth, Julia McGovern led off the inning with a double, but Ziegler coaxed a fly ball to left out of the next batter. Altenburger followed with a one-out single, but Ziegler came up with a huge strikeout and retired the next batter on a popup to first base.
If the Patriots needed an insurance run, they got it in the seventh when Julia Schoenefeld led off with a double and scored on Sierra Huckfeldt’s RBI single for the 3-1 final.”
“Before the game, we were looking at each other and we were like, ‘Are all teams as good of friends as we are because we mesh so well together, and we all get along,” Julia Schoenewald said. “We’ve known each other forever. A lot of us have been playing together since we were kids, and we just have a really good chemistry as a team.”
The Patriots also did the job defensively, led by the play of shortstop Jess Haug, who had eight putouts/assists.
“Jess had a phenomenal game – to the point where she was diving for balls and throwing people out from her knees,” Scott said. “She made a bunch of plays on balls that could have been hits.”
Scott may have had a premonition that things were going to go her team’s way on Wednesday.
“I woke up feeling really confident and excited and not one bit nervous, which was really weird,” the Patriots’ coach said. “I said to them before the game, ‘We have nothing to lose. You’re a talented team. Leave everything on the field. Play for each other, play for your teammates. Do the best that you can, and we’ll be in this game.’
“It was the best game we’ve had all season. (Quense) is a powerful pitcher, and that was our biggest challenge going into today, and the fact that we could find a way to score runs off her is awesome.
“You don’t get wins like this often in your career. They’re a good team, and I don’t want to take anything away from them. I’m sad that their season is over because they are a talented team, but at the same time, I’m just thrilled for my team because they deserved it. We played a better game today. I said to my coaches, ‘If we played them 10 times, they might beat us 7, 8, 9 times, but you never know on any given day.’”
Quense scattered four hits while striking out six in the loss.
“I’m super excited,” Scott said. “I said to them, ‘Enjoy tonight, celebrate tonight.’ I was reading about Neshaminy, and when they beat Pennsbury last week, they didn’t want to treat it like the Super Bowl. They wanted to be successful the rest of the season.
“I kind of feel that way about this game. I don’t want the kids to be so excited and think they won the World Series when we still have North Penn on Friday. I’m going to enjoy this, I’m going to go home and celebrate and be so happy for them and so proud for them. Tomorrow it’s back to work. This win doesn’t mean anything when we step on the field on Friday.”
The Redskins, co-champions of the National Conference, closed out their season with an 18-2 mark while the Patriots upped their record to 12-9. They will travel to 10th-seeded North Penn for a quarterfinal game on Friday. The two teams split their regular season series.
“I was out for the North Penn game because I had stitches,” said Julia Schoenwald. “It was so hard for me to sit on the bench and not contribute and help out my team. We got mercy-ruled, which was rough, so it’s going to be great to get another shot at them. I have friends on that team, so it will be so much fun to play.”
#4 HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, #13 UPPER DARBY 0
For a brief moment on Wednesday, Maggie Shaffer thought she was pitching the final home game of her high school career.
“I didn’t think about it at all until Val and Chrissy decided to tell me that these were the last three outs we would ever get on this field,’” the Hatters’ senior hurler said.
Shaffer later found out that the Hatters would, in fact, play another home game on Friday, but if it had been her final home game, Wednesday’s win would have been another masterpiece.
The Royals didn’t get their first hit until the fourth inning, and by that time, the Hatters had a 3-0 lead. All told, they managed just two hits and never had a runner past second base.
“It’s nice when Maggie shows up when you need her,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “We can ride her to the end.”
While many players and coaches are unnerved by the loser-goes-home second round games, Shaffer is not in that number.
“I don’t assume we’re going to win, but I know we have the capability to win and the strength to win,” she said. “I know we can put hits together and have great defense.”
The Hatters managed just four hits but played flawless defense behind Shaffer. They plated the only run she would need in the first inning, and it was Shaffer who got things started with a two-out single to left. Val Sadowl was hit by a pitch, and sophomore Daria Edwards made it hurt, delivering an infield single. An errant throw to first on the play allowed the Hatters’ first run to cross the plate.
In the third, the Hatters staged another two-out rally, and Edwards and Sadowl were in the middle of this rally as well. Sadowl drew a two-out walk, and Edwards followed with a towering home run over the left field fence to put the Hatters on top 3-0.
“That was a shot,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “Daria has come up big for us all year. We talked her into catching, and she’s done a phenomenal job.
“A guy asked me if I expected that from a 10th grader. I said, ‘You know what – she’s just as strong as some of the older kids.’”
The win vaulted the Hatters into the quarterfinals where they will host fifth-seeded Bishop Shanahan.
“This was definitely big because at any point you can go home – it’s one and done,” Edwards said. “You just want to go all the way.”
Are the Hatters feeling the pressure of being the defending district and state champions?
“I think there is pressure because everybody expects the 2011 state champs to do it again, but it’s a new year,” Edwards said. “We just have to come out and keep playing strong.”
The Hatters upped their record to 19-2.
#6 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 4, #11 WISSAHICKON 0
Hallie Bilker might not find herself in the spotlight as often as some of her high profile teammates, but the South junior has delivered on more than a few occasions for the Titans.
“She has come up big for us all year long,” coach Dan Hayes said of Bilker.
It was Bilker’s clutch two-run double with two outs in the first that put the Titans on top 3-0.
“I just try and get all my reps in at practice and stay focused during the game,” she said. “There was a little bit of a weird spin on the ball since she’s a lefty, but I just tried to get a pitch I liked and hit it.”
According to Bilker, the Titans knew they would see a different team than they did in the initial meeting between the two schools that CB South won 12-0.
“If they’re good enough to make it to the playoffs, you can’t look past them,” she said. “They were hitting the ball really well, but we fielded it, and we hit too, so that was good.”
Earlier in the first inning, Haileigh Stocks got things started when she drew a one-out walk, and then Morgan Decker followed with a single. Courtesy runner Kim Rowe slid under the tag at home on Lauren Klepchick’s grounder to first, spotting the Titans a quick 1-0 lead and setting the stage for Bilker’s big hit.
The Titans added a single run in the sixth. Again it was Bilker igniting her team when she singled off the Trojans’ first baseman. After Bilker was sacrificed to second, freshman Maddie Decker – sibling of Morgan Decker – came up with an RBI single to center.
The Trojans never mounted any serious offensive threat against Haileigh Stocks, who tossed a neat four-hit shutout on the mound, fanning nine and walking one. The Titans played flawless defense behind Stocks.
“When we had errors against some of the weaker teams, we knew even if we made them, we could make up for them with our bats,” Bilker said. “When we play the stronger teams, we know if we make those errors they will come and take advantage of them, and we can’t do that.”
Hayes lauded the performance of the Trojans.
“Wissahickon played so much better today,” he said. “Their pitcher – I’m just a big fan of Katie Ziegler. I really like her a lot. She’s a really, really nice player.
Ziegler accounted for two of Wissahickon’s four hits.
Wednesday’s win erased memories of last year’s second round exit at the hands of Downingtown West. Bilker – a swing player last year – remembers it well.
“When our JV season was over, I came up and played on varsity,” she said. “It was a different dynamic than it was on JV, and they all seemed really into it, and it was really upsetting when they lost because no one was expecting it to happen.
“Mr. Hayes said how in the second round the teams that have a bye - there’s usually an upset, and he wanted to make sure we weren’t that upset that we were last year and make sure we were focused on the game and didn’t look too far ahead down the road. We were really glad when we won today.”
The Titans (16-3) will travel to Spring-Ford to take on the third-seeded Rams in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
#10 NORTH PENN 4, #8 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 2
A young North Penn squad showed just how far it has come this season, sending a Whippet squad home for the season that had handed the Maidens a 5-1 defeat early in the season.
“It really great,” senior Jess Mower said. “I think the girls have really handled it well. They work really hard at practice, and it’s just so much fun to be around them.
“We do a lot of team bonding. We hang out at each other’s houses, we went out for a team breakfast, and my mom brought water ice one day after practice. We all get along really well, and that makes us work really well as a team.”
Coach Rick Torresani had not settled on a lineup when the two teams met early in the season, and the stability of a set lineup has made a difference.
“This time the kids had more confidence,” he said. “It’s been building all year long. I was really hopeful that by the end of the year they would be playing their best softball, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re really into the game.
“There’s no one on the team that doesn’t want to be here. They’re coming to practice excited. They knew the second game of the year when we faced them the last time it wasn’t the same team, hitting-wise, fielding-wise and pitching-wise.”
Mower is the lone senior on a young Maidens squad, and the made her presence felt, finishing the day a perfect 4-for-4 with three runs scores.
“The end of the year has been really great for us,” Mower said. “Coming off the Ridley game, we knew our hitting was coming back, so we had really high confidence going into this game.”
Mower got the ball rolling for the Maidens with a leadoff double in the first, and Erin Maher followed with an infield single. With runners on second and third and none out, the Whippets turned a double play on Alexa Gable’s line drive to second. Michelle Holweger followed with an RBI single to spot the Maidens a 1-0 lead.
“That was huge,” Torresani said. “They got real excited after that double play, and they thought they were going to be out of the inning. Then Michelle comes through and gets a single and scores the run.”
In the bottom of the first, the Whippets loaded the bases with one out, but they came up empty, thanks to a defensive gem by freshman Becky Christoffers, who turned a fly ball to right field into an inning-ending double play by gunning down the Whippet runner at the plate.
“It was a perfect throw,” Torresani said. “It was on line, it was right in Jess’s glove, and they were shocked. That set them down and brought us back up.”
In the third, the Maidens tacked on a pair of runs.
Mower once again was in the middle of the action, leading off the frame with an single and advancing to second on an error. An error on Gable’s sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners. Holweger’s RBI single plated a run, and the second run crossed the plate on Melissa Fasick’s suicide squeeze.
“We started off strong,” Mower said. “We started hitting right away, and our defense was really good.
“Jackie (Bilotti) pitched really well. She was hitting all of her spots. Everything just kind of connected today.”
In the fourth, the Maidens added a single run. Mower led off with a double, Maher singled, and this time Gable executed the suicide squeeze, giving the Maidens a 5-0 lead. The Whippets scored their lone runs in the sixth.
“They got some runners on, but Jackie got her composure back,” Torresani said. “The second round is the tough round. It’s the round you want to get over. It’s the game you want to win. We’re giving ourselves a chance. Anything can happen.”
The Maidens will host conference rival Central Bucks East in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
“It’s so exciting,” Mower said. “I’m friends with some of the players on CB East, and we were texting back and forth on the way home. It’s so much fun.”
There’s one little glitch – North Penn’s prom is on Friday night.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Mower said.
Class AAA
#8 PHOENIXVILLE 8, #4 UPPER MORELAND 4
The Golden Bears saw their season end when they fell to the Phantoms in Wednesday’s opening round district game, but there were no regrets for a squad that had come on strong after dropping the first 10 games of the season.
“When we were 0-10, I said to them, ‘There are two places we can go from here. One of them is not good, and one of them is good,’” coach Scott Ludlow said. “They made a very conscious decision to not pack it in.
“I was really proud of the way they finished and the way they turned the season around. They were tremendous the last half of the season.”
Karli Lynch had big game for the Golden Hawks on Wednesday, finishing the day 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
“She was an all-league second team player,” Ludlow said. “She hit .480 for me all season and was a rock behind the plate. She just did a tremendous job.”
Pitcher Jess Habermehl also was instrumental in the team’s turnaround.
“Although I don’t think she had her best game today, the second half of the season she was a completely different pitcher than she was the first half, which had a lot to do with where we ended up,” Ludlow said.
The Phantoms opened up a 7-1 lead, but the Golden Bears cut that lead to 7-4 and had an opportunity to get closer.
“We ran the bases well, and we manufactured some stuff,” Ludlow said. “We kept ourselves in the game. Like our season, we never really hung our heads today.
“We kept pushing on, and we had an opportunity with two outs and runners on second and third to actually get it to 7-6 at one point. The game today was kind of a microcosm of the entire season.”
While the outcome may have been disappointing, the ending was not for the Golden Bears who came out of nowhere to earn a district berth.
“I left our last game Thursday with the seeding meeting being Thursday night, and we said our good-byes, we said our thank yous, it was a great year,” Ludlow said. “When I was able to call the meeting on Friday and said, ‘You know what – I have some bad news for you. We have practice on Monday.’ It’s one of the things they were completely surprised by, and I was thrilled for them. Our seniors have worked hard for a couple of years, and we struggled, but I hope this gives us momentum as we move to next year.”
The Golden Bears lose three senior regulars, including three-year, all-league centerfielder Katie Costello.
“That will be a crucial loss for us,” Ludlow said. “Those will be some big shoes to fill.”
Second Amber Stainback and designated player Jess Knapp will also be lost to graduation.
“I give them credit because they got back from their senior class trip late last night and then had to make that move to the game today,” Ludlow said.
The Golden Bears closed out their season with a 6-14 record.
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