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PHILADELPHIA – Sarah McGowan laughed when asked what it’s like to be playing for a Carpenter Cup team whose coaching staff includes the man who is on the sidelines of her team’s archrival – Pennsbury coach Frank McSherry.
“Oh my gosh, it’s a great time, and it’s so funny,” the Neshaminy junior said. “You never really see the other side of them until you really get to play for them.
“Sometimes I feel like I don’t want to let him know too much about what I can do because of next year, but you always have to step it up. They’re your coach now, so you give them all you’ve got.”
McSherry admitted it is an interesting experience coaching opposing players.
“You do walk a fine line, but you always want to help the kids,” the Falcons’ coach said. “I try and find different ways to help the kids without giving the Pennsbury slant.
“All the stuff we tell them is still what we tell our own kids. It’s just in a different way.”
There’s no mistaking that McSherry is enjoying the experience every bit as much as his players.
“It’s so much fun,” he said. “It’s so much fun because the following year you have so much better rapport with the kids. They don’t view you as the enemy. They see you differently, which is fun.”
This is the third year McSherry has been coaching McGowan in the Carpenter Cup.
“She’s just a wonderful young lady, but she’s a tremendous athlete on top of it,” he said. “It doesn’t get better than that. That’s a perfect combination.”
McGowan’s SOL National-Bicentennial squad split its two games in the double elimination tournament on Tuesday, falling in its first game 5-4 to Chester County and exploding for seven eighth-inning runs to earn a 9-2 win over the Inter-Ac in the second.
But this tournament is about more than just winning games. It’s also about meeting the players who have been your opponents and making new friends.
“It’s awesome,” McGowan said. “I already know some of these girls from travel ball, and it’s always amazing just to be able to play with them.
“They might be your enemies during high school ball, but they’re your best friends doing this.”
For one SOL National-BAL player, it was just good to be back on the diamond again. Last year this time, William Tennent’s Ashley Alden was preparing to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum and a frayed rotator cuff in her throwing arm.
Alden had surgery on July 6.
“I feel great,” she said. “I love being back and playing because it was really stressful trying to get back. It was emotionally draining.
“Last year when I was playing, I knew the end was near, and it was depressing, but once I had the surgery and once I got back to working hard and actually playing, I was the happiest person in the world.”
Alden says she began rehabbing the moment she got the green light because she wanted to return in time to play basketball for her high school team.
“Once basketball started, I was kind of put back a little bit because I had a few shoulder strains from going up and getting rebounds,” she said. “That set my pitching back a little bit further.”
Nine months after she had surgery, Alden stepped back on the mound but admits it is taking some time to regain her pitching form.
“Throwing and batting I feel pretty confident,” she said. “The pitching – it’s not there, but I’m very content.”
Alden and McGowan both had big hits in the first inning of the SOL National-BAL’s opener against Chester County. McGowan roped a two-run double to left, and Alden followed with a booming triple to right that plated McGowan. Alden scored on a groundout, and the SOL National-BAL led 4-2.
Chester County scored three fourth-inning runs to go on top 5-4. The SOL certainly had its chances to get that run back.
In the fifth, Grantham and McGowan drew back-to-back walks with one out, but a forceout at third erased Grantham, and the inning ended when pitcher Tori Marcavage came up with a huge strikeout.
In the sixth, Altenburger drew a leadoff walk, but again, the SOL came up empty.
In the seventh, Pennsbury’s Mackenzie Obert – after falling behind 0-2 and fouling off several tough pitches – lined a single to left to lead off the inning.
“You have to pay attention to the umpire, where he’s calling strikes, and I knew today he was calling them low today, so you have to battle off the low pitches,” she said.
Obert moved up to second on a passed ball and found herself on third after a groundout by Pennsbury’s Savanna Grantham. McGowan drew a walk and immediately stole second, but that’s where the rally ended as Alden’s screaming line drive was snagged by first baseman Alex Gustaitis for the second out, and Marcavage closed it out with a strikeout.
“These games are pretty much like an all-star tournament, so you can’t underestimate anybody,” McGowan said. “We let them get ahead, and it got away from us.”
In its must-win second game, the SOL National-BAL found itself in a dog fight with the Inter-Ac. The SOL plated two first-inning runs. Bristol’s Kaley Crohe led off with a single and stole second. She scored when Obert ripped a double down the left field line. Obert scored on a fielder’s choice by Neshaminy’s Laura Altenburger.
The Inter-Ac got those runs back in the second, and neither team scored again until the SOL exploded for seven runs in the eighth. Highlights of the inning included singles by Altenburger (RBI), Pennsbury’s Val Buehler (RBI) and Council Rock North’s Michelle Hand as well as a two-run triple to right field by Pennsbury’s Savanna Grantham. The SOL National-BAL also benefitted from four costly Inter-Ac errors.
The SOL National-BAL game against Mercer County was suspended in the bottom of the first with no score. Play will resume at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
No matter what the outcome, it’s been a good experience for the players involved.
“Coming back this year, it was some of the same girls, but we have a lot of freshmen on our team, and meeting those girls was a lot of fun,” Alden said. “They’re so young and so energetic. It’s very different, and I like to see that.”
Obert – a freshman - is one of the many young players on the SOL National-BAL, and she is enjoying every minute of the experience so far.
“I think it’s pretty awesome,” she said. “I became friends with so many girls on this team, and when we play them next year, it’s going to be a better experience because we know all about them. It’s just fun.”
CHESTER COUNTY 5, SOL NATIONAL-BAL 4
Chester County (5) – Smith ss 2 1 1 0; Borrell ss 1 0 0 0; Kely 2b 1 1 0 0; McWilliams 2b 2 0 0 0; Shultz p 4 0 1 2; Vaszily 1b 2 0 0 0; Gustaitis 1b 2 0 0 0; Rupple 3b 1 1 0 0; Marcavage p 1 0 1 0; Gleason c 1 1 0 0; Carlson cf 1 0 1 0; Herring lf 1 1 0 0; Kircher 2b 1 0 1 0; Wieber rf 1 0 0 0; Mehok rf 1 0 0 1; McGowan cf 1 0 1 0; White cf 2 0 0 0. TOTALS 25 5 6 3
SOL National-BAL (4) – Kaley Crohe c 2 1 1 0; Dominique Pinto c 2 0 0 0; Mackenzie Obert ss 2 1 1 0; Lauren Quense 3b 1 0 0 0; Savannah Grantham cf 3 0 0 0; Sarah McGowan 2 1 1 2; Ashley Alden 1b 4 1 1 1; Kierstan Cain rf 2 0 0 1; Laura Altenburger 3b 2 0 1 0; Morgan Lewis lf 1 0 0 0; Val Buehler lf 0 0 0 0; Stevie VanSchaick 2b 0 0 0 0; Michelle Hand 2b 2 0 0 0. TOTALS 24 4 5 4
Chester County 200 300 0 5-6-0
SOL National-BAL 400 000 0 4-5-2
IP H R ER BB SO
Chester County
Shultz (W) 4 4 4 2 3 1
Marcavage 3 1 0 0 4 3
SOL National-BAL
McGowan 4 3 2 0 1 5
Cantiello (L) 3 3 3 1 5 5
SOL NATIONAL-BAL 9, INTER-AC 2
SOL National-BAL (9) – Kaley Crohe c 3 2 2 1; Brooke Dugger 3b 2 0 0 0; Kaley Crohe c 3 2 2 1; Mackenzie Obert ss 4 1 1 1; Laura Altenburger 3b 5 1 1 2; Sarah McGowan 1b 5 0 0 0; Ashley Alden cf 3 1 0 0; Kierstan Cain p 2 0 0 0; Savana Grantham rf 2 1 1 2; Morgan Lewis lf 1 0 0 0; Val Buehler p 3 1 1 1; Diana LaPalombara rf 2 1 0 0; Dominique Pinto c 2 0 0 0; Stevie VanSchaick 2b 1 0 0 0; Michelle Hand 2b 3 1 1 0. TOTALS 43 9 7 7.
Inter-Ac (2) – Sienko 3b 4 0 0 0; Pepe 2b 0 0 0 1; Kramer 2b 2 0 0 0; Giovinazzo ss 4 0 0 0; Ceritano c 2 0 0 0; McKay c 1 0 0 0; Novak cf 1 1 1 0; Logan cf 3 0 0 0; McNulty p 1 0 0 0; Cybularz p 2 0 0 0; Lord rf 1 1 1 0; Logan rf 2 0 0 0; McCollum 1b 0 0 0 1; Markey 1b 3 0 0 0; Lucas lf 3 0 1 0. TOTALS 29 2 3 2.
SOL National-BAL 200 000 07 9-7-2
Inter-Ac 020 000 00 2-3-6
IP H R ER BB SO
Inter-Ac
McNulty 4 3 2 2 0 5
Cybularz (L) 4 4 7 0 1 4
SOL National-BAL
Cain 3 2 2 2 5 6
Buehler 3 1 0 0 1 5
McGowan 1 0 0 0 0 2
Lewis 1 0 0 0 0 2
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