Council Rock North staged a seventh inning rally to earn a come-from-behind win over archrival Council Rock South in a playback game of the District One 6A Tournament Tuesday.
#1-6 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 4, #1-15 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3
Juliana Shields says she doesn’t like outside pitches, but the sophomore shortstop undoubtedly likes them a whole lot better than she used to after Tuesday’s game-winning hit on an outside pitch that gave the Indians the dramatic walk-off win.
Shields stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with one out, the bases loaded and the Indians trailing 3-2. She fell behind 0-2 and then took a ball before going with a Danielle Walters’ 1-2 pitch and hitting it to the right side for a single that plated a pair of runs.
“Before the game, we scouted her, and when she got ahead in the count, she normally throws outside, so I was looking for that outside pitch,” Shields said.
“Normally I’m not very good at outside pitches, so I just threw my bat out there and just tried to follow through the best I can.”
Earlier in the inning, Riley Sheehy turned a ball that just got by the outfielder into a double, and the Indians had runners on second third after Lauren Begg, who never stopped running, wound up on second on a bunt single. A walk to Sabrina Crane loaded the bases, but the Golden Hawks came up with a big out at the plate on a grounder to first, setting the stage for Shields’ heroics.
“You could see from her body language that she was nervous, and how can you not be,” coach John Engelhardt said. “These girls are smart girls. They see bases loaded, no outs – we’re in a good spot.
“Then there’s a grounder and force at home, one out, and with two strikes, if she strikes out, we’re in a tough spot. She’s had the highest batting average, and she came through in a big spot. She’s a quiet kid, but you got to see her raw emotion after she drove those two runs in. You can’t ask for a better ending than a walk-off win against your sister school.”
The Indians trailed 3-0 heading into the fifth inning when they pulled to within one, thanks to a pair of unearned runs.
“We talk to the girls as a coaching staff, and we say – you’ve got to play near perfect and have some luck to be the one team that walks off the field a winner at the end of the year,” Engelhardt said. “We control our energy, our character, how we represent our school, and when we got down 3-0, I was very impressed with how (pitcher) Jenna (Khantzian) carried herself.”
A three-run home run by Mel Wilkinson in the first inning after Kylie Woloshyn picked up a one-out single and Phylicia Wilkov walked accounted for the Golden Hawks’ only runs of the game. Wilkinson’s blast came on a full-count pitch.
“I felt that the 2-2 pitch was strike three – the umpire was fair, but it was close,” Engelhardt said. “Mel’s hot, and she’s a very good player, and boom, she hits a three-run homer with one out, and I have Jenna on the mound all fired up.
“For her to use that anger as motivation to shut them down the next 20 outs was really impressive. My kids stayed up. The energy was there. We had the funny feeling that if we could catch a break and we just continued to play and stayed down three – we felt that was manageable. We were down three the first game and were able to come back, so my kids were confident, and they wanted this.
“I can’t be more happy with the way these kids fought. On a day that feels like it’s the middle of March, they stayed up, picked each other up. We got a few breaks. We’re a young team, and it’s nice to see my kids battle.”
Tuesday’s game was the third meeting between the two teams, who split their regular season meetings. Shields, for one, didn’t mind playing a familiar opponent.
“In a way, it’s better,” she said. “The rivalry obviously gets your adrenalin going.
“We’ve seen their pitcher a million times, and we’ve seen their team play. We knew what to expect and could prepare for the game better.”
Council Rock North (16-6, 8-4 SOL) will face the winner of Wednesday’s North Penn-Quakertown playback contest to determined the fifth and final state berth.
“In the beginning of the season, that was our goal – to make it to states, do whatever we can and leave it all on the field,” Shields said.
Council Rock South (6-6 SOL) closed its season with a 15-9 record, and as endings go, this was a disappointing one for the Hawks.
“We had two big-time errors in that one inning,” South coach Greg Heydet said. “Avon Grove we lost by one and this one – we just have to finish games.
“They played well, don’t take that away from them. We’ve never been this far, but we have to finish games. I feel bad for the five seniors.”
Council Rock South 300 000 0 3
Council Rock North 000 020 2 4
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