Council Rock South saw its season come to an end in Thursday’s PIAA 6A quarterfinals. CR South/PV photos courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ SOFTBALL GALLERIES.
PIAA 6A quarterfinal
#1-3 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 5, #1-4 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0
The third time wasn’t the charm.
In the third meeting between the two teams, the Golden Hawks once again came up short, and this loss brought their season to a disappointing end. The loss was especially heartbreaking for the team’s seniors.
“These girls have become my family, and it just means so much to me,” Rock South senior pitcher Lexi Waring said. “Over these past four years, I truly wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else. It’s the hardest good-bye, and I just wish them the best of luck.
“I don’t think they realized how much they were part of my support system and how much I love them. It’s always hard – obviously not the way we wanted to end it.”
“It’s really hard,” senior Julia Scannapieco said. “These seniors -I grew up playing with them since I was four years old. It’s going to be hard. We made really good friends on this field the past two years. We’re a family, and I’m walking away from them.”
The Vikings scored a run in the top of the fourth, and in the bottom of the inning, the Golden Hawks loaded the bases with one out but came up empty. PV added three runs in the top of the sixth inning, all but sealing. the Golden Hawks’ fate.
“I didn’t really feel like it was my day,” Waring said. “Last game, we just had that one inning where we made a few mistakes, and I had a couple of bad pitches. Today, I don’t know – I feel like it wasn’t one bad inning. I didn’t feel like I had everything today, but my teammates picked me up.”
There was no arguing it wasn’t the Golden Hawks’ best performance. Ten Vikings reached base via walks and Rock South miscues combined, and the Hawks managed just three hits.
“We could have been better with our bats,’ said Scannapieco. “We had bases loaded one time, and we just didn’t get the runs in we needed to, and that was costly for us.
“They were hitting the ball well. They were more selective than us, they got timely hits at the right times, and they just played better than us in the end.”
Molly Gabriele – sidelined since suffering a concussion in a collision in the district semifinal against North Penn – was in street clothes at Thursday’s semifinal. The Hawks’ gold glove center fielder will be one of the team’s leaders next year.
“It’s pretty tough, it’s tough,” said Gabriele of seeing the season end. “I played my last game with the seniors – it’s hard, but I wanted to come just to be here in spirit even though I can’t be in the dugout.
Gabriele went on to credit the seniors for creating a culture the underclassmen hope to continue.
“They have paved the path so amazing,” she said. “They’ve induced fear in the other teams, they’ve created hunger for other teams that want to come out and get us, so we need to hold onto that because that means a lot to them. They put a lot of work into it.”
By the numbers: Council Rock South: Lexi Waring (7.0 IP 7H 5R, 5ER, 6BB, 6K)
Perkiomen Valley: Maci Strechay (W) (7.0 IP, 3H, 0R, 4BB, 4K)
Olivia Smith (2-for-3, 2RBI), Nina Marsilio (2B), Jacqueline Miceli (3B, 1 RBI)
Key innings: Bottom of fourth: Trailing 1-0, the Golden Hawks loaded the bases with one out. Veronica Houk hit a one-out single, Waring was safe on an error, and Sophia Salamon walked. Houk was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a wild pitch, and a groundout ended the threat.
Top of sixth: Olivia Sharkey led off with a single and moved up to second on a sac bunt. Lily Petaccio walked, and the bases were loaded with Mia Corropolese – with two strikes – legged out a bunt single down the third base line. A pair of runs scored on Olivia Smith’s single, and J Miceli’s triple drove in a thrid run, and the Vikings led 4-0.
Council Rock South coach Scott Molle: “We just made mistakes all game, and we didn’t do that all year. It’s unbelievable. I don’t get it. I think we had (four) errors, but we had two or three mental mistakes. We’ve never thrown from first to third in a 0-0 game (on a sacrifice bunt). It caught up to us because all year we didn’t do it. All year we didn’t have a game like this with mental mistakes or create errors like that. We didn’t have it all year, and it got us.
“We left so many people on base, but we just couldn’t get the right hit. It’s just frustrating.”
–The seniors: “We came in and started something and a culture that is going to be the new face of the softball program. For two years, they’ve given everything we’ve asked of them. It’s just been a pleasure. We’re always going to stay in touch. Like last year – every senior has come to our games, they reach out with text messages all the time. Knowing that’s going to happen makes it feel a little bit better.”
Council Rock South closed out its season with a 20-6 record overall and a share of the SOL Patriot Division title (9-1).
Perkiomen Valley 000 103 1 5-7-1
Council Rock South 000 000 0 0-3-4
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