All three SOL softball teams were victorious in Monday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament. Pennsbury/Manheim Central photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos. (NP/Whitehall photos courtesy of Marlee Doherty/NP softball). All Suburban One Sports’ galleries for SOFTBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
PIAA Class 6A opening round
#1-1 NORTH PENN 5, #11-2 WHITEHALL
Baserunning is an oft overlooked skill, but it was Julia Shearer’s heads-up baserunning in the first inning that effectively set the tone for Monday’s state opener.
Shearer lined a two-strike pitch into center field for a leadoff single and immediately stole second. Nothing unusual about that, but it was her delayed steal of third when no one was covering the bag that set up the game’s first run.
“When she gets on first, if we can steal her, we’ll steal her,” NP coach Rick Torresani said. “She just picked it up right away that the third baseman is in, and the shortstop didn’t cover, and now she’s on third. That’s the kind of player she is. I think she’s the best player in the state, and I think she’s Gatorade Player of the Year.”
Sarah Sabocsik drew a walk and took second base, thanks to the Zephyrs defensive indifference, and the Knights had runners on second and third with none out. Shearer raced home on Annabelle Smink’s groundout, and the Knights – without collecting a hit – had manufactured a run. With two outs, Gianna ‘G’ Cimino singled to left, plating Sabocsik to give the Knights an early 2-0 lead.
“We’re pumped,” Cimino said of the team’s mood coming into the state tournament. “We know we have to keep winning. It’s really hard to win (the state title) again, but we’re confident, and we’re going game by game.”
Shearer mowed down the first nine batters she faced in order, striking out five, and in the bottom of the third, she led off the inning with a 
triple to center field and scored on Sabocsik’s ground out.
Reyna Doherty was safe on an error to lead off the fifth inning, and Shearer followed with a line drive single to right. The hit was the 100th of a stellar career for the junior standout, who reached the milestone in less than two years since her freshman year was lost to the pandemic.
“That’s just unbelievable,” Torresani said. “The girl that leads the career (hits) I believe has 106, and that’s in four years.”
Doherty scored on Sabocsik’s groundout, and Smink drove in the second run of the inning with a single to left field. That 5-0 lead was more than enough for Shearer, who threw yet another masterpiece. She allowed just two hits, struck out 13 and did not walk a batter in the complete game shutout.
“I wasn’t doing my best today, if I’m being honest,” Shearer said. “As the game went on, I just kind of adapted to what was working, what wasn’t working. I was just working my stuff, trying to get ahead and that really helped.”
In addition to being a terror on the base paths, Shearer was 3-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored. Cimino was also 3-for-3 and had one RBI as the duo combined for six of the Knights’ seven hits.
“If (the pitching) is slower like today, you just have to wait on it, not think at the plate, have a plan, and that’s really all you need,” Cimino said.
“She really focused,” Torresani said of Cimino. “I told her ‘Please have a plan when you go up.’ Stay off of this (high pitch). That’s what she did today, and she hit the ball hard. She likes it up here, and every once in a while she’ll put one over the fence that’s up here, and that encourages her to swing at it.
“I thought (pitcher Kassy Aquino) was (going to be) a little faster from watching videos. The girls had to adjust. Thank goodness we adjusted enough for five runs because we had faced three really fast pitchers.”
North Penn (23-1, 15-1 SOL) will take on District 4 champion Williamsport in a state quarterfinal game on Thursday. Williamsport defeated #1-3 Haverford 7-1.
“We just have to keep playing our game,” Shearer said. “We know how the postseason feels, and we just have to stay strong, stay on top as we keep going forward.”
Whitehall 000 000 0 0-2-2
North Penn 201 020 x 5-7-0
#1-2 PENNSBURY 10, #3-2 WARWICK 2
Caitlyn Martell was back and made her presence felt.
Not that the Falcons’ standout shortstop/leadoff batter ever left, but she suffered a hand injury in her first at-bat of Thursday’s district title game against North Penn and – although she stayed in the
game – was nowhere close to 100 percent.
“She makes us go,” Pennsbury coach Frank McSherry said. “You could kind of see our kids deflate (when Martell was injured), but they beat us fair and square, they played better than we did.”
Martell – showing no ill effects from the injury – was 2-for-3 with a double, run scored and a stolen base out of the leadoff spot. She also made all the plays in the field.
“It was definitely disappointing – that’s not how we wanted to start the game,” Martell said of her injury in Thursday’s title game. “But I wanted to be out there for the team. The outcome didn’t go our way.
“We just wanted to feed off of that. We were definitely disappointed with how that game went, and we knew that we start a new run today, so we just wanted to keep that in the back of our minds.”
Martell made her presence felt in a four-run first, drawing a leadoff walk and immediately stealing second. Quinn McGonigle followed and drew a walk, and after Martell was erased at third on Rowan Mulholland’s fielder’s choice, Sammy Raub singled to load the bases. Laney Freiband’s sharp grounder deflected off the shortstop for an error that allowed a pair of runs to cross the plate.
“Rowan Mulholland was on second base, and she did a great job of avoiding the ball and kind of screening the shortstop,” McSherry said.
Ava Storlazzi followed with a double to right center that plated a pair to give the Falcons a 4-0 lead after one inning, and as beginnings go, this was a good one.
“It’s just great, especially for Ains, who’s giving her all in the circle,” Martell said of pitcher Ainsley McClure. “We just want to support her, and I think the team did a good job of that today.”
In the second inning, Martell lined a one-out double to right field, and McGonigle drew her second walk of the game. Mulholland hit into a fielder’s choice, and Raub ripped a double to the fence, plating a pair of runs. A third run crossed the plate on a Manheim Township miscue, and the Falcons led 7-0.
In the third inning, the Blue Streaks made it a 7-2 game when – with two outs – Delaney Smith hit a two-run home run to center field.
The Falcons got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Martell, who singled, scored on Mulholland’s two-out double to left field.
In the fourth inning, Freiband led off with a single up the middle and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Storlazzi’s sacrifice bunt moved Freiband to third, and she scored while Riley Mahony hit a sacrifice fly to center field, giving the Falcons a 9-2 lead.
The Falcons closed out the scoring with a run in the sixth. Storlazzi, who singled and stole second, scored when Presley Foote singled.
“I thought we didn’t have our best game,” McSherry said. “The kids just came off a prom weekend, so we gave them the weekend off. We weren’t going to press them with practice.
“It was the Senior Prom, and we have seven seniors. We hadn’t seen them since Friday, which is always a scary thing. We could have been sharper, so it’s good that Ainsley (McClure) threw like she threw and hit her spots because against another team it could have been different.”
McClure allowed just four hits and two runs while striking out 11 and walking none in the complete game win.
“She gave up four hits, one of them the home run and the other one a popup right before the home run that we should have gotten,” McSherry said. “That’s how the inning started. She struck out the leadoff kid and the second kid, and we should have been out of the inning, but nobody touched it. It fell in between. We kind of misplayed it.
“Those were two of the four hits. They had a single in the seventh and a single in the first, and she had 11 Ks and no walks, so you couldn’t ask for much more.”
In addition to Martell, Raub was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Pennsbury (22-2, 16-0 SOL) will face District 7 runner-up North Allegheny – a 6-4 winner over #6-1 Mifflin County – in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. The game will mean a long road trip for the Falcons, but according to Martell, the team doesn’t mind a bit.
“It’s great to be together – we play music on the bus, everyone’s singing, and it’s just a good team bonding,” the Shippensburg University bound senior said.
Manheim Township 002 000 0 2-4-2
Pennsbury 431 101 x 10-10-1
#1-5 QUAKERTOWN 2, #11-1 NORTHAMPTON 0
Syd Andrews was on top of her game.
The Panthers’ senior ace allowed just two hits in the complete game shutout, striking out 13 and walking only one.
“The key to Syd is always location,” Quakertown coach Dave Scott said. “Her location was pinpoint today, and that’s how she was able to succeed. We were able to set up their hitters really well – work them inside, then up and in.
“With her being able to hit her spots like she did today – I know my pitching coach was having a blast just calling the game for her. It was fun for her to say, ‘I want to throw this pitch here,’ and Syd would do it. It was great. It was really, really fun to watch.”
The Panthers scored the only run Andrews would need in the top of the second. With one out, Andrews lined a single to center and was replaced by courtesy runner Trinity Lucas, who scored when Maya Hellyer lined a two-out double to center field.
In the top of the fourth, Andrews lined a one-out double to center field, and Grace Backer followed with a single. With runners on second and third, Maya Hellyer grounded out to first base, allowing Lucas to score from third.
“Maya had both of our RBIs,” Scott said. “She came up with runners on second and third, and we really just needed her to put the ball in play, and she did. She just hit a ground ball to second base, and it was just enough to bring the run in. It was a nice insurance run for us later in the game.
“She also made two really nice plays on pop fouls. Maya definitely had a very strong game for us.”
Andrews retired seven straight to close out the game, slamming the door on the closest thing to a scoring threat the Konkrete Kids posed all day in the bottom of the sixth when they put a pair on board with two outs, thanks to a leadoff single and a two-out walk.
Andrews had a simple explanation when asked the key to her strong showing.
“Honestly, to pitch to every batter the same way I would normally,” she said. “Don’t treat any of them different. If I know they can hit a certain pitch, don’t throw that pitch, but that’s about it.”
The Panthers pounded out 10 hits and played flawless defense behind Andrews.
“They’re just playing really well right now,” Scott said. “They’re doing the little things correctly, and I keep using the word mature – they’re playing a very mature type of softball right now, and it shows.
“I said to them after the game – ‘At no point did I think we were losing that game.’ Our girls had a nice air about them. They were confident without being cocky. Just calm and had their emotions under control really well for a state playoff game. That can get a little big for some kids and they can get a little nervous. This team overall seemed to be in a really good place mentally.”
Andrews was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a double. Leah Schwalm (2-for-4) and Emma Hilton (2-for-3) also had multiple hits.
“Everyone hit, we had a lot of baserunners, and that got us to where we are,” Andrews said. “I think we were pretty confident. We definitely had the energy to know we were going in there and going to win. I think we’re peaking right now.”
Quakertown was one of three SOL teams to advance, and Andrews credited playing in the SOL for preparing the Panthers for the postseason.
“All of our games are good games – there aren’t too many games where one team blows the other team out of the water,” Andrews said.
Quakertown (20-4, 14-2 SOL) will face District 7 champion Seneca Valley in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Seneca Valley defeated #3-3 Central Dauphin 8-2.
“It’s super exciting,” Andrews said. “I’m very excited to keep going with my team. I definitely don’t want it to be over. We’re super close. We hang out outside of softball – all different grades.”
Quakertown 010 100 0 2-10-0
Northampton 000 000 0 0-2-0
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