North Penn & Pennsbury were winners and advanced to Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinals. Quakertown saw its successful season end. (Photos provided by Marlee Doherty/North Penn softball)
#1-1 NORTH PENN 10, #4-1 WILLIAMSPORT 0 (6 innings)
Maddy Gronback didn’t need a whole lot of words. Her smile told the story.
“Today’s a great day,” the Knights’ senior right fielder said.
The Knights had just put a beating on the Millionaires for a win that vaulted them into Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinal, and as graduation days go, Gronback – who headed home immediately after the game for North Penn’s graduation Thursday night – was certainly having a good one.
Gronback has been finding her way in the spotlight in the postseason, and she certainly played a starring role in Thursday’s win. She not only was 2-for-3 with a double, home run, one run scored and a team high four RBIs, she also came up with the defensive play of the game, robbing Kendall McAnelly of a base hit when she threw a strike from right field to first baseman Brie Wilmot for the first out of the fifth inning.
“The throw to first was great because in the beginning of the season, Brie and I talked about – in the event that I got a hard shot and we thought we could get her, we’d go for it,” Gronback said. “For it to actually work, that was pretty cool. I was grateful she was looking at me, but we just have that relationship that we knew it would work, so that was great, and I think it got the motivation up even more.”
“We’ve had plays similar, but it’s always been the runner just beats it out,” Wilmot said. “We’ve been talking about it since the beginning of the year. We’ve been like, ‘We’re going to make this play one time, we’re going to make it one time.’”
They made the play for the first time and then carried that momentum into the bottom of the inning when they erupted for three runs to blow the game wide open. With one out Wilmot singled to center, and Gianna Cimino followed and ripped a double to left.
With Wilmot breaking from third, Sophia Collins laid down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt, and that brought Gronback to the plate for a three-run shot over the left field fence that put the Knights on top 7-0.
“Oh my gosh, that was really a bomb,” teammate Julia Shearer said. “I don’t know how she golfed that. It got me so hyped.”
“The hit just felt good,” Gronback said. “I hoped (it was gone), but I ran it out and waited for coach (Ellie) White to tell me.”
In the circle, Shearer – named 2021-22 Gatorade PA Softball Player of the Year earlier in the day – turned in what has become a routinely brilliant performance, allowing just one hit while striking out 11 and walking one in the abbreviated six-inning game.
Shearer was once again a catalyst out of the leadoff spot, finishing 3-for-4 with a double, home run, run scored and one RBI. One of her hits came on a 3-0 pitch with a base open when it looked as though the Millionaires were going to give her an ‘unintentional’ intentional walk.
“I honestly wasn’t even looking at signs,” Shearer said. “There were people chattering behind me, and I was like, ‘They’re not getting in my head, I’m not walking – I’m hitting this ball.’”
With the Knights on top 1-0, Shearer stepped to the plate with Reyna Doherty – who singled – on first and hit a screaming line drive to right field that got past the outfielder and rolled to the fence. Doherty easily scored, and Shearer slid home safely for an inside-the-park home run.
“I saw it bad hop around her glove,” Shearer said. “As soon as I saw it was past her, I was just sprinting, and I was like ‘I’m scoring on this.’”
In a contest that saw the Knights pound out 14 hits, Wilmot also had a huge day at the plate. Her double to the fence in right center with one out in the bottom of the sixth plated a pair of runs and brought an early end to the contest.
Wilmot finished the game 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. She scored on Collins’ suicide squeeze bunt and acknowledged that was a first.
“It was kind of nerveracking,” the junior slugger said. “I was like, ‘All I have to do is run straight and hard.’ I watched it to make sure it got down, I saw they were turning around to throw it to first, and I said, ‘I’m home safe.’”
Wilmot’s leadoff single in the second resulted in the game’s first run that turned out to be the game-winner.
“If we get her hitting the way she’s capable of hitting, look out,” Torresani said of Wilmot.
Also finishing with multiple hits were Sarah Sabocsik (2-for-4, RBI) and Cimino (2-for-3, 2B, R).
The Knights, according to Wilmot, were fired up long before they stepped onto the field.
“On the bus ride here, you could really see it – we were just all hyped,” she said. “We were playing good music, having a good time just trying to hype each other up. (Julia) made Gatorade Player of the Year, which was really awesome, and it just hyped us up even more.”
For Gronback, Collins and Micki Secoda – the team’s three seniors, Thursday’s win was a perfect prelude to Thursday’s graduation ceremony.
“A great day for seniors,” Torresani said. “For Maddy, it was great for her to make the play in right field and then the home run, and Sophia – the suicide squeeze bunt, which was perfect. Micki being a team player – never batting but always ready to play out in left field, that’s huge.
“Now they can go and enjoy their graduation. I’m proud of all the seniors.”
North Penn (25-1, 15-1 SOL) will face Spring-Ford – an 11-4 winner over District 3 champion Penn Manor – in Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinal. The two teams met in a district semifinal contest, a 5-2 North Penn win.
Extra innings: Williamsport came into Thursday’s quarterfinal on the heels of an impressive 7-1 win over defending state runner-up Haverford in Monday’s opening round. “The state hurt Haverford because they had to travel three hours to play a game Monday,” Torresani said. “They’re a good team and went to the state championship, and they deserved better. I don’t want to take anything away from Williamsport, but Haverford deserved to be at a closer distance.”
Williamsport 000 000 x 0-1-1
North Penn 012 133 x 10-14-0
#1-2 PENNSBURY 10, #7-2 NORTH ALLEGENY 2
If the underclassmen were looking for a way to honor their seniors on the day of their graduation, they couldn’t have come up with a better plan.
The last four hitters in the Falcons’ lineup – which includes underclassmen Ava Storlazzi, Presley Foote and Taylor Askey as well as senior Riley Mahony – combined for eight hits and scored six of the team’s 10 runs.
“I said to the guys afterwards, ‘Wow, this is like the Phillies young guys coming alive right now,’” Pennsbury coach Frank McSherry said. “Not that they were coming alive, but it was a big day for the seniors, and it was the underclassmen that seemed to pick the seniors up. I’m saying that, but (Riley) Mahony had two hits, Rowan Mulholland was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Cait (Martell) had an RBI, and Quinn (McGonigle) scored a run and she and Cait both had a hit, but eight hits and six runs from our last four kids is pretty big.”
The Falcons took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Storlazzi legged out a bunt single and stole second. She scored on a single by Foote, who stole second and third and scored on an errant throw.
In the top of the third, Rowan Mulholland hit a two-out double to center and Sammy Raub brought her home with a single. In the bottom of the inning, the Tigers scored their only runs of the game on a two-run home run by senior Alaina Whipkey that made it a 3-2 game.
“That’s her eighth home run this year, and she had 10 last year,” McSherry said of Whipkey, who will continue her softball career at California University of Pennsylvania. “She’s the Athlete of the Year for consecutive years in their high school, so she’s quite an athlete, quite a player.”
The Falcons upped their lead to 4-2 in the fourth inning when Storlazzi, who walked and stole second, scored on another RBI single by Presley.
A five-run fifth all but put the game out of reach. McGonigle led off the inning with a bunt single, and Mulholland followed with a single. Both runners advanced on Raub’s sacrifice bunt. McGonigle scored on a passed ball, and Laney Freiband drew a walk. That brought Storlazzi to the plate.
“Ava Storlazzi – with two strikes – gets a base hit up the middle,” McSherry said. “She hits it hard up the middle. The centerfielder charges because – with runners on second and third – there’s going to be a play.
“The ball hits – it wasn’t a big lip but it was a big enough lip where the outfield begins and the infield ends, and it bounded so high over this kid’s head. It had to go four or five feet over the kid’s head and rolled all the way to the fence, which is 220 feet away. Ava Storlazzi just circled the bases.
“It should have been a single, a ground ball up the middle. The kid didn’t touch it, nobody touched it. It just hit that cutout and bounded over the centerfielder’s fence and rolled to the fence. It looked like a single, but you have to give her a home run. It was a three-run home run, one of the strangest ones you’ll ever see, but it was a three-run home run.”
The Falcons weren’t finished yet. Mahony followed with a double to center, and Presley was hit by a pitch. Askey followed with a bunt single, and Mahony scored on Martell’s sacrifice fly to give the Falcons a commanding 9-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Mahony collected a one-out single but was erased at second on a fielder’s choice by Foote, who scored on Askey’s double to center for the 10-2 final.
Ainsley McClure notched the complete game win, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out seven and walking none.
Contributing multiple hits to the Falcons’ 13-hit attack were Mulholland (2-for-4, 2B, 2R), Storlazzi (2-for-3, HR, 3R, 3 RBIs), Mahony (2-for-4, 2B, R), Foote (2-for-3, 2R, 2 RBIs) and Askey (2-for-4, 2B, RBI).
Pennsbury (24-2, 16-0 SOL) will be heading West for a meeting with District 7 champion Seneca Valley in Monday’s state semifinal. It is the Falcons’ second trip to the state semifinals in as many years. Last year, they fell to Haverford 2-1 in the semis.
Pennsbury 021 150 1 10-13-1
North Allegheny 002 000 0 2-5-2
#7-1 SENECA VALLEY 1, #1-5 QUAKERTOWN 0
In a state quarterfinal that was the very definition of a pitcher’s duel, it was the District 7 champions – behind the strong arm of freshman Lexie Hames – eking out a 1-0 win.
The game certainly started out on a promising enough note for the Panthers when Ava Beal and Leah Schwalm collected back-to-back singles to lead off the top of the first. Beal stole third and Schwalm moved up to second on defensive indifference, giving the Panthers runners on second and third with none out.
That’s where the potential rally ended. Hames struck out the next batter she faced, and a line drive out to shortstop forced the runners to hold. The inning ended with a groundout.
In the bottom of the inning, sophomore Kara Pasquale hit a one-out triple to right, and she scored on a safety squeeze. Hames struck out the side in the top of the second, and momentum swung to the side of Seneca Valley.
Hames retired nine in a row before Skyler Williams was safe on an error to lead off the fourth. She moved up to second on Katie Muller’s sacrifice bunt and then to third on a groundout but was stranded there when Hames came up with a strikeout for the third out of the inning.
In the fifth inning, the Panthers had a golden opportunity to get on the scoreboard when Grace Baker doubled to right field to lead off the inning, but a strikeout, groundout and line out ended that threat. It marked the beginning of a stretch that saw Hames retire nine straight to close out the game.
Panthers’ mound ace Sydney Andrews pitched well enough to win on most days, allowing just two hits – only one after the first inning – and one run while striking out six and walking none.
Hames allowed three hits in the complete game shutout win, striking out 11 and walking none.
Quakertown closed out its season with a 21-5 record after winning 20 games last season. The Panthers were 14-2 in SOL play.
Quakertown 000 000 0 0-3-2
Seneca Valley 100 000 x 1-2-1
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