Continental Conference
Pennridge 2, North Penn 0
Paige DeCew stole the spotlight in Monday’s pitching duel against Maiden senior Kellianna Bradstreet, who took a perfect 10-0 record into the game.
The sophomore hurler tossed a no-hitter and needed only 72 pitches to do it. She fanned six and did not walk a batter.
“Fifty-three of her pitches were strikes,” coach Paul Koehler said. “Today for the first time, her change-up worked effectively when we called it. She struggled all year with her change-up, and we have had to put it away in most games, but it really worked well.
“We were able to set up hitters with drop curves on the outside of the plate, and then she’d come right back with a rise ball. Typically against most teams, she’s thrown it much higher, and they go fishing, but today it was just above the belt and must have been inside everybody’s hands. A couple of kids went down swinging on pitches that were way off the plate and were just kind of guessing.”
The Rams stranded nine runners – leaving runners on second and third in the third, stranding a pair on first and second in the fourth. They finally pushed a pair of runs home in the fifth.
Alicia Phillips, who was behind the plate in Monday’s game, got things started by drawing a nine-pitch walk. She moved to second on Haley Taylor’s sacrifice bunt. Karlie McCreary – who had a pair of hits to lead the Rams - laid down a bunt single that moved the base runner to third.
Brooke Labs hit the second pitch she saw up the middle, plating a run. Emily Hofmann hit a towering drive to deep left center for a run-scoring double.
“It was so high that no one could get to it, and I sent Brooke from first to home on the double,” Koehler said. “I was not stopping her. They would have had to make two excellent throws to get her out. Those two runs held up the rest of the way.”
North Penn’s lone base runners came in the second when Taylor Marchozzi reached base on an error and in the bottom of the sixth when Blaire Wilkie’s bunt was misplayed.
With Wilkie on first, the Maidens bunted again, and McCreary threw to Alison Horne at first for the initial out, and Horne gunned down the Maiden runner trying to go from first to third on the play for a huge double play to empty the bases.
A one-two-three seventh put an exclamation point on the DeCew no-hitter.
“It was quite the day,” Koehler said. “Paige was in command. Our outfielders got a lot of work – we ran down several fly balls.
“It was the biggest day (of the season) for us, that’s for sure.”
While the Maidens fell to 6-3 in league play (9-3 overall), the Rams improved to 3-6 in the league (7-6 overall).
“Before the game, I told them, “I hate talking about winning or losing, but our goal is to get to districts, and if we want to get to districts, this is a game we have to win. We can’t continue to lose close games. We need to put W’s on the board and gets wins against quality teams,’” Koehler said. “They responded.
“Paige threw a gem today.”
Central Bucks East 1, Central Bucks West 0
The Patriots had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings of Monday’s game, and they scored the game winner in the sixth, benefitting from a pair of West errors.
National Conference
Neshaminy 3, Bensalem 2
Dan Schram couldn’t have asked for a much better birthday present on Monday. No, the Owls didn’t defeat the Redskins, but they certainly did give a highly regarded Neshaminy squad all it could handle before falling 3-2. The Redskins needed a run in the bottom of the seventh to win it.
For Schram, who has been trying to rebuild the struggling program, Monday’s game was a step in the right direction.
“We had a game against Bristol on Saturday night that didn’t go well at all, but the girls came out today with a fire I hadn’t really seen yet up until this point,” the Owls’ first-year coach said. “We came out and attacked Neshaminy.
“ Neshaminy is a great team. They’re well coached, and they do everything right, but we were kind of waiting for this game. This game, in a sense, was bigger than any of our victories. I think now we’re at a point where we’re in the stretch run of the season and we’re playing almost every single day. We were waiting for a quality game against a quality team.”
Freshman Kelly Nolan – who has been playing first base for the Owls - was solid on the mound in her second start of the season, allowing nine hits and three runs.
“We’re at the point in the season where I want some young kids to really get a shot at playing some extended time on varsity,” Schram said. “Kelly Nolan just kept it simple.
“She threw a lot of first pitch strikes, got herself in a good count and worked the ball on both sides of the plate. Really, it’s a simple game, and if you do the little things, you’re going to be successful.”
Offensively, the Owls were led by the two-hit effort of designated player Christine Cueto. Jenny Campbell was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs while Amy Jarosz had one hit and scored a run.
The Owls took a 1-0 lead into the fourth when the Redskins knotted the score. Neshaminy added a run in the fifth to go on top 2-1, but the Owls rallied to knot the score in the sixth.
The Redskins needed a walk-off hit by senior Courtney Clee in the seventh to earn the hard-fought win.
“I told them in the postgame that I wanted this to be a win, but this was a great birthday present they gave me,” Schram said. “They played good softball.
“For Neshaminy, this was not how they wanted it to be, but for my girls, it was the kind of game they can catapult into some really good play this season. When you’re young like this, you want to just play good games. If we come out on top, it’s a bonus. Right now, we want to set the table for next year. That’s the reason Kelly Nolan is going to get a lot of innings. I think the girls are ready to finish the season really strong.”
Lauren Quense earned the win on the mound for the Redskins, allowing just four hits.
“There is no off day when you face a team like Neshaminy,” Schram said.
Carly Coleman led the Redskins with a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate while Clee was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Julia McGovern was 2-for-3 with a double.
American Conference
Wissahickon 5, Norristown 3
Sophomore Kellie Gilman delivered a two-run double in the fifth inning, breaking a 3-3 tie and propelling the Trojans to the big win.
“On any given day, anybody can beat anybody in our league,” Trojan coach Jerry Hartman said. “I know a couple of teams in our conference got off to a slow start, but anybody can beat anybody as far as I’m concerned.
“We were fortunate enough to get a big hit today. It was a nice win. It’s always tough playing up there. Norristown is always tough, and Jon (Kandrick) does a good job.”
The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the second only to watch the Eagles plate three runs in the third. The Trojans rallied to knot the score in the fourth and won it with a two-run outburst in the sixth.
Gretchen Guaglianone led the Trojans with three hits, including a double.
“She had a couple of games where she wasn’t hitting the ball as solid as she wanted to, and I moved her to the leadoff spot today,” Hartman said. “She really came through. She had a double, a couple of singles and laid down a nice bunt. She had a nice game today.
“A lot of the teams are pitching around Katie (Ziegler) now. A couple of sophomores picked us up today. Marina Mellor had a big double.”
For the Eagles, Gabbie Berry and Sammi Kidd led the way with two hits each. Both players had a double. Kandrick lauded the defensive efforts of Sara Rosetti, Julia Santoro and Berry.
Ziegler earned the win on the mound, striking out 10 and walking none.
Non-League
Pennsbury 4, Central Bucks South 3
In a non-league battle between two of the SOL’s marquee squads, it was a young Falcon squad defeating the defending district champions.
Interestingly, coach Frank McSherry and his players didn’t find out until Sunday afternoon that Monday’s game against South – postponed as of the end of last week – was back on.
“I said to them, ‘You guys had a really, really great weekend, but this can’t be a letdown, which is common after a big rival’” said the Falcons’ coach, whose team was coming off an emotional 5-3 win over Neshaminy on Saturday. “This game could say something down the road when it comes to district seeding.”
“It was a great game. We wanted to play it because we know how good they are.”
Four of Pennsbury’s seven hits off Titan mound ace Francesca Carrullo never left the infield as the Falcons capitalized on their small ball game, legging out several bunt singles as well as a slap single.
“It’s tough because we haven’t really faced a whole lot of that,” South coach Jenn Robinson said. “Hopefully, it’s something you take and learn from.
“We weren’t able to do the same against them. Our slappers put the ball in play, but they got us by a half step, so they did what we couldn’t in the small ball game.
“We hit the ball pretty well. We had some big hits, but when it comes down to it, they got runners on, and we didn’t.”
The Falcons plated a pair of runs in the first inning. D’Anna Devine drew a leadoff walk, and Jess Greenewald followed with a bunt single. Two runs crossed the plate when senior Kelsi Bunda delivered a single.
The Titans - benefitting from back-to-back Falcon errors - scored a pair of runs in the second inning to knot the score 2-2.
“The one thing we didn’t do today – we didn’t play defense as good as we have been,” McSherry said. “The last two games we went 36 plays without committing an error.”
The Falcons’ defense made up for its miscues by turning a double play in the second to effectively kill what could have been a much bigger inning when shortstop Mackenzie Obert fielded a ball up the middle, touched second for the first out and threw to first for the inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the inning, the Falcons took a lead they would not lose.
“This is the third game in a row where the other team has scored, and we came back in the very next inning and answered, which is really, really big,” McSherry said. “That is a great hitting team. We only struck out two batters, so we had to play a lot of defense.”
In the bottom of the second, back-to-back singles by Taylor Bidlingmaier and Michelle George set the stage for a steal of third and ensuing errant throw that sent Bidlingmaier home with the go-ahead run. Greenewald’s RBI single made it a 4-2 game.
“That kind of thing is a difference maker against a good team,” Robinson said of her team’s throwing error. “Fran (Carrullo) pitched really well, and their pitcher (Val Buehler) pitched really well.
“When you play a good team, it’s not going to be a high-scoring game, and it’s not going to necessarily come down to a big hit. It’s going to be the small things and errors at key times. We gave them that run, and they were able to take advantage and bring the next girl home. Really, the momentum changed right there. You just can’t do that against a good team, but we had other opportunities.”
Sophomore Val Buehler was once again impressive on the mound against a high-powered Titan squad.
“They’re scary,” McSherry said. “They hit from one to nine, and they hit some hard shots, but (Buehler) did a nice job of spotting the ball. Her location was good.
“Fran (Carrullo) pitched a great game today. She was really throwing.”
Take away their second inning miscues, and the Falcons played solid defense. In the seventh inning, Michelle George flagged down a slicing line drive in right field for the big out.
“She got a great jump on it and caught it at her shoestrings,” McSherry said. “That was really big to start the inning.”
Earlier in the game, third baseman Christina Bascara made a diving catch of a bunt and doubled a Titan runner off first base.
“She made some really nice plays,” McSherry said of his third baseman. “We got a little lucky too.”
While the Falcons upped their record to 11-1, the Titans fell to 9-3.
“There’s a lot we can learn from this game,” Robinson said. “Win or lose – it was a really good game, and I think both teams benefitted from this level of play today.
“Obviously, you want to win, but I’m not disappointed with a lot of things that happened today.”
Quakertown 12, Upper Dublin 0
Senior Justyna Pepkowski allowed just one hit in five strong innings, fanning seven.
“She pitched a great game, and we just played well today,” coach Rich Scott said. “It was a fun game.
“It’s a non-league game, and we haven’t played many because they have been rained out. It was a good change of pace to play a game like this. Everybody was hitting. It was just nice.”
Maddie Mulhall led the Panthers with two hits while Steph Zischang had a double and three RBIs. Pepkowski helped her own cause with three RBIs.
Hatboro-Horsham 10, Council Rock South 0 (6 innings)
Senior Melissa Spinosa was 2-for-4 with two RBIs while teammate Julie Wambold delivered a home run. Heather Lutz was 1-for-3 with two runs scored, and Jackie DiPietro was 1-for-1 with two runs scored.
Maggie Shaffer did not allow a hit in three innings on the mound and fanned seven. Nicole Casagrand threw three innings, allowing two hits while striking out four.
Souderton 3, Cheltenham 0
Liz Parkins fanned 16 in an overpowering effort on the mound, allowing just one hit and walking one.
Sarah Derstine led the Indians' offense with a 2-for-4 day at the plate. She got the ball rolling for the Indians in the first inning, scoring after a stolen base on a hard-hit ball by Brittany Beebe.
Souderton added single runs in the second and sixth with Parkins - who had a pair of hits - a catalyst in both scoring opportunities. Parkins scored on an error in the second and scampered home in the sixth on an RBI single by Corinne Stiles.
- Log in to post comments
0
