American Conference
Upper Moreland 5, Wissahickon 4
What a difference a day makes.
Twenty-four hours after losing 15-0 to the Trojans in a game that was halted after three innings because of the mercy rule, the Golden Bears came back to stun that same Trojan squad on Friday.
“It was quite the turnaround from yesterday,” coach Scott Ludlow said. “It was without a doubt the best game we played all year.
“To come back from the 15-0 drubbing where we must have made seven errors and really played an error-free game today – we got six or seven hits against the best pitcher in our division hands down. She (Katie Ziegler) no hit us twice last year. This was just a tremendous game.”
Senior Sam Balcerak earned the win on the mound.
“She was around the plate and kept them off balance a little bit,” Ludlow said. “She was solid – she moved the ball around. She struck out three and walked four.
“They had a lot of weak-hit balls. We had pop-ups in the infield. We had a couple of nice plays in the outfield to run balls down, and we got a handful of key hits.”
One of those key hits came in the second when Megan Robinson led off the inning with a double and scored on a sacrifice bunt, knotting the score 1-1. The Golden Bears went on top 2-1 in the bottom of the third when Erin Dixon, who had walked, scored on a delayed steal of home.
In the top of the fifth, Wissahickon’s Gretchen Guaglianone led off with a double and scored on Alex Comonitski’s double, knotting the score 2-2.
The Golden Bears answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Rebecca Coutts and Katie VanDolsen opened the frame with back-to-back singles, and a walk loaded the bases. An error and a two-run single by Katie Costello with two outs put Upper Moreland on top 5-2.
“We got some big hits and ran the bases well,” Ludlow said. “We clamped down defensively today. We really didn’t make any mistakes, and that’s what won the game for us.”
The seventh inning was not without its drama. Rebecca Marinucci drew a one-out single, and Comonitski followed with a single. A passed ball allowed a run to cross the plate, and Ziegler made it a 5-4 game when she delivered an RBI single.
The Trojans had runners on first and second when Balcerak came up with a strikeout to close it out.
As a result of the win, the Golden Bears improved to 2-6 in league play while the Trojans dropped to 7-2.
Upper Dublin 6, Cheltenham 4
In a seesaw battle, the Flying Cardinals scored a pair of runs in the first only to watch the Lady Panthers answer with two runs in the third. Upper Dublin went on top 3-2 with a run in the bottom of the third. `
Cheltenham took a 4-3 lead in the fourth, but the Flying Cardinals answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Ashleigh Sharp delivered a two-run single that turned out to be the game winner. She also scored and run and stole a pair of bases in the game.
In the fifth, the Flying Cardinals added an insurance run to go on top 6-4.
“It was a nice win,” coach Heather Boyer said. “We have had a bumpy season.
“I have good kids who work hard, but I don’t have a lot of kids who have the travel ball experience, so it’s hard to keep up with teams that do. We’ve taken some lumps this year.
“It doesn’t matter if you have kids who are really competitive and play year round or if you have kids that are just out there to play softball as a high school sport – losing is still really hard. The kids have been pretty resilient, and they’re working hard to learn as much as they can in the short time I have them, and they’re making some good progress.”
Rachel Mintz – pressed into emergency duty – notched the win on the mound, fanning six, walking seven and allowing five hits.
“The last two days we’ve played some really good defense,” Boyer said. “We played Norristown yesterday and lost 10-3, but we had no errors.
“Today we had one error, but it didn’t hurt us whereas early in the season, we would have a couple of errors and a walk, and all of a sudden you’d have a six or seven-run inning and a hole you really couldn’t get out of. We’ve been a little more consistent.
“Hitting is tough when you’re not used to seeing pitches all summer long. You have to get that experience during the season, so the second time around hopefully you’re a little bit better. We’re getting there.”
Lesenia Santiago absorbed the loss, striking out seven, walking five and allowing seven hits.
Becky Starosta contributed a two-run single in the first for the Flying Cardinals. Cheltenham’s Nikki Mauer was 1-for-3 with a two-run double in the third inning.
Continental Conference.
Souderton 4, Christopher Dock 3 (11 innings)
Senior Liz Parkins capped a remarkable week by fanning 17 and allowing just five hits in 11 strong innings to win her fourth game in five days.
Corinne Stiles ended Friday’s marathon in the bottom of the 11th with a two-run walk-off single. Her clutch hit came with two outs.
Both teams, according to coach Courtney Hughes, had plenty of chances to score throughout the game.
Souderton got on the scoreboard in the second when Haley Delany delivered an RBI double. Dock scored the tying run in the seventh, collecting a pair of hits before Parkins fanned the last two batters.
With the international tiebreaker in effect, Dock scored in the 10th on an error and again in the 11th before Stiles delivered her huge two-out hit in the bottom of the frame to win it for the Indians.
Meghan Weisel, Brittany Beebe and Stiles led the Indians with two hits each. Beebe and Emily Groves each had doubles.
National Conference
Neshaminy 10, William Tennent 0
The Redskins continued to pound the softball, collecting 15 hits and bringing an end to Friday’s game after five innings. Since eking out a 3-2 win over Bensalem on Monday, Neshaminy has seen the mercy rule go into effect in three straight games.
“We came off a bit of a hangover going into our first Bensalem game,” coach Dave Chichilitti said. “We were kind of down and miserable, and that was a game we didn’t play our best, but we still won.
“It was important to know we could go out there and not play our best but still win. Bensalem played fantastic in that first game and made some plays our team couldn’t make. They played really well.”
On Wednesday, Chichilitti gave his squad the day off.
“They really responded to that well,” he said.
Williams Tennent managed just three hits off of winning pitcher Lauren Quense, who fanned five and did not walk a batter.
“We spoke before the game, and I told her I needed her to be dominant tonight because this is a team that can hit the ball,” Chichilitti said. “I said, ‘I want you to come out and show that you can dominate them.’
“She came out and dominated them. She pitched fantastic, and the defense played well behind her.”
The Alden sisters – Ashley and Nikki - accounted for all three of Tennent’s hits. Ashley had two, including a triple, while Nikki had one.
The Redskins scored two runs in the first and added three more in the second. In the fourth, the Redskins plated four runs and then scored a single run in the fifth for the 10-0 final.
Courtney Clee led the Redskins at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance that included three runs scored and one RBI. Brianna Guidos was 3-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI. Quense was 2-for-3 with four RBIs, and Sarah McGowan was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
The Redskins improved to 10-1 in league play while the Panthers fell to 4-7.
Council Rock North 12, Abington 2 (6 innings)
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