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TOWAMENCIN – Devon Utterback is quick to credit her defense for her success on the mound.
“I have confidence in my defense,” the Central Bucks South hurler said. “When I got in a jam, I knew if I could put the ball on the ground and get my fielders to make the plays, we would get out of it.”
And when it mattered most in Friday’s SOL showdown against North Penn, the junior standout made all the right pitches.
In the third inning, Utterback found herself in a bases-loaded, one-out jam. She calmly fanned Maidens’ hard-hitting cleanup batter Alyssa Campbell on a wicked change-up and closed out the inning with a fielder’s choice groundout.
Then in the seventh, the Maidens put the tying run on second with one out. Once again, Utterback slammed the door on that potential rally by retiring a pair, allowing the Titans to escape with a hard-earned 2-1 win.
Both teams entered the contest with identical 3-0 records in league play, and neither team had lost this season.
“This is huge,” Utterback said. “Last year our big games never went our way, and this year, we knew we had a really strong team and we were confident. This was our big game.
“We knew if we could get past this obstacle, good things were ahead.”
Good things have already come the Titans way this season. They are off to an 8-0 start, and pitching has been a key.Utterback – one of three superb pitchers on the Titans’ roster - allowed just four hits in Friday’s win.
“She definitely is a reliable pitcher,” South coach Jennifer Robinson said. “You get into those situations, and you get a little bit nervous, but I have come to know her as someone who doesn’t give up, who can be in that situation and thrive in it.”
The Titans managed just four hits off Kellianna Bradstreet but benefitted from the Maidens’ only error in the contest.
It happened in the fourth.
Haileigh Stocks led off the inning with a single to left and moved up to second when the ball was bobbled. Morgan Decker followed with a sharp single to left and immediately stole second. Then came the broken play that netted the game winner for the Titans.
Kim Rowe hit a wicked shot off the glove of Bradstreet. The sophomore pitcher retrieved the ball, and that’s when things got interesting.
“It was a really hard hit, and I started to break, and then I stopped because she knocked it down,” Stocks said. “I thought she was going to pick it up right away and look at me, but she never did, so I hesitated.
“I saw Morgan – who was coming to third - heading back (to second), so I just waited to see what they would do. They threw it to second base, so that’s when I went home.”Decker was out at second base, but the play proved far more costly to the Maidens than the Titans, who led 2-1 and had all the runs Utterback would need.
“In tight games against another good team in our league, every inning, every pitch, every play, every out – you have to be perfect,” Maiden senior Cari Anderson said. “It comes down to who makes the plays.
“That goes for every game, and it showed in this one.”
Anderson, the Maidens’ top hitter, took a .529 batting average into Friday’s contest, and with two outs in the seventh, it came down to a classic confrontation between the senior catcher and Utterback.
The showdown was set up after Sam Reeves opened the inning with a bloop single over third. She moved up to second on Brittany Gozur’s sacrifice bunt. After a fly out to right and a walk to Ward, Anderson stepped to the plate.
“We talked about it all week,” Utterback said. “We knew her coming in, and we knew what we were going to throw. I tried to throw to my strengths and her weaknesses. I wasn’t trying to blow the ball by her, just get her to groundout.”
Utterback got exactly what she wanted as Anderson grounded out to second for the game’s final out. “They pitched me away, and the one I hit for the last out was a low, outside pitch,” Anderson said. “She got me on her pitch. It’s wasn’t my pitch, but in situations like that you have to battle them off. She won this one.
“I believe we’re a better team, and the next time we play them I believe that we will beat them.”
The two teams meet for a rematch on May 7, and a whole lot more could be at stake than early-season bragging rights.
“I told the girls, ‘Would you rather lose today or in the district semfinals?’” Maiden coach Rick Torresani said. “We’ll see them again. Probably more than once. We’ll see what happens.
“It’s one game in 20. We’re just build on this and come back next week and play hard.”
The Titans jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Decker, who was hit by a pitch, scored on a groundout by Lauren Klepchick.
The Maidens came right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. Campbell opened the inning with a ground single to right. She moved up to second on a groundout and scored when Taylor Marchozzi pounced on an Utterback changeup and hit a bloop two-out RBI single to left.The Maidens had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the third when they loaded the bases with one out. Miranda Sergas got things started with a ground single to left, and Mary Ward drew a walk. Anderson was hit by a pitch, but that’s where the rally ended.
“We have gotten the clutch hit all year,” Torresani said. “Today we didn’t.”
Although the Titans took the lead in the fourth, the Maidens didn’t go down quietly, but they could not push the equalizer across, stranding runners in every inning but two as Utterback and Titans’ defense delivered in the clutch.
“We have been really working on the mental part of our game and the hitting and what it takes to come together as a team to win,” Robinson said. “I told them right after the game I was really proud of them.
“We had more errors than maybe we should have made, and we had situations where we could have gotten down on ourselves and we got into some binds out there. I’m proudest because of the way we played together. When one girl messed up, another girl was there to pick her up.
“I really am proud of the unity that came out of this game today more than any other game this season.”
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, NORTH PENN 1
Central Bucks South: Sam Kraus ss 3 0 0 0; Molly Hare 2b 2 0 0 0; Michelle Gessner ph 1 0 0 0; Haileigh Stocks dp 3 1 1 0; Morgan Decker 3b 2 1 1 0; Kim Rowe lf 1 0 0 0; Shaina Steigerwalt ph,lf 1 0 1 0; Nicole Rodi rf 3 0 1 0; Lauren Klepchick c 2 0 0 0; Dani London ph 1 0 0 0; Taylre Stock 1b 2 0 0 0; Shelbie Berger ph 1 0 0 0; Devon Utterback p 1 0 0 0; Jae Epstein cr 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 23 2 4 1.
North Penn: Miranda Sergas cf 4 0 1 0; Mary Ward 3b 2 0 0 0; Cari Anderson c 3 0 0 0; Alyssa Campbell 2b 3 1 1 0; Sam McGinty dp 3 0 0 0; Christie Mallozzi pr 0 0 0 0; Janelle Stawasz 1b 2 0 0 0; Taylor Marchozzi ss 3 0 1 1’ Sam Reeves lf 3 0 1 0; Brittany Gozur rf 2 0 0 0. TOTALS 25 1 3 1
Central Bucks South 010 100 0-2
North Penn 010 000 0-1
E-NP 1, CBS 2. LOB-CBS 2, NP 7. 2B-Steigerwalt. SAC-Gozur, Stawasz, Rowe. SB-Rodi, Decker, Ward.
IP H R ER BB SO
Central Bucks South
Utterback (W) 7 4 1 1 2 6
North Penn
Bradstreet (L) 7 4 2 1 1 3
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