North Penn capped a perfect season with a 1-0 win over District 7 6A champion Hempfield on Thursday at Penn State University. Photos provided courtesy of Kadi Schenk. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f983803863
PIAA 6A State Final
#1-1 NORTH PENN 1, #7-1 HEMPFIELD 0
Reach for the stars.
That’s pretty much what North Penn coach Rick Torresani told his players long before they played their first game of the season.
“When they walked to our first workout outside, I had 28-0 on the scoreboard, and I said, ‘That’s what we’re going to do,’” the Knights’ coach said. “Then I kept it on the scoreboard for all the workouts. To let them know that was our goal.”
28-0
It’s been staring at them from the scoreboard in right field every time they stepped onto the diamond since last fall. It might have seemed unreasonable, if not impossible to make it through an entire season without one slipup, without one loss somewhere along the line, but the Knights lived up to those lofty expectations, doing the improbable by winning for the 28th time without a loss in Thursday’s PIAA 6A state title game.
The Knights put the finishing touches on a magical season with a 1-0 win over District 7 champion Hempfield in a classic battle on Beard Field at Penn State University. It is the program’s second state title in three years.
“In the fall, I was like, ‘He’s crazy, there’s no way,’ but once we started getting out there and I saw how we were as a team and we really bonded we really came together - we were a family, and I saw what we could do,” NP junior Sophia Orth said. “I knew we could do it. Our semifinal game was really close. We know we can do it and we can work together and get it done.”
Orth made sure it got done, delivering a clutch two-out RBI double to left center field in the bottom of the fourth inning. There was no controversy about this game-winner – Orth’s second in as many games.
“That was a little annoying,” Orth said of the photos confirming the tag had beaten the slide to home plate for the game’s only run in the Knights’ 1-0 win over Chambersburg in eight innings. “This time I knew I was getting her in, no doubts.
The two-out rally began with Gianna Cimino smoking a double to center field.
“At that point, I was just saying to myself I needed to get a hit,” Cimino said. “I struggled two years ago (in the state title game), and today, at that point, we weren’t hitting the best, so I knew I would have to see a pitch I could hit.”
Cimino saw a pitch she liked, hitting a double and setting the stage for Orth.
“I know in batting practice earlier today – I was really struggling,” Orth said. “I was popping them up, hitting all grounders.
“I just realized I was so in my head when I get in the box sometimes, and that’s when I struggle. So, I just went up there, and I knew I had to be aggressive, stay out of my head – keep my head clear and do what I needed to do.”
One run was all Julia Shearer needed. The senior standout, whose fingerprints are all over the Knights’ perfect season, allowed four hits in the complete game shutout, striking out nine and walking one. She struck out the side in an overpowering seventh inning showing, raising her fist in the air in jubilation when Maggie Howard swung through a third strike for the game’s final out.
“I don’t really know – I think I blacked out,” Shearer said of the moment the dream of perfect season became a reality. “I definitely was relieved. That was a stressful game, but I was just so happy to end it on a high note.”
The game actually started on an unusual note when leadoff batter Claire Mitchell’s hard grounder on the first pitch of the game deflected off the backhanded attempt of Cimono for a basehit.
“I wasn’t expecting that, but before the game, I knew they were going to come in with an almost a cocky confidence,” Shearer said. “I knew I had to go out and prove myself. Even though it was a tough game and they got some good hits, my defense provided for me, and I showed them what I was made of.”
Shearer had just two strikeouts through the first three innings, and all except one Hempfield batter put the ball in play the first time around. The second time around was another story as Shearer fanned four of Hempfield’s first six batters.
With the Knights on top 1-0, the Trojans had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth inning after a hit batter and a one-out double to left center by Maggie Howard.
Shearer coaxed a soft popup to second out of the next batter she faced, and then – with a base open – took on the Trojans’ hottest hitter, freshman Lauren Howard, and won the battle, retiring Howard on a groundout to Orth at third base to bring an end to the inning.
“I know we can do it, we’ve done it before,” Orth said. “Even with that one inning when they had runners on second and third and one out, we’ve been there before, we know how to get through that.
“It’s really just trusting in my teammates, trusting in myself. We work together really well, we really are a family, and today we worked together really well.”
The Knights loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. Casey Sokol led off the inning with a single to left and moved up to second on Jaclyn Diaz’s sacrifice bunt. Shearer was given her second intentional walk of the game, and it was safe all around to load the bases when the second baseman failed to tag the bag on Sarah Sabocsik’s grounder to short.
The Trojans – and pitcher Riley Miller - escaped unscathed, thanks to a forceout at the plate on a grounder back to the circle and another groundout to the pitcher.
“It’s frustrating when you get girls on base, you have bases loaded one out and you don’t get a run in, but you have to believe in the girls,” Torresani said. “You have to believe in the girls that they will get a run and will hold that run.
“I have total belief in what they do. They’ve done it all season, and the last two games they did it again. They were great games the last two, and the other teams came ready to play. Yes, I’m extremely proud.”
The Trojans put their leadoff runner on board in the sixth, thanks to a Sarah Podkul single. A sacrifice bunt moved Podkul to second, but Shearer came up with a strikeout and fly ball to center field to end that threat. All that remained was the 1-2-3 seventh that was Shearer at her unhittable best.
“My adrenaline was through the roof,” Shearer said. “I was trying to throw as hard as I could. I knew how nervous they were going to be up to bat, so I was trying to work fast, work hard.
“I don’t think I threw – maybe I threw one changeup. I was just trying to get out of there, go celebrate because I knew we had it in the bag, and I just wanted to get it over with so fast.”
And celebrate the Knights did.
“I don’t think it’s completely hit me yet, but it’s great,” Cimino said. “My freshman year – I don’t think I realized how big this is. Winning two is crazy.”
“It’s surreal, it’s so amazing,” Orth said. “When we won, it was like – ‘This is crazy.’ I was here (for the state title game) at Penn State, but I didn’t play.
“Being on the field this year and playing – I didn’t even know what to do when we won. I just started crying.”
Gone are memories of last year’s heartbreaking ending in the state semifinal, replaced instead by memories they will cherish for a lifetime.
“Last year when we ended up losing the way we did, the whole team made a commitment to make sure they got back here and when they got back here – they
weren’t going to lose,” Torresani said. “They worked so hard. The five seniors and a couple of juniors that were in the game – they just did an awesome job. The leadership of the seniors was unbelievable throughout the fall and then through the winter.”
If there was pressure to improve on last year’s finish, that pressure – according to Torresani – was lifted when the Knights edged Chambersburg 1-0 in eight innings in Tuesday’s semifinal.
“Once we got past the last game, it was just come out and have fun,” the Knights’ coach said. “You deserve to be here, and just play your normal game. We’ll get good pitching, play good defense, and hopefully get a timely hit. We got one timely hit, which was the one we got, and Julia locked it up.”
The celebration wasn’t about to end when they left Penn State for their final bus ride together.
“Party bus on the way home,” said senior Annabelle Smink. “There might be a 30-minute nap, but once we get close (to school) – it’s a party.”
Hempfield 000 000 0 0-4-0
North Penn 000 100 x 1-7-0
Hempfield (0) – Claire Mitchell lf 3-0-1-0; Lauren Howard 3b 3-0-0-0; Sarah Podkul 2b 3-0-1-0; Allison Cervola ss 2-0-1-0; Emily Griffith 1b 2-0-0-0; Peyton Heisler cf 2-0-0-0; Mia Bandieramonte dp 2 0-0-0; Ella Berkebile c 3-0-0-0; Maggie Howard rf 3-0-1-0; TOTALS 23-0-4-0.
North Penn (1) – Julia shearer p 1-0-1-0; Sarah Sabocsik c 3-0-0-0; Annabelle Smink 3-0-0-0; Brie Wilmot 1b 3-0-0-0; Gianna Cimino 3-1-1-0; Sophia Orth 3-0-2-1; Isabella Tubertini pr 0-0-0-0; Bella Nunn lf 2-0-0-0; Casey Sokol 3-0-3-0; Reyna Doherty 1-0-0-0; Jaclyn Diaz ph 0-0-0-0; TOTALS 22-1-7-1.
E- NP 0, Hemfield 0. LOB – NP 7, Hempfield 6. 2B – Casey Sokol, Gianna Cimino, Sophia Orth, Maggie Howard. SB – Allison Cervola.
PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO
Julia Shearer (W) 7.0 4 0 0 1 9
Riley Miller (L) 6.0 7 1 1 2 3
Seniors leave quite a legacy - They are North Penn softball’s version of the ‘Fab Five.’ Seniors Reyna Doherty, Sarah Sabocsik, Julia Shearer, Annabelle Smink and Brie Wilmot leave the program with a distinction that quite possibly will never be equaled.
During their three years with the program (their freshman year was lost to the COVID pandemic), the Knights were 79-4 and won three consecutive SOL Colonial titles, the last two District 1 6A crowns, and two PIAA 6A state titles.
“79-4 is just unbelievable,” Torresani said. “Have you ever heard of that before, and they had the COVID year or who knows what would have happened.”
Appropriately, they walked off the field together for the final time as winners of the state’s biggest prize.
“It’s incredible,” Smink said. “I am so honored to play with them for the last time, just to be on the field with them again – it just means everything.
“We played together since we were so young, and to be 79-4, that’s literally incredible. We had a great pitcher behind us, we played awesome defense today. We hit pretty well, they made good plays. It’s awesome I have no other words.”
“As a team, we have great chemistry,” Doherty said. “We’re all best friends with each other, and we always brought that out onto the field, and we always know how to lift each other up. We just have a great atmosphere, and that really carries out in how we play.”
For Shearer, it’s all about playing for her fellow seniors.
“They’re my best friends,” she said. “Even though we didn’t have a freshman year – that’s when we met and got close. We bonded, we became best friends.
“I know it’s something so special to be this close with your teammates, and I really wanted to make the most of it, especially this season. It’s our last one together, we just played our last game together, I’m always playing for them.”
There’s no mistaking the bond they share.
“I love this team – that’s all I’ve got to say,” Sabocsik.
In a season where there was pressure to perform, Thursday’s game felt different.
“Just our energy going into the game – it was so fun loving, it wasn’t too stressed out,” Wilmot said. “We knew we loved each other, and we knew we wanted to lay it all out on the field. It was just a great time.”
It’s not a coincidence that the five seniors have been part of an unparalleled era.
“They’re amazing – one of the best classes, maybe the best class ever,” junior Gianna Cimino said.
Shearer goes out on top – Julia Shearer threw her final game for North Penn softball on Thursday, leaving behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. The University of Maryland bound senior notched win number 28 without a loss – throwing her 22nd shutout. She allowed just one run in the Knights’ four-game state run.
“When (the game) is on the line, there’s nobody better,” Torresani said. “I’ve never had a kid in 30 years or seen a kid in 30 years do what she’s done for this program. She’s the best player I’ve ever seen in the state and maybe nationally. She just does everything right. And she’s a really good leader. She leads these girls and gets them prepared. It’s easy for me as a coach because I know have those five seniors to do the job.
“To give up five earned runs in 28 games - Maryland is getting a great player. She ended her career the way she started it – just shutting everybody down. Just a beautiful job today by her.”
Shearer got stronger as Thursday’s game went on, striking out four of the five last batters she faced.
“They did hit the ball and we had to make some plays,” Torresani said. “That’s a good team, you have to give them credit. They put the bat on the ball, and they got some hits off her.
“What can I say? They didn’t score a run. That’s how many games? Twenty-two shutouts – that’s unbelievable. Before this game, there were 11 total chances in our outfield the whole season. What does that tell you – that she’s a dominant pitcher, sure it does.”
Shearer’s level of excellence is not lost on her teammates.
“She’s a true leader on the field,” Smink said. “We helped her today, and it felt good.”
Sokol on a tear – Casey Sokol very quietly and without fanfare had herself a remarkable state tournament. The Knights’ number eight hitter – the team’s designated player – was a perfect 3-for-3 in Thursday’s state title win.
Although she was not involved in the scoring, Sokol certainly did her part. In the third inning, she lined a one-out double to right field but was stranded on second. In the fifth inning, she led off the frame with a single to left field, and with the bases loaded and one out, Sokol was thrown out at home plate on a grounder to the pitcher. In the sixth inning and Orth on second, she lined a single to right field. Orth was thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw.
For the state tournament, Sokol was 9-for-12 (.750) with four RBIs and three runs scored.
“She’s been on fire,” Torresani said. “She deserves a lot of credit.”
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