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SELLERSVILLE – Brooke Gery’s blooper into shallow center field to open the second inning of Saturday’s SOL game against Pennridge had base hit written all over it, but Hatboro-Horsham’s Jenna Phillips had other ideas.
“I feel like I should have every ball, to be honest,” the senior centerfielder said.
So Phillips went after the pop fly as if her life depended on it and came up with an impossible sliding catch on her knees for the inning’s first out.
“That’s why you have a Division One goalie in centerfield,” coach Kelly Krier said of Phillips, who has accepted a field hockey scholarship to Drexel. “No balls are getting past her. That’s a lead-off double right there.”Phillips’ catch was only one out, and it was still very early in Saturday’s game against Pennridge, but it gave a glimpse of exactly how the game would unfold for both squads.
The Hatters used their hustle in the field and aggressiveness on the base paths to completely confound the Rams, manufacturing one run after another en route to a convincing 8-0 win that upped the Hatters’ league mark to 4-1.
“It’s really great,” Phillips said. “Everyone is so versatile and can play wherever needed. People are stepping up. We’re just really playing together.”
“It’s amazing,” teammate Chelsey Edwards added. “We want to keep the momentum going.
“We’re aggressive on the bases, and once one person gets on, we want to bring them around. We just all work together as a family, and it’s just fun.”
All but lost in the shuffle of the Hatters’ aggressive base running and standout defensive effort was the superb performance of pitcher Danielle DiFillipo. The sophomore hurler scattered just five singles and admits it’s a thrill to be on the mound for the defending state champs.“It’s a lot of fun, but there’s a lot of pressure too,” she said. “I’m glad that I’m pitching, and my teammates are behind me doing everything.
“We just all work as a family. We have good coaches, and everybody feels comfortable.”
Making the win especially impressive was how the Hatters did it. They did it without senior catcher and tri-captain Sara Dougherty (volleyball obligation), and then – with an already revamped lineup – survived the loss of shortstop and number three batter Julie Wambold, who injured her knee in a first-inning collision.
Despite all the changes and playing for most of the game with an infield comprised of all freshmen, the Hatters didn’t miss a beat, taking an early lead and never looking back.
“I’m so proud of them,” Phillips said. “A bunch of freshmen came in this year, and they’re just playing so well together. It’s really great to see.
“We’re all playing really well as a team.”If Phillips’ dazzling catch wasn’t enough to fire up the Hatters, the hustle of Wambold on the base paths in the first certainly was. Wambold grounded a two-out single up the middle, and when Edwards followed with a single to center, Wambold – on the delayed throw to the infield – scampered all the way home, giving the Hatters a 1-0 lead.
The play turned out to be a preview of things to come. When the Rams missed the cutoff, the Hatters capitalized. If they bobbled a throw or took too long to get the ball back to the pitcher, the Hatters took the extra base.
“They definitely took advantage of the extra bases,” Pennridge senior Kelsey Detweiler said. “It’s rough. People know what they’re supposed to be doing.
“They exposed every little detail of what we were doing wrong today. (This game) showed our flaws. It’s frustrating because we all know we can do it. We just have to execute.”
The Rams put their leadoff batter on board in the first when Alicia Detweiler – the only Ram to collect a pair of hits – singled up the middle. Lauren Wilson’s sacrifice bunt moved her to second.
But back-to-back groundouts brought an end to that threat.
“A team that one through nine can hit didn’t hit today in situations where we could have brought a little spark back to the team and gotten the team going in the right direction,” Ram coach Scott Didra said. “That didn’t happen today.”
With one out in the second, Pennridge’s Christine Reiss hit a bloop single over third, but she was gunned down by Edwards attempting to steal second in a play that saw Wambold injured in a collision. She was sidelined for the remainder of the game.
In the fourth, the Hatters plated a pair of runs with the benefit of just one hit. Edwards drew a leadoff walk and moved all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by Phillips.
“When Jenna laid down that sacrifice, she turned to Erika and said, ‘Did she get to three?’” Krier said. “She pumped her fist, jumped up. How many girls are excited when they’re thrown out at first?
“That’s senior leadership right there, and that’s what our team is about right now.”Edwards’ hustle paid immediate dividends, and she scored easily on Jackie DiPietro’s perfectly-executed suicide squeeze. Melissa Spinosa’s single to left plated DiPietro, and the Hatters led 3-0.
In the fifth, Edwards roped a triple to the fence in center, and she scored on a wild pitch. Several shaky defensive plays and a Maggie Shaffer RBI single allowed the Hatters to blow the game wide open with a four-run outburst in the seventh.
“When we’re doing well, it’s so much fun to play softball,” Edwards said.
The Hatters had a lot of fun at the Rams’ expense on Saturday, but according to Detweiler, the team will respond.
“We’re going to come back,” the senior tri-captain said. “We have four games next week – four opportunities to win. We’ll see what we can do.”
Extra innings: Edwards, who usually plays first base, went behind the plate in Dougherty’s absence. “I knew I had to step up,” she said. Edwards gunned down the only batter attempting to steal second, and she wasn’t concerned when Krier had to re-adjust an already adjusted lineup. “I have confidence in everyone,” Edwards said. “If one person gets hurt or something happens to someone, I know people will step up…The initial diagnosis on Wambold’s injury by the Pennridge trainer and doctor was that she had suffered a bruise. Freshman Maggie Shaffer filled Wambold’s spot in the lineup. She played first and contributed an RBI single.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 8, PENNRIDGE 0
Hatboro: Megan Kelly lf 4 0 1 0; Val Sadowl 2b,ss 3 1 0 0; Julie Wambold ss 1 1 1 0; Maggie Shaffer 1b 3 1 1 0; Chelsey Edwards 2 3 2 0, Jenna Phillips cf 3 0 0 0; Jackie DiPietro 1b,2b 2 1 0 1; Chrissy James 3b 3 0 1 0; Melissa Spinosa rf 3 0 1 1; Erin McEachern dp 2 1 0 0, Danielle DiFillipo p 1 0 0 0. TOTALS 27 0 7 3.
Pennridge: Alicia Detweiler 3b 4 0 2 0; Lauren Wilson cf 2 0 0 0; Kelsey Detweiler 3 0 1 0; Kate Wacyk c 2 0 0 0; Brooke Gery dp 2 0 0 0; Amber Viall ph 1 0 0 0; Christine Reiss lf 2 0 1 0; Emily Hofmann 1b 3 0 0 0; Jordan Villella rf 2 0 1 0; Erica Smale p 1 0 0 0; Samantha McDevitt ph 2 0 0 0; Sarah Denard 2b 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 24 0 5 0.
Hatboro 100 201 4-8
Pennridge 000 000 0-0
E-Pennridge 3, Hatboro 0. LOB- Hatboro 4, Pennridge 7. 3B-Chelsey Edwards. SB-Megan Kelly, Emily Hofmann. SAC-Lauren Wilson, Jenna Phillips, Jackie DiPietro.
IP H R ER BB SO
Hatboro
DiFilippo (W) 7 5 0 0 2 4
Pennridge
Smale (L) 7 7 8 4 3 5
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