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SHIPPENSBURG – Molly Hare bit back tears as she tried to put her team’s season-ending 2-1 loss to Shaler in Monday’s PIAA Class AAAA semifinal contest in perspective.
“It’s really hard,” Central Bucks South’s senior second baseman said. “It’s kind of mixed feelings.
“We had such a great season, and as a senior, I couldn’t have asked for a better season. It’s really heartbreaking to know we won’t be back here on Friday.”
‘Here,’ in this case, was Shippensburg University’s Robb Field – site of Friday’s state championship game, and making their absence from the state title contest especially heartbreaking was the fact that a win was within the Titans’ grasp.
But a South squad that always seemed to deliver the big hit or make the big defensive play could not come up with the play to propel their team over the top.
“We worked really hard. It just didn’t work out for us in the end,” Hare said. “We tried our best.”
South’s struggles began at the plate where it took them seven innings to solve the mystery of junior hurler Abby Nichter, who took a no-hitter into the seventh when the Titans staged their only rally of the game.
“I think what threw us off a little bit – she threw a lot on the outside corner, and it was really hard to adjust to that,” Hare said. “She probably got every one of us on an outside strike.
“It was something a little different than what we’re used to. Finally, in the seventh, we hit her a little bit.”
And it looked as though South might be able to pull a miracle out of its hat.
Hare broke up Nichter’s no-hit bid by lining a single to left to open the seventh.
“I knew coming off two strikeouts I really had to prove myself and come up big for the team,” she said. “They were counting on me leading off the seventh inning.
“I had to put my whole heart into it. There was nothing to hold back. I had to do my best. Luckily, I got a hit.”
“I said to Molly, ‘I just need you to be a leader,’” coach Jenn Robinson said. “That got the sparkplug ignited. That’s what we needed a couple of innings earlier.”
Freshman Haileigh Stocks followed and roped a double to the fence in deep center field that plated Hare, and just like that, the Titans were right back in the game.
“We knew (the outside pitch) was coming, and we were out in front of it, and we just popped it up,” Stocks said. “Once we waited on it and stayed back, we started getting some hits.
“We knew we were definitely not going to give up. That was the main thing we focused on. We were going to give everything we had. We were confident. With the season we had, we knew we could do anything.”
Things looked even more promising after Morgan Decker’s grounder to short was bobbled, putting the winning run on board.
South had runners on second and third with one out after Lauren Klepchick’s groundout, and only a base hit separated the Titans from a trip to the state title game.
But that base hit didn’t happen.
A foul popup and huge strikeout brought and end to the game and South’s season.
“It’s definitely hard – coming all this way,” Stocks said. “We did the best we could.”
Shaler won despite managing just one hit off the duo of Devon Utterback and Francesca Carrullo, but one shaky inning was all it took for the Shaler Titans to plate a pair of unearned runs.
The fateful inning was the fourth.
It began innocently enough when freshman Lauren Hackett collected a one-out bloop single over the infield. South caught a break when – on Holly Pefferman’s hit to center – courtesy runner Shelby Tabroski was holding on the play and was thrown out at second.
Britt Defazio was hit by a pitch to put a pair of two-out runners on board, and an error on Abby Nichter’s seemingly routine popup allowed Pefferman to scamper home. Pinch runner Candace Tabroski scored on a wild pitch, and Shaler led 2-0.
“Our defense is our strongest point,” Hare said. “When we didn’t come up with the perfect defense we had shown early in the game, it really hurt us in the end.
“There’s nothing we could really do about it except fight back.”
“It was that one inning,” Stocks said. “We played good defense all game.
“It’s the little things. We need to get more hits early so we don’t get down like that.”
The future is bright for a South squad that has just three seniors on its roster.
“It’s good to look forward to, but losing is losing,” Stocks said. “It still stinks. We know we came close. We just came up short.”
Seeing a special season end was not easy for anyone on South’s sidelines.
“I was a little choked up at the end,” Robinson said. “I’m obviously sad about finishing today, but at the same time, I have so much joy for the season we had.
“I just can’t speak to how proud I am of the team. It was such a privilege to coach the team this year. They’re fighters, and they will fight to the end and give everything they’ve got. They’re a quality group of softball players who want to win ballgames, and most of the time they do.”
The Titans closed out the season with a 22-3 mark.
“To get to this game is an experience that was so great and so wonderful,” Robinson said. “I’m so glad we had the experience this year as a team.
“It’s just tough we didn’t do it in the end. It’s a heartbreaker, especially to come back and fight like that and not be able to win.”
NOTES: Utterback, who absorbed the loss, fanned eight batters in four innings. She struck out the side in both the first and third innings. Carrullo retired all nine batters she faced.
SHALER 2, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1
Shaler: Gina Goss cf 3 0 0 0; Sam Moytoya 3b 3 0 0 0; Chelsea Siar ss 3 0 0 0; Lauren Hackett c 2 0 1 0; Shelby Tabroski cr 0 0 0 0; Holly Pefferman lf 2 1 0 0; Britt Defazio rf 2 0 0 0; Candance Tabroski pr 0 1 0 0; Abby Nichter p 3 0 0 0; Giebel cr 0 0 0 0; Jamie Roth 1b 2 0 0 0; Sydney Smyers ph 1 0 0 0; Jessie Vanucci 2b 1 0 0 0. TOTALS 22 2 1 0
Central Bucks West: Shana Steigerwalt lf 3 0 0 0; Molly Hare 2b 3 1 1 0; Haileigh Stocks dp 3 0 1 1; Morgan Decker 3b 3 0 0 0; McDonald pr 0 0 0 0; Lauren Klepchick c 3 0 0 0; Jae Epstein cr 0 0 0 0; Nicole rodi rf 3 0 0 0; Taylre Stocks 1b 3 0 0 0; Melanie Molnar ss 2 0 0 0; Devon Utterback p 1 0 0 0; Francesca Carrullo p 1 0 0 0; Tyler Vitelli cf 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 25 1 2 1.
Shaler 000 200 0-2
CB South 000 000 1-1
E-CB South 2, Shaler 3. DP-Shaler 1, CB South 1. LOB-Shaler 3, CB South 3. 2B-Haileigh Stocks. SB-Giebel. SAC-Pefferman.
IP H R ER BB SO
Shaler
Nichter (W) 7 2 1 1 0 8
Central Bucks South
Utterback (L) 4 1 2 0 2 8
Carrullo 3 0 0 0 0 1
WP-Utterback 1.
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