William Tennent 9, Harry S. Truman 7
Ashley and Nikki Alden are William Tennent’s version of ‘Sister Act.’
By any name, the siblings strike terror in the hearts of opponents.
So feared is Ashley – a senior bound for Rutgers on a softball scholarship – that she already has been the recipient of 16 intentional walks this season with plenty more still to come.
Nikki is her freshman bookend, the younger sister whose powerful swing all but guarantees three more years of torture for opposing coaches when Ashley is gone.
Twenty four hours after both had homered in Tennent’s 9-7 loss to Council Rock North, the siblings were once again making their presence felt against the Tigers on Wednesday.
Truman coach Gretchen Cammiso opted to give Ashley a chance to hit in her first at-bat. She immediately regretted the decision as Ashley hit a triple and scored a run.
It seemed of little consequence when the Tigers responded with six unanswered runs, but the game was far from over.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Ashley – who already been walked intentionally in the third inning - stepped to the plate with the Tigers clinging to a 6-3 lead.
“I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to get a hit. They’re going to pitch to me,’” she said.
That turned out to be wishful thinking.
Alden was intentionally walked on four straight pitches, forcing in a run to make it a 6-4 game.
“I will intentionally walk her every day with the bases loaded,” Cammiso said. “Otherwise, she will clear them.”
The plan might have worked if the Tigers could have figured out a way to retire Melissa Simpson, whose slap hit to the left side plated a run and made it a 6-5 game, bringing Nikki to the plate with the bases still loaded.
Nikki now had the opportunity her older sister did not have.
“I know she’s really mad,” Nikki said of Ashley. “And it actually does make me mad too when I see the first pitch way outside, and I know they’re going to intentionally walk her.
“It makes me angry, so then I want to try to hit it. I feel like I have to do my job and hit the ball wherever I can to score a run.”
Nikki fouled off the first pitch she saw and then took two pitches out of the strike zone. The 2-1 pitch was the payoff pitch as the freshman slugger ripped a monster blast over the head of Truman’s centerfielder who already was playing so deep it seemed impossible anything could get beyond her.
“I just felt it off the bat, and I saw it in the air,” Nikki said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll keep running.’”
And run she did. Nikki crossed home plate without a play for a dramatic grand slam that put the Panthers on top 9-6.
“Once they walk me and I’m sitting on second base after Melissa had that single – I have confidence in her,” Ashley said of Nikki. “I know how she can play. I know how she can hit. I didn’t realize that was going to be as clutch as it was.”
The Tigers didn’t go down quietly.
In the top of the seventh, Truman’s Nicole King roped a one-out triple to left and then scored on Tiffany Koenig’s single over the infield. It looked like things might get real interesting when Danielle Jones ripped a shot to left that had extra bases written all over it only to watch Simpson haul it in as she fell to the ground for the inning’s second out.
Winning pitcher Nicole Meleta – who tossed the final three innings - retired the next batter she faced to seal the win for the Panthers.
“We have had heartbreaks ourselves,” Tennent coach Gary Bizacquino said. “We have been battling all season. Our negative has been we have found ourselves in an early hole. Every game we’ve come back, but today was the icing on the cake.
“We finally got it all together. Ashley got walked, and I always say – when they’re going to walk her, you have to make the other teams pay, and today we did. Nikki had the same exact hit against Council Rock North for a home run.”
The sisters – who credit their father, Scott Alden, for their sweet swings – feed off of each other.
“There’s competition there, and it’s good competition,” Bizacquino said. “It’s not like, ‘I’m better than her,’ or ‘She’s better than me.’
“Ashley is happy to have her sister on the same team. This is the first time they’re playing together, and the results are unbelievable.”
On the other side of the diamond, Cammiso was disappointed to see what appeared to be a sure win slip away.
“They’re a good hitting team. I’m not taking anything away from them,” she said of Tennent. “They were down 6-1 late in the game, but he (the home plate umpire) took control away from our pitcher. I don’t take anything away from them – they battled.
“We knew what Tennent was capable of – we knew they were a wild card. We scored six early on, and then we kind of fell flat. It was our fault for not attacking, but I just hate when the outcome of the game factors in things other than the girls who play between the lines.”
While Tennent improved to 3-5 in league play, the Tigers fell to 4-4.
“This was a must-win for us,” Cammiso said. “In order to now make playoffs, we need to steal one from a team like Neshaminy or Pennsbury.”
NOTES: Tiffany Koenig had a multi-hit day for the Tigers while Kirsten Dougherty led Tennent with a perfect 3-for-3 effort at the plate…While Meleta earned the win, freshman Caitlyn Brasier absorbed the loss.
Souderton at Central Bucks South (postponed)
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