To view game action photos, please visit the photo gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
TOWAMENCIN – In the midst of the crowd that had assembled on the infield after Hatboro-Horsham’s dramatic 8-5 win over Pennsbury in Thursday’s District One AAAA title game, Danielle DiFilippo sought out her father and gave him a hug.
“Great job,” coach Joe DiFilippo told his daughter. “Great job. Great job.”
Those two words were more than enough.
The Hatters – a team of few words – had just captured their school’s first ever district softball title. It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the Hatters did enough things right to defeat the district’s top-seeded Falcons.
“It doesn’t matter who brings what to the field,” senior Julie Wambold said. “The only thing that matters is what you do when you cross the white lines.”
What the Hatters had done between the white lines in their previous three postseason games bordered on perfection. Pitcher Maggie Shaffer had not allowed an earned run in a stretch that saw the Hatters outscore their opponents 15-1. Things didn’t come quite as easily against the Falcons, but the Hatters displayed the firm resolve of the champions they are.
“I think we just wanted it so bad,” senior Melissa Spinosa said. “We believe in ourselves, and we put everything together.”
“I know we also had confidence in one another,” Danielle DiFillipo added. “We never gave up on each other.”
It looked as though the Falcons – after appearing down for the count for the first four innings – had all the momentum in the world after exploding for four unearned runs in the sixth inning to knot the score 5-5.
Senior leadoff batter D’Anna Devine got things started with a bunt single, and she moved up to second on Jess Greenewald’s sacrifice bunt. Suzanne Swanicke followed with an infield single in the shortstop hole, and it looked as though the Hatters might get out of the inning with their 5-1 lead in tact when leftfielder Kelsey Koelzer came up with a superb running catch of Christina Bascara’s softball fly ball just over the infield for the second out.
Kelsi Bunda followed and drew a walk to load the bases, and a slight bobble on Mackenzie Obert’s sharp grounder kept the inning alive and sent Devine home to make it a 5-2 game. That brought Savanna Grantham to the plate, and the senior rightfielder – playing with a partially torn ACL – ripped a bases-clearing double into the left center field gap. Just like that, it was a 5-5 game.
“I was frustrated with myself,” Grantham said. “The whole game was about adjustments. We had to adjust to the pitcher, adjust to everything.”
Both pitchers worked a one-two-three seventh, but in the top of the eighth, the Hatters scored three runs.
Shaffer led off the inning with a double to left center. If she was affected by the fact that the Falcons had plated five unearned runs to knot the score, she certainly didn’t let it show.
“When bad things happen – like errors and stuff, we just try to completely forget about it and just move on to the next play,” she said.
“We have been in this situation before,” Wambold added. “We all know what to do when we get down – we pick each other up and get hyped. That’s what we have to do.”
The Hatters scored the go-ahead run on a pickoff throw that deflected off courtesy runner Maria Spinosa into the outfield. Heather Lutz followed with a double to right center, and one out later, Melissa Spinosa drew a walk. Another costly Falcon error allowed two more runs to cross the plate. All three runs in the inning were unearned.
“We made a lot of mental errors,” Grantham said. “After we came back, it was a great feeling, and then to make two errors in the (eighth) inning – we deflated, and we felt bad for ourselves.”
“It’s one of those things – Murphy’s Law,” Pennsbury coach Frank McSherry said. “Anything that could go wrong went wrong.
“We certainly picked a bad time to play our worst game.”
The Falcons certainly made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Swanicke was safe on an error to lead off the inning, but Shaffer came up with a huge strikeout for the first out of the frame. Kelsi Bunda followed with her second hit of the day, a single to left, and when Mackenzie Obert drew a walk, the Falcons had the bases loaded with one out.
Shortstop Val Sadowl made a superb running catch going away of a pop fly by Grantham for the inning’s second out. Shaffer retired the next batter she faced on a sharp grounder to the mound for the game’s final out. The Hatters’ unflappable pitcher exhaled and then allowed herself a smile as batterymate Julie Wambold dashed to the mound.
The celebration was about to begin.
“That’s just a great group,” Hatter coach Joe DiFilippo said of his squad. “They don’t give up. Nothing fazes them. They just play the game. The best part about this is – I came in, and I didn’t know what it was going to be like putting all these kids together. You know what – they just jelled, and hopefully, it’s not over.
“Pennsbury is a good team. I was still a little worried when it was 5-0. When we had second and third with one out (in the fifth), I told the girls we’d need six or seven runs to win this game.”
The Hatters needed six, and they got eight. It was more than enough to capture the coveted district crown.
“We had a chance, but they were a tough team,” Grantham said. “I give them a lot of credit. They came out here, and they battled. They played with a lot of intensity, and we couldn’t match it.”
From the outset, things were going the Hatters’ way. They got a run in the first when Melissa Spinosa – who had a pair of hits – singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
“I think it just helped get our team going and got everybody’s confidence level up,” Spinosa said of getting on the scoreboard first.
In the second, Shaffer drew a leadoff walk. Her courtesy runner – Maria Spinosa – scored the game’s second run on an errant throw, averting disaster on a failed suicide squeeze attempt.
“I have kids off the bench who I can put in to run at any time – they’re in the game all the time,” DiFilippo said. “Maria Spinosa did an unbelievable job of base running. She almost got caught in the suicide squeeze, and she knew what to do.”
With Shaffer – who retired 12 of the first 13 batters she faced – coasting on the mound, that 2-0 lead looked like more than enough, but for good measure, the Hatters tacked on three runs in the fifth. They needed every one of them.
Chrissy James was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Wambold followed by ripping her second home run in as many games – this one over the left center field fence to put the Hatters on top 4-0.
“My first two at-bats, I was really annoyed,” said Wambold, who was 0-for-2 before her round tripper. “I was really frustrated when I went up to bat because all I was thinking about were those two pitches I swung at – they weren’t Julie Wambold’s pitches.
“When I hit it, I was just really shooting for the stars.”
The Hatters – who found a way to reach the stars - weren’t finish yet. DiFilippo reached first on an error and later beat the throw to the plate on Shaffer’s grounder to second.
The Falcons got on the scoreboard in the fifth when Obert – who blooped a one-out single to left – raced all the way home from second on a two-out error on a pop fly by Taylor Bidlingmaier in front of the plate. That set the stage for the you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it finish that saw the two teams combine for seven runs over the next two innings.
“We gave them every run except for that home run,” McSherry said. “The only thing we said after the game was – ‘We could tell you what you didn’t do well and what you should have done, but we’re not going to do that. You know. Forget about it. It’s over. We start a new season on Monday. Let’s forget about this game.’ This wasn’t us.”
The game was uncharacteristic for both squads, but two players who never faltered despite the circumstances were Pennsbury’s Val Buehler and Shaffer. Buehler – victimized by four Falcon errors - fanned eight while allowing seven hits.
“It was a shame for Val,” McSherry said. “She pitched well.”
Shaffer, who fanned 11, walked three and scattered six hits, was equally unfazed by the fact that her teammates committed three errors that resulted in five unearned runs.
“I just try to not let anything get to me because then everything gets out of whack,” she said. “I have to focus on every pitch and get that done first. Then you can worry about everything else.”
Both teams return to action on Monday when the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament begins. The Hatters will play the third place team from District 3 while the Falcons will take on District 12’s second place team.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 8, PENNSBURY 5
Hatboro-Horsham 110 030 03 7-8-3
Pennsbury 000 014 00 5-7-4
WP-Maggie Shaffer (8 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs, 0 earned runs, 11 Ks, 3 BB)
LP-Val Buehler (8 IP, 7 hits, 8 runs, 3 earned runs, 8 Ks, 5 BB)
Multiple hits: Hatboro – Melissa Spinosa (2-for-4). Pennsbury – Kelsi Bunda (2-for-2)
Extra-base hits: 2B-Melissa Spinosa, Maggie Shaffer, Heather Lutz, Savanna Grantham, Kelsi Bunda. HR-Julie Wambold.
- Log in to post comments
0
