The North Penn and Pennsbury softball teams earned wins in Thursday’s PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal round. To view photos of the North Penn/Central Bucks East game, please visit the Photo Gallery. To view video highlights by video journalist Jen Wielgus, please click on the following PhillyBurbs.com link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/north-penn-reaches-state-softball-semis-will-face-neshaminy/html_18f9303f-9dfb-5efb-9b78-eb4cc0e605e3.html
[1-4] NORTH PENN 11, [1-1] CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
Six days undoubtedly feels like a lifetime ago to players from both North Penn and Central Bucks East.
Last week this time, the Patriots were celebrating winning a district championship while the Maidens were licking their wounds after losing back-to-back games to finish fourth in district play.
On Thursday, the Maidens turned the tables, ousting the Patriots from the state tournament with their no-doubt-about-it win.
“I think the playoffs brings a whole different atmosphere, and we just get so excited for these games,” sophomore Jackie Bilotti said. “The fields we play at are awesome.
“We come out hitting, and that’s pretty much the key. We get clutch hits.”
The Maidens also have been receiving clutch performances from their sophomore pitcher. Bilotti limited a hard-hitting East lineup to just three hits in seven shutout innings. She fanned just one and walked three.
“She was hitting her spots,” sophomore catcher Becky Christoffers said. “She just came out ready to play.”
The loss avenged a pair of regular season losses at the hands of the Patriots.
“It’s the third time playing them, and we know their batters,” Bilotti said. “We know what they’re capable of and basically just try to get them to hit ground balls and rely on the defense, and they did their jobs.”
While the Maidens played flawless defense behind Bilotti, the usually sure-handed Patriots committed four errors, resulting in six unearned runs.
“The wheels fell off the bus today,” said assistant coach John Hasson, who was filling in for coach Erin Scott who was out of the country (wedding). “We couldn’t stop it.”
All told, the Maidens pounded out 11 hits off a trio of East hurlers. Erin Maher (double, two RBIs), Michelle Holweger (two doubles, two RBIs), Meghan Curley (RBI) and Christoffers led the Maidens with two hits each.
“I think we just came into this game mentally prepared,” Maher said. “Those last two losses to them kind of fueled the fire.
“We have a lot of respect for them, but at the same time, we really wanted to get the job done.”
Three days after winning their game against Northampton with just one hit (1-0), the Maidens were operating on all cylinders offensively.
“It kind of shows we’re a pretty versatile team,” Maher said. “We can do it with our defense, and we can do it with Jackie. She’s pitching unbelievably awesome, and we have a lot of confidence in her.
“We’re pretty comfortable on defense right now. I was joking with the outfielders that we want to make everything flawless. That’s our goal, and we were able to do that today.”
Coach Rick Torresani pointed to his team’s 14-3 win over Central Bucks South in a second round district game as the turning point.
“I think they realized, ‘Hey, we can hit the ball if we all come together,’” he said. “Then we went through that string of three games where we didn’t hit. It was a great softball game against Northampton that we won, and then they came out today and said, ‘You know what, we want to show everybody.’”
In the third inning, the Maidens staged a one-out rally that began when designated player Morgan Wiernusz was safe on an error. Christoffers followed with a bloop single over third, and Maher followed by roping an RBI double to deep left. Bilotti’s RBI single plated Christoffers, and when Vicky Tumasz lofted a sacrifice fly to center, the Maidens led 3-0.
“When a team makes errors, you’ve got to capitalize,” Holweger said. “We knew what their pitchers threw.
“We’d never faced their first pitcher (Theresa Haug), but I heard she was slower. You just had to keep your weight back.”
In the fourth inning, Christoffers led off with a single to left, and when Maher’s bunt was misplayed, the Maidens had a pair on board. Another error – this one on Bilotti’s grounder to short – brought a run across, and one out later, Holweger ripped a two-run double to right center.
“We work a lot on our hitting,” Christoffers said. “If you don’t hit, you can’t really win.”
Meghan Curley followed and lined a single to center, and the Maidens led 7-0 after Melissa Fasick laid down a perfectly-executed suicide squeeze bunt.
“I tried changing pitchers, and that seemed to work for a little bit,” Hasson said. “The errors hurt, and although they hit the ball well - in that third inning, they had a couple of hits that fell in. We got gloves on them but couldn’t stop the bleeding.
“It just happened to be a bad day. It was a great season. They gave their all and battled to the very end.”
For good measure, the Maidens tacked on four runs in the seventh. Highlights of the inning included singles by Tumasz, Curley (RBI) and Maher (RBI) and doubles from Holweger and Fasick (two RBIs).
“This is unbelievable,” Holweger said. “I have no words.
“I knew we could do it. I knew we could beat this team.
The Maidens, according to Maher, are peaking at just the right time.
“Every day at practice we’re just growing a little more,” she said. “Even though it’s so late in the season, we’re still getting better and better each day.
“I think we just really capitalized on their mistakes today.”
On the other side of the field, the Patriots (19-5, 10-4 SOL) were left to deal with the realization that a special season had ended.
“Sometimes it’s just not your day, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” senior captain Julia Schoenewald said. “We have to go out (as seniors), but this season was a great way to end it. I couldn’t ask for anything better.
“I love my team. We had a good run.”
The Maidens (18-9, 7-7) will face Neshaminy in a state semifinal game on Monday.
[1-3] PENNSBURY 14, [3-3] CUMBERLAND VALLEY 3 (6 innings)
Three days after their impressive 13-1 win over District 3 champion Central Dauphin, the Falcons struggled out of the gate against District 3’s third place squad on Thursday, spotting the Eagles a 3-0 in the first. All three runs were unearned.
“As well as we played the other day, we played a little nervous in the first inning and had a couple of errors,” coach Frank McSherry said. “We gave them three unearned runs, but they came out swinging the bat.
Senior Christina Bascara acknowledged that it was not the best of starts.
“It’s definitely tough falling behind early in the game like that,” she said. “We know the last thing we should be doing is deflating.
“We kept our heads up, we stayed composed the whole time, and we were able to turn it around.”
The Falcons began crawling back in the game with single runs in the third and fourth innings, and in the fifth inning, they sent three runs across to take a lead they would not lose. Senior Suzanne Swanicke delivered the inning’s big blow – a two run double to put the Falcons on top 5-3.
If there was any doubt about the outcome, those doubts were put to rest in a sixth inning that saw the Falcons send 13 batters to the plate. They scored nine runs. Senior Christina Bascara accounted for four of those runs with an inside-the-park grand slam to deep left field.
“They gave us great competition, a great game the whole way through,” Bascara said. “We knew every time they came up they were bringing the bats.
“We struggled for a while. Their pitcher was throwing really well, but after a while, we found our discipline and we found the holes.”
Bascara led the Falcons with a near-perfect 4-for-5 day at the plate with three runs scored and five RBIs. Jess Greenwald added three hits while Mackenzie Obert, Taylor Boltersdorf and Michelle George each added two hits on a day that saw everyone in the lineup collect a hit. All told, the Falcons had 17 hits.
“The kids have really been swinging the bats,” McSherry said. “But who knows – there’s probably some pitcher out there than can shut anybody down. We know (Lauren) Quense is one of them. We don’t know about (the schools in western Pennsylvania).”
Val Buehler earned the win on the mound, allowing seven hits – all singles – and striking out one.
“They came out swinging the bats, no doubt about it,” McSherry said of the Eagles. “They put the bat on the ball.”
Just one win separates the Falcons (21-4, 12-2) from a return trip to the state title game. Pennsbury will face the winner of Friday’s Canon-McMillan/North Allegheny game in Monday’s semifinal round.
“It’s very exciting,” Bascara said. “Especially this team – we have been together for so long. It’s been a great season, and without a doubt, we could be nothing but excited.”
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