Neshaminy's dream of a state title ended in a 4-3 loss in 12 innings to Canon-McMillan on Friday at Penn State University. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Mary Jane Souder
UNIVERSITY PARK - Lauren Quense and Alayna Astuto gave new meaning to the oft-used phrase ‘pitcher’s duel’ in Friday’s PIAA Class AAAA title game pitting Neshaminy against Canon-McM
illan at Penn State University’s Beard Field.
For nine innings, the two senior standouts were all but untouchable. Astuto took a no-hitter into the 10th while Quense scattered three singles. The two teams might still be playing if the international tiebreaker had not gone into effect in the 10th inning.
Both teams scored single runs in the 10th and 11th innings. In the 12th, the Big Macs scored a pair and the Redskins plated just one, allowing Canon McMillan to escape with a 4-3 win in a state title game for the ages.
“Initially, it’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be tough, and I’m sure everybody’s going to be upset,” coach Dave Chichilitti said. “But I think after a week or two, they’ll be able to look back and see the memories we made and the experiences we had today were awesome, but it just stinks to not take that extra step.
“It motivates the girls that were here to come back and be able to do this again. I know I sure want to do it again.”
How good was this title game?
Consider only that neither team committed an error in 12 riveting innings. Both pitchers took shutouts into the 10th inning when the international tiebreaker went into effect. The two pitchers combined for 27 strikeouts on a day that saw the teams combine for just 10 hits in 12 innings. Each team managed just five hits, and Astuto, who closed out the season with a 25-0 record, fanned 18.
"I think as a whole we were too over eager," Diana LaPalombara said. "I think we needed to see more pitches and take advantage of what she was throwing as strikes. We just didn't do it early enough in the game."
On most days, Quense would have walked away a winner with her nearly flawless performance, but this was not most days. The Big Macs simply refused to be denied.
“We saw some video tape footage of Lauren (Quense) on YouTube,” Canon Mac coach Michele Moeller said. “I had heard from the teams we were playing that she was going to be tough. She had good movement and good speed.
“At the beginning of our season every year, we go down south to North Carolina and we play Alexandria Central, which is a perennial state champion. We don’t beat them – we got seven hits this time, but we like to get the challenge.
“In our section last year, there were two Division One pitchers, so I knew our hitters would be ready, but it would be a battle and wouldn’t be a high scoring game. I knew she was talented, without a doubt.”
In the 12th inning, Moeller made a coaching decision that altered the course of the game, opting to go with her longtime assistant coach’s call and allow freshman Linda Rush to swing away to lead off the top 
of the 12th with a runner on second.
“He told (Rush), ‘You’re going to show bunt, pull back, and you’re going to hit the next ball. You’re due,’” Moeller said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Are you all right with that?’ I said, ‘Yes, she is due. I’m all right with it.’
“I walked over to first and thought for a minute. I looked over at him and said, ‘I’m not sure if I’m okay with it.’ After she showed bunt and pulled back and it was a ball, I looked at him and went, ‘I’m okay with it. Take it off. She can hit.’ He totally made the call, and boy, did she pop that ball.”
The freshman shortstop ‘popped the ball’ over the center field fence for a two-run home run that gave the Big Macs a 4-2 lead.
The Redskins didn’t go down quietly. With one out and a runner on second in their half of the 12th, junior Jen Walker roped a shot off the fence in left field, plating a run.
“How close was that one?” Chichilitti said. “Sometimes you don’t get the bounces. What are you going to do?”
With the tying run in scoring position, Astuto came up with a huge strikeout and then closed it out with a foul pop to short, bringing an end to the Redskins’ dream of winning a state crown.
“We had chances at the end to get the key hit, and we just didn’t get the job done,” Chichilitti said. “That was the story of the game. You tip your hat to their pitcher.
“She pitched a great game. She moved the ball around. We didn’t start to get on her until the end. My pitcher was just as tough. It was a well-played game all around.”
Earlier, the Redskins broke up Astuto’s no-hit bid in the 10th when – with one out and a runner on second – Walker singled down the left field line for her first of two hits on the day.
“She was just slower than what we were used to,” Walker said. “We’re all fast pitcher hitters, and we just couldn’t get the hits down.
“All of us were confident. We weren’t giving up. There was no way we were giving up. We fought to the end.”
Senior Selina Alicea followed with an RBI single to left. The Redskins had the winning run on third, but an out at home on a bunt was followed by a strikeout to end that threat. In the 11th after the Big Macs had scored a run without a hit, Quense delivered a bloop double to left that plated the tying run with one out. Again, Astuto came up with the big outs, collecting a strikeout and popout to end that threat.
"I felt like we got too over eager," senior Julia McGovern said. "We wanted it so 
bad, and we weren't in our normal hitting zone. It was just frustrating because we can hit, and it just didn't show."
"We should have adjusted," Quense added. "That's all you really can say. We should have hit her. We had to adjust, and we didn't, so kudos to her."
One hundred sixty-seven teams in Pennsylvania started the season in March. Only eight were playing on Friday. By any standard, finishing second was a remarkable accomplishment, and while winning gold might have been nicer, the ending would have been difficult to swallow no matter what the outcome.
"I will never play with this group of girls again," McGovern said. "That's probably the hardest thing.
"It's bigger than a trophy, it's bigger than everything. It's playing for your team. I'm going to a whole new team next year, and it's going to be weird. I'm going to miss these girls more than anything. I probably would have felt the same way even if we did win. It's the fact that I won't play with them ever again."
"It feels like tomorrow we're going to have practice," LaPalombara said. "It feels like the next day we'll have practice for a game, but this is the last game, and it's hard to swallow that, being a senior.
"I'm never going to get to say 'Skins' or say that I'm a Redskin. It's 'I was a Redskin,' 
and it sucks. To come all this way and the way that we went out, we didn't just fold. We battled until our hearts couldn't do it anymore."
The Redskins close out a memorable season with a 23-3 record, a National Conference title and runner-up finishes in both the district and state tournaments.
"It's better than the ending last year," Quense said. "It really hasn't hit me yet (that this is our last game). These girls are awesome girls. I'm sure it will hit me later like a brick wall. We'll probably still hang out every day."
McGovern echoed those sentiments.
"I'm not going to be playing with this group of girls again," the senior catcher said. "That's probably the hardest thing.”
As difficult as it will be for the seniors to leave, it was equally difficult for the underclassmen to see the seniors leave.
“They’re great,” Walker said. “It’s hard talking about it because I love all my girls.
“It’s hard, but we made it this far. We had nothing to lose. We gave it our all. I love my team. I’ll never forget any of them.”
Canon McMillan 000 000 000 112 4-5-0
Neshaminy 000 000 000 111 3-5-0
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