SOL softball players were back on the diamond at Veterans Park in Quakertown on Tuesday.
QUAKERTOWN - Veterans Park – deserted this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic – was buzzing with activity Tuesday morning. It didn’t matter that it was yet another hot and humid July day. SOL softball players were back on the diamond, and making it even sweeter, they were reunited with their teammates.
“We’re out here at nine o’clock in the morning – there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now,” said recent Souderton grad Jess Lepore. “Just seeing everybody together – everybody is wearing masks, but it’s better to be together wearing masks than sitting in our houses doing nothing.
“It feels great. Honestly, the first scrimmage we got in this year was just a tease. After that, everything shut down, so it’s great to be back out here again.”
That was a prevailing sentiment at Tuesday’s opening day of a tournament that wasn’t sanctioned by the schools but rather put together independently with players individually assuming the costs incurred.
“Personally, I felt it was just a little bit of normalcy for the girls that had such a unique spring experience with school, with sports, with the state of the nation,” said Wendy Iadonisi, who coached the Rams’ squad. “You could tell the girls wanted to be close together even though we kept reminding them to be further apart.
“I just think it’s in their nature to want to be around other people and to participate in an activity that all of them enjoy or they wouldn’t have decided to do this. I think it was great. Part of it was to honor the seniors and to give them something where they really didn’t have an opportunity to have anything this spring, but I think the normalcy was the nicest thing to see - the smiling faces and the girls bonding with each other.”
Iadonisi wouldn’t get an argument from Victoria Moscariello.
“It felt great,” the recent Pennridge graduate said. “It was heartbreaking to lose my season, but when coach Wendy approached us about having a tournament later in the summer, I was so happy to play with my team because I never got the chance to this season.
“This is the first time I played softball this summer, so it felt great to be back on the field. I hadn’t really seen anyone except over Zoom and stuff like that, but it felt like nothing had ever happened honestly. We kicked right back into it. It was amazing.”
Each of the six teams played three games with a time limit of one hour and 20 minutes, and several were classics. The Panthers were down to their final batter, trailing the Indians 1-0 with two outs and time about to expire.
Halle Frederick made it a memorable final at-bat for the Panthers, smacking a solo home run and giving the Panthers an exhilarating 1-1 tie.
“She hit an absolute bomb – that was a good tie,” said David Scott, who coached the Panthers.
The Panthers also were locked in yet another classic battle with the Lansdale Knights. The Panthers went on top 1-0 in the top of the third. With two outs, Bri Lefkoski, who had the only two hits allowed by ace Mady Volpe in four strong innings, easily legged out a bunt single and scored an unearned run when the Knights committed a pair of miscues on a Morgan Thrush bunt.
In the top of the sixth, Abby Schwartz ripped a two-out double to right center and used a nifty slide to avoid the tag at home on Halle Frederick’s single to right field, spotting the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
The Knights didn’t go down quietly, staging a rally of their own in the bottom of the sixth with time about to expire. Rachel Lowry got things started with a one-out double to right center, and freshman Julia Shearer drove in a run and wound up on third after roping a hit to center.
A perfectly executed suicide squeeze by sophomore Lizzy Stark, who legged it out for a single, knotted the score. With the go-ahead run at second, Panther second baseman Sarah Stofik made a diving stop and throw to first for the game’s final out. It was her second diving play of the inning.
“I was most excited to play them out of all the teams because they’re our rivals,” Lefkoski said of the day’s final game. “I was prepared to see some good pitching and have them fight back. I thought it was really a good game – we played well, and they played well.”
“Mady Volpe is great competition,” Frederick added. “She’s definitely the best pitcher we see in the conference. Even if it’s 0-0, you feel the pressure because every pitch you have to really focus. You can’t relax at any time or they’ll score. You have to be on your toes.
“I knew it was going to be a tight game. It’s gone like that every year that we’ve played them. We’ve knocked them out before, and they’ve knocked us out of the playoffs. It’s always going one way, and the next thing you know it’s taken a turn. You can never let your guard down.”
Shearer, who struck out four in two innings of relief, earned the win for the Knights. Volpe struck out six in four strong innings.
“It was really exciting, and it was more exciting knowing it was the freshmen who did it,” recent North Penn graduate Victoria Juckniewitz said. “That’s really cool to know because it seemed they really wanted to try their hardest for themselves and us, and they’ll be here next year when everything is better hopefully.”
“It was so exciting,” North Penn graduate Amanda Greaney said. “I know I wasn’t producing in that game, and it was so cool to see when I wasn’t doing well my teammates had my back and they were there to pick me up and do what we had to do.”
The tournament was especially significant for the seniors.
“It was really nice to play with all the seniors and just get back into it,” Juckniewitz said. “It’s so different than any other softball we’d be playing. High school ball is a very different atmosphere – it’s a good one.”
“It’s amazing – I can’t even describe the feeling,” Greaney said. “My travel team – there’s not that chemistry we have here. Yes, we’re all talented and we all love to play there, but this is my family. I wish I could stay longer.”
Greaney particularly enjoyed working with her batterymate Volpe.
“It’s a great feeling,” the Lehigh University-bound catcher said. “We’ve gone through a lot together. We have such a connection, we work really well together.”
On the other side of the diamond, Lefkoski and Frederick were echoing a similar theme.
“It was really nice just to be able to be with everyone again for the last time and just have fun because we missed out on a really great season – we had high hopes for the season,” Frederick said.
“It was awesome,” Lefkoski said. “We didn’t get a season, and to be able to have this is really great. We really appreciate everyone who helped set this up.”
The Knights weren’t the only team to showcase some promising rookies.
“I thought our pitching staff did a really nice job today,” Iadonisi said. “Grace Helbling is a freshman, and she held the Knights to two runs (in a 2-0 loss). Another freshman, Anja Petukza, came in, and they didn’t score on her.
“Our third pitcher was Liv Foster, and they only gave up four runs all day. We had a total of seven freshmen that were with us today.”
The Knights had the best record on day one, finishing with a 2-0-1 mark. The teams – which include the Rock Indians and a second Knights' team - will return on Thursday.
“This is awesome,” said Rick Torresani, who coached the Knights. “For the seniors – telling them March 12 that we were probably going to be done. They thought it would be a two-week vacation, and when they realized it was probably over, they all started crying.
“With the younger kids we had coming in – the ninth graders specifically and sophomores, we knew we were going to have a really, really good team. What was most important – especially in Amanda’s and Victoria’s eyes – they wanted to play with these kids. They wanted to show what we could do, they wanted to show what North Penn softball is all about to let the younger kids know that it’s not just you show up and play, that there’s a lot to it. Never give up.”
“For the girls, this means a ton,” Scott said. “Just the opportunity to be on a field, especially for the seniors to be out there ending their careers on a field and not in quarantine. That’s really why we’re doing this. Results are secondary for sure.
“I told my guys - I didn’t care if they were 3-0 or 0-3 today. We were just all so happy to see them on a field together playing after getting the whole season washed out.”
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