Sophomore Maddie Solow started in the circle for Penn Charter. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Oftentimes, a sign of a veteran softball batter is knowing when not to swing. Going into the bottom of the seventh tied 2-2 with visiting Penn Charter last Thursday, the Blue Devils of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy were prudent and patient at the plate, waiting out four walks.

The last of them came with bases loaded, pushing home the winning run and tying SCH with the Quakers in the Inter-Ac League loss column. This was the first contest in the home/away league series between the defending Inter-Ac champion Blue Devils and defending Pa. Independent Schools titlist PC.

Wet field conditions had caused the postponement of a meeting between the teams that had been scheduled for early April. PC had started out the Inter-Ac with a 4-2 victory over another strong league franchise, the Academy of Notre Dame. SCH’s first encounter with Notre Dame resulted in a 2-1 road loss on April 20, but last Tuesday the Blue Devils knocked off the Irish, 2-0. They entered Thursday’s game with a 4-1 mark in the league, while Charter was 5-0.

“We knew we needed to win this game to get back even with Penn Charter in the league,” SCH head coach Stephanie Mill said. “I think we went into it with confidence, and we were mentally ready to play. I was telling them the last couple of innings to lay off of the high pitches, and in the end they did that and were able to win the game.”

“There’s not much to say,” PC mentor Doc Mittica remarked afterwards. “They’re a solid, good-hitting team.”

In the top of the seventh, PC had a runner on second with one out, and the Quakers got a second player on base when a walk followed the second out of the inning.

“I thought somewhere in there we were going to come up with a hit and get a run home, but it didn’t happen,” the Charter skipper said.

Neither side was at full strength for the game, with SCH missing junior shortstop Mo’ne Davis, and with PC playing without senior right fielder Ciara McGee.

Before she threw her first pitch, PC sophomore starter Maddie Solow got the Quakers going on offense by leading off with a double down the line in left. After a fly to center by freshman Neilee Koslosky moved the runner to third, the visitors scored on senior Grace Stansfield’s single to left field. SCH then quickly finished the top half with a strike out and a tag at second on a runner trying to advance from first on the same play.

Charter got two outs against the Blue Devils right away in the bottom half, but then a grounder off the bat of sophomore Katie Reagan struck the front of the actual bag at third base, bouncing unpredictably up in the air for a hit. After she moved to second on a wild pitch, Reagan scored the tying run when junior Colebe Oliver drove the ball through the right side of the infield.

SCH senior Rachel Kazlauskas decides to lay off this pitch. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

In the home half of the second Springside Chestnut Hill received singles from sophomores Erin Fennessy and Kylie Woloshyn, but the Blue Devils left two runners on base.

In the third frame, the Quakers went ahead again by one run, then SCH leveled the scoreboard once more on the flip side of the inning. Charter got a solo from Solow, who slammed a home run over the fence in left field to make it 2-1.

In the home half, senior Rachel Kazlauskas started the Blue Devils off with a double to left centerfield. After a fly ball was caught for an out in the same part of the pasture, Charter withdrew Solow (0K, 0BB, 5H) and sent her sophomore classmate Anastasia Lewis (5K, 4BB, 2H) into the pitching circle to face the home team’s clean-up hitter, Oliver.

The powerful SCH junior still did some damage with an RBI single just to the left of second base, but although they tied the contest, 2-2, the Devils ended up leaving two runners stranded. The last out came when PC catcher Stansfield, a Rider University signee, gunned the ball to first base to catch an SCH pinch runner off the bag.

As round four got underway, junior Abby Mannion’s lead-off single was followed by three consecutive outs, then in the bottom of the fourth and the top of the fifth, each team’s batters went down one-two-three. With one out in the last of the fifth, a walk drawn by Kazlauskas was followed by a fielding error on a ball hit by Reagan, but once more SCH would end up leaving a pair of runners on base.

For the start of the fifth inning, SCH’s starting pitcher, senior Kayla McTamney (2K, 2BB, 4H), turned over the circle to her sophomore colleague, Woloshyn (2K, 1BB, 1H). When this switch had been made at the same point in the previous Friday’s game at Notre Dame, the Irish were able to go ahead, but Coach Mill noted that’s not typical.

“That was a cold day, and it was tough to come in straight off the bench,” she pointed out. “Normally, Kylie is pretty effective when she comes in.”

In the top of the sixth inning, as in the fifth, Woloshyn and the SCH defense got the Quakers out in order. Blue Devils sophomore Becca Arnold singled with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but a third out followed right away. One effect that her hit did have was that it brought around the top of the SCH batting order for the home half of the seventh.

First, the Devils needed to hold Penn Charter.

The Quakers’ number six hitter, senior Chloe Master, led off with a single up the middle. She reached second on a bunt by senior Ava Nicolucci, who was tagged out in the baseline by Springside Chestnut Hill’s first baseman, Reagan.

On a pop behind short, it looked like the Blue Devils’ McTamney might have gotten turned around the wrong way as she went back for the ball, but she made the catch. Another PC senior, Celena Militello, drew a walk to give the visitors a second baserunner, then a fly to centerfield retired the side with the score still 2-2.

SCH lead-off hitter Steph DeAngelis, a junior, waited out a walk to start the bottom of the seventh. When Kazlauskas put the ball in play, PC failed to secure a force-out at second, but DeAngelis tried for a base too far, and was nailed at third. Kazlauskas did reach second at the same time, though.

Reagan then walked on, and when a wild pitch thrown to SCH’s Oliver allowed the runners to advance to third and second, Penn Charter had a little conference in the circle. Coach Mittica decided to leave Lewis in.

“She’s tough to hit when she’s on,” he pointed out. “Most times when she gets in a little trouble she finds her way back, but this time it didn’t work out.”

Oliver walked to load the bases, and then McTamney got ahead 3-0 in the count. The next pitch was up out of the strike zone, pushing home the winning run for the Blue Devils.