©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Springside softball’s wait for a league win is over
by TOM UTESCHER

Springside won a Girls Inter-Ac League softball game last Tuesday, and no one at the Chestnut Hill school was sure about the last time that had happened. Head coach Stephanie Mill knows that it hadn’t occurred during during her eight-year tenure with the team, so clearly the Lions’ 16-10 triumph over Baldwin School was long overdue.

Outhitting the visiting Bears, 21-15, Springside filled the plate with 11 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to achieve the victory, which brought the ballclub to the end of the Inter-Ac schedule with a record of 1-5, and got the Lions even overall, at 7-7-1. Eighth-grader Natalie Klotz went the distance on the mound, fanning one batter and yielding three walks, while freshman Devin McInerny went three-for-four at the plate with two RBI’s and three runs scored. Senior Marilyn McCullough and freshman Mary Trocky were each four-for-five in the game, with two RBI’s apiece.

In other league contests this season, the Lions lost in extra innings at Episcopal, and were tied with defending champ Penn Charter at the end of six innings before falling, 6-3. Contributions from several talented freshmen, as well as the even-younger Klotz, helped Springside start moving in a positive direction.

“I think they inspired the older girls to play better, too,” said Mill. “The ones who had been on the varsity weren’t intimidated by the younger players. They were all supportive of one another.”

The seniors on the squad are McCullough, the Lions’ shortstop, second baseman Rachel de Berardinis, pitcher/outfielder Delia Langan, and first baseman/outfielder Lua O’Brien.

“I was proud of the way they finished up in the league,” Mill said of her upperclassmen, “because they all made big plays against Baldwin, either hitting or in the field.”

Four innings into the game, Baldwin held a 4-2 lead over Springside, which got its two runs home on RBI singles by deBerardinis and sophomore Jackie Bergey. In the fifth, the Lions went ahead, 5-4, as Langan tripled in a pair of runs and then scored herself on Bergey’s sacrifice fly. The lead vanished quickly, thanks to five Baldwin runs in the top of the sixth.

Now down 9-5, the locals had the bottom of the order coming up in the home half of the frame, but they got a boost when the first two batters were hit by pitches. A bunt by freshman Ali Aversa loaded the bases, setting up a two-run double by McInerney. An error and a fielder’s choice force-out at third followed, and the Lions got one run home on each of these plays, tying the contest at 9-9.

Bergey doubled in a run and went to third on a hit by junior Emily Bilger, then the runners stayed put at first and third as Baldwin bagged the second out of the inning. O’Brien singled to centerfield to make it 11-9, and after deBerardinis drew a walk to load ’em up, Aversa rang up a two-run single.

The bases filled up again when McInerney waited out a walk, and two runners scored when McMullough singled to left center for a 15-9 Lions lead. Trocky singled in the last Springside run, then the Bears finally got out of the inning with a force-out at third.

After the first two batters grounded out at the top of the seventh, Springside let in one run for Baldwin, then the game ended when a fly ball fell into O’Brien’s glove in left field.