Late runs push SCH girls past PC a second time

Posted 5/7/18

On this throw to second, SCH junior shortstop Mo’ne Davis (left) had to come well off the base to stop the ball, and Penn Charter senior Grace Stansfield was able to slide in safely. (Photo by Tom …

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Late runs push SCH girls past PC a second time

Posted

On this throw to second, SCH junior shortstop Mo’ne Davis (left) had to come well off the base to stop the ball, and Penn Charter senior Grace Stansfield was able to slide in safely. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Both teams still had a number of Inter-Ac softball games left on the schedule, but there was no doubt that last Tuesday’s contest between host Penn Charter and visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy would have a major impact of the league’s championship chase.

Each team came into the contest with one league loss. SCH had split its series with the Academy of Notre Dame, and then had scored in the bottom of the seventh to beat Penn Charter, 3-2, on Thursday, April 26.

In the teams’ rematch at PC last week they proceeded through five innings with the score still 0-0. The Blue Devils scored twice in the top of the sixth, and finally in the bottom of the seventh Quakers base runners were left on at second and third as the game came to a 2-0 conclusion.

After winning the following day at Germantown Academy, SCH held a 7-1 record in the league and was 13-4 overall. PC came off the field on Tuesday at 6-2 in the Inter-Ac and 7-5 against all opponents.

The Blue Devils followed their familiar pitching pattern, going the first four innings with senior Kayla McTamney (4K, 0BB, 3H) and then bringing in sophomore Kylie Woloshyn (3K, 0BB, 2H) to finish out the game. Penn Charter went the whole way with sophomore Anastasia Lewis (3K, 2BB, 6H).

The Devils and Quakers started their first turns at bat with singles by junior Steph DeAngelia and sophomore Maddie Solow, respectively, but neither side scored. In the teams’ previous meeting five days earlier SCH had tested the arm of PC senior catcher Grace Stansfield and paid with an out. Now Stansfield foiled them once again, throwing out a runner trying to steal second to end the top of the first.

The second stanza started with a single by SCH junior Colebe Oliver, then Charter quickly retired the side with a double play and a strike-out by Lewis. The Quakers went down in order in the bottom half.

The defenses continued to hold up, with the third inning yielding hits by PC’s Solow and Springside Chestnut Hill sophomore Erin Fennessy, but no runs. One of the outs against PC came when the Quakers put a grounder in play and the Blue Devils’ first baseman, sophomore Katie Reagan, stretched out to skillfully scoop a low throw from the other side of the infield.

Kylie Woloshyn, a Blue Devils sophomore, delivers the final pitch of last Tuesday’s game, which ended with a PC pop-up. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

Reagan singled in the top of the fourth and was left on base, and the same thing happened to PC’s Stansfield on the flip side. Both teams went down one-two-three in the fifth inning, with Woloshyn now pitching for the visitors.

With one out in the top of the sixth, SCH lead-off batter DeAngelis reached first when she was hit by a pitch. She went to second when senior Rachel Kazlauskas drew a walk, then PC’s Lewis came back with a strike-out for the second out against the Devils.

Up next was Oliver, who got behind 1-2 in the count but was patient enough to wait out a walk, loading the bases. When a pitch hit the next batter, McTamney, the ball spun down in the dirt and back away from the plate, allowing DeAngelis to score from third base.

SCH junior Mo’ne Davis then brought home another run a hit up the middle. On the same play, the Blue Devils sent a second runner who was nailed at the plate for the third out. Still, the visitors now had a 2-0 lead, and they finished out the sixth inning by getting the Quakers out in order.

Woloshyn lobbed a single to right field with two outs in the top of the seventh, then Penn Charter gloved a fly ball in left field. The Quakers were starting their final batting turn with junior clean-up batter Abby Quinn. She drove the ball deep to centerfield, but the ball came down inside the park and inside the glove of SCH’s Oliver.

Charter then got a rally going with singles down the line in left and right by junior Abby Mannion and senior Chloe Master, respectively. Another 12th-grader, Ava Nicolucci, laid down a sacrifice bunt for the second out, and now the potential tying run for the Quakers was on second base, behind the runner at third. The game then ended with a pop-up to first base, and Springside Chestnut Hill came away with a hard-fought win.

After the Blue Devils beat GA the following afternoon, both they and the Quakers still had four league games left to play. For the time being, though, SCH still had only one loss in the league, and was alone atop the Inter-Ac standings.

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