On consecutive days last week, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s softball squad won both the Inter-Ac League and Pa. Independent Schools championships. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Postponements caused by persistent rain this spring compressed a lot of softball action into the final days of the season last week, when the winner of the Inter-Ac League title was finally determined and most of the games in the Pa. Independent Schools tournament were played.

Defending Inter-Ac champ Springside Chestnut Hill Academy officially retained its title on Wednesday, and on Thursday afternoon the Blue Devils clinched the PAIS crown with a 3-2 nine-inning victory over 2017 champion Penn Charter. The Quakers placed second in the league, as well.

With Thursday’s victory, SCH completed a three-game regular-season and tournament sweep of PC. A close match with the Quakers, the Blue Devils prevailed 3-2 at home and 2-0 on the road. They finished 11-1 in league play, their lone loss coming on the road, 2-1, against an Academy of Notre Dame team that lost twice to Charter (10-2 Inter-Ac).

“This is the most talented group I’ve ever coached,” stated 18-year SCH head coach Stephanie Mill. “The 11 Inter-Ac wins is the most we’ve had, and in the league we outscored other teams 108-8. We’re very solid on defense; I’m spoiled because for us a bad inning is giving up one run.”

Last year, SCH won the Inter-Ac but then faded quickly in the PAIS tourney. The seniors, in particular, did not want that to happen again.

Left fielder Lucy Lamb, who will attend the University of Pittsburgh, remarked, “Everybody was focused because everybody knew that this was something we needed to win to really prove that we are the best team.”

As often happens, the final games on the Inter-Ac schedule intertwined with the contests in the eight-team PAIS tournament. SCH clinched at least a tie for the league title with a win over Germantown Academy back on May 15. To win outright, the team needed to beat Baldwin School for a second time, but that meeting was postponed several times due to rain.

Finally, when Baldwin and SCH advanced in the PIAS tournament bracket to face one another in the semifinals last Wednesday, it was decided that that game would also serve as their second Inter-Ac contest. With an 8-1 victory over the Bears, the Blue Devils repeated as Inter-Ac champion and also moved into the Indy Schools final.

“Baldwin came out fighting and had good energy,” noted SCH’s Mill. “It was a close game for a couple of innings, then after a while, their pitcher seemed to get tired, and we were able to take advantage of that.”

Since their early pre-season workouts this year, sixth-year assistant coach Jack Parks felt that this Blue Devil team was something special.

“They’re fundamentally sound, and they’re very determined,” he explained. “I’ve been coaching softball for 18 years and this is the best high school infield I’ve seen. The outfield is pretty darn good, too. They say defense wins championships, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Against challenging competition during their spring break trip to Tennessee, the Blue Devils went 4-3. Back home, all six of their first scrimmages and games cancelled due to wet and cold weather. Once they were able to play, the SCH girls went 16-1 for a final record of 20-4.

Despite all-too-familiar rainy weather during the second-to-last week of the softball season, SCH had been able to play its PIAS quarterfinal game with eighth-seeded Hill School on Friday, May 18. Giving up home field advantage because their own diamond was too soggy, the Blue Devils travelled to Hill’s facility and still came away with a 10-0 victory.

In other quarterfinals played on Monday, May 21, second-seeded Penn Charter notched a 5-2 win over number seven Episcopal while fifth-seeded Baldwin trounced number four Academy of the New Church, 19-1. Notre Dame (seeded third) and George School (seeded sixth) did not get in their quarterfinal that day, but when George School decided to forfeit, Notre Dame was able to play a semifinal bout at Penn Charter on Wednesday.

In its Monday quarterfinal with Episcopal, PC had stranded three runners early on, but then scored the three runs it would need for the victory in the bottom of the third. In the second, freshman shortstop Neilee Koslosky turned a double play on Episcopal, fielding a grounder, stepping on second base and then throwing to first.

With one out in the last of the third, sophomore Maddie Solow drew a walk and then scored on a triple to right center by senior Grace Stansfield. This set up junior Abby Quinn’s two-RBI homer over the centerfield fence.

In the fourth, EA scored a run with a triple by Grace Smith and an RBI bunt by Jackie Miller, then the Quakers posted their final two runs in the fifth. Following base hits by Solow and Stansfield, junior Abby Mannion was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Quinn collected another two ribbies by socking a line drive through the middle. The Churchwomen scored their second run in the sixth on a single by Miller.

Hosting Notre Dame two days later, the Quakers found themselves trailing the visiting Irish, 2-1, in the middle of the third inning. In the bottom half Charter leapfrogged Notre Dame to go up 3-2, getting base hits from Solow and Stansfield and then plating both runners on a double by Quinn.

The score rose to the final 4-2 tally in the sixth inning, with Quinn the scorer this time. She put the ball in play and wound up on second base due to Notre Dame miscues. Moving to third as senior Chloe Master grounded out, Quinn scored on a sacrifice line drive to center by sophomore pitcher Anastasia Lewis.

Over at SCH the same afternoon, the Baldwin Bears went down in order in their first two turns at bat while the home team posted its first run.

After junior Steph DeAngelis led off the bottom of the first with a walk, senior Rachel Kazlauskas was tagged out at second while trying to get an extra base out of a hit to right centerfield. DeAngelis had reached third, however, and she scored on sophomore Katie Reagan’s sacrifice fly.

Despite a single by sophomore Erin Fennessy and a double by McTamney in the second inning, the Blue Devils couldn’t get a run home. Leading off in the third, Baldwin’s Hanna Maier hit a ball that dropped down along the right field line for a single. Moving to second on a wild pitch, she scored when Cara Guernsey hit a line drive to the right of second base.

The 1-1 tally remained on the scoreboard through the top of the fourth. Here, the visitors went down one-two-three again; for the third out, senior pitcher Kayla McTamney dropped to her knees to field a grounder.

SCH started the home half with singles by juniors Colebe Oliver and Mo’ne Davis. Lamb then reached first on an infield grounder as Baldwin forced out the lead runner at third base.

A similar play developed when the ball left the bat of the Blue Devils’ Fennessy. This time, Davis appeared to be safe at third, but she was initially called out. After heated debate on the part of both teams and a conference between the umpires, Davis was restored to third base, which loaded the bases for Springside Chestnut Hill with one out.

A walk to McTamney pushed the eventual winning run across the plate. Baldwin tagged out a runner trying to score on a passed ball, but then two more walks put SCH up 3-1 before a strike-out ended the inning.

“Overall, our players make good choices when they’re up to bat,” Coach Mill remarked. “They know how to put some pressure on the pitcher.”

In the fifth, two walks and a hit batter loaded the bags with Blue Devils once more, and a run on a sacrifice fly to right field by Lamb made it 4-1. The Devils doubled their total in the sixth inning thanks to a three-run homer to left center by Reagan and a sac fly by McTamney.

The stage was now set for a third meeting between the Blue Devils and the PC Quakers, this time with the PAIS championship on the line. Neither squad would have to travel very far to reach the venue for the finals, Glenside’s Arcadia University.

“We’re pretty evenly matched, and our team said before the game started that it would come down to who wanted it more.”

This was the ruling from SCH’s Kazlauskas, who will go on to play for the Brandeis University Judges.

The finalists would be treated to P.A. announcements and background music supplied by Arcadia’s two-time MAC Commonwealth Conference Softball Coach of the Year Sarah Colletti and two of her players.

Since a younger pitcher had left the SCH team early in the month, McTamney was carrying the entire load in the circle, as she’d done throughout the 2017 championship season. The senior will continue on to throw for Ursinus College, joining former Penn Charter pitcher Kayla Quinn (’15), the older sister of current Quaker Abby Quinn.

McTamney had gone the distance against Baldwin just a day earlier, and at the start of Thursday’s final she gave up a double to left center by Charter’s lead-off batter, Solow. Reaching third when Stansfield grounded out to Davis at short, Solow scored on a hit by Quinn, who lofted a ball that landed exactly between the center and right fielders.

With two outs in the bottom half, the Blue Devils got hits from Reagan and Oliver, then they were left hanging as PC senior Ava Nicolucci struck out the next batter. Both teams went down in order in the second inning. Each ball club left a runner on first base in the third, and then Charter was dispatched one-two-three by the Devils at the top of the fourth.

To start the home half of the fourth, Oliver bopped a single to shallow right field and then Davis then belted the ball over the right fielder’s head. With a slow relay by PC, Oliver scored and Davis sped to third.

When Lamb put a grounder in play to the left side of the infield, an instant of indecisiveness led to a late throw to first base and a bobble. Lamb tried to reach second on the play and was tagged out by the Quakers, but Davis had long since scored to put Springside Chestnut Hill up, 2-1.

With one out in the top of the fifth the number nine hitter for PC, senior Celena Militello, came through with a line drive single up the middle. She had to hold at first while the next batter blooped a ball to shallow left and Davis ran back from short to glove it. Davis then covered second base when Militello tried to steal and was nailed on a throw by Fennessy, the SCH catcher, retiring the side.

The nine hitter for the Blue Devils, sophomore Becca Arnold, led off the home half with a walk, but then was doubled up at first on a pop-up.

In the top of the sixth, the Quakers quickly tied the game at 2-2. A line drive single was whacked through the middle by Stansfield, who scored on a double deep to centerfield by Mannion. Quinn’s long fly-out got Mannion to third, but two more outs followed.

Back during the fourth inning, PC’s Nicolucci (1K, 0BB, 4H) had turned the pitching circle over to the 10th-grader, Lewis (4K, 2BB, 4H). After Charter had climbed back into a tie in the top of the sixth, Lewis stymied the Blue Devils in the home half by striking out the side. She bested three experienced hitters; two reached for balls that were either high or outside, and the third went down looking.

Later SCH assistant coach Parks reflected, “Both teams had opportunities that they missed because of uncharacteristic mistakes. They’re still all high school kids, and this is the most pressure they’d had all season.”

In the top of the seventh, PC senior Ciara McGee put a grounder in play and wound up safe at first when the throw from across the infield pulled the first baseman off the bag. Staying put as the next batter struck out, McGee then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Militello.

Now the top of the order came up, and Solow drove the ball to left field for an apparent hit. McGee rounded third and was sent home, but Lamb heaved the ball to the plate from left field and Fennessy got the tag for the third out. Following two outs in the last of the seventh, SCH’s McTamney fouled off a lot of balls during a long at-bat, then finally lined a single through the left side of the infield. She got no farther, as Lewis then fielded a grounder for the third out.

In the top of the eighth, PC once more started out with a single, this one directed over the head of the second baseman by Stansfield. When Mannion hit a grounder up the middle, SCH second baseman DeAngelis dove to her right to trap the ball on the ground, and then she managed to flip it to Davis at second for an out.

Mannion was safe on first with the fielder’s choice, but next, a foul pop caught near the door of the Charter dugout gave the Blue Devils a second out. SCH catcher Fennessy then threw out a Quakers runner trying to steal second for a second time in the game, sending Charter back to the field.

After SCH mounted two base runners in the bottom of the eighth with singles by DeAngelis and Kazlauskis, they froze in place while PC fielders secured two outs in the air. Davis walked to load the bases for SCH, but on a 2-1 pitch Lamb hit the ball back to Lewis in the circle, and she tossed it to Stansfield for the force out at home plate.

As the ninth inning came around a version of the international tiebreaker was employed, having each team start its turn at bat with a base runner already on second. Mannion was now put out on second for Penn Charter. The first actual batter popped out, and then Mannion advanced to third when Lewis grounded out to her opposite number, SCH’s McTamney. McGee lined the ball into right field, where the Blue Devils’ Arnold was able to track it successfully and make the catch.

In the second extra inning, Lamb related, “I felt confident, but at the same time I was a little anxious, because with that runner already on second all they would need was a little hit out of the infield to score, and then the pressure would be on us. When Becca caught that ball in the outfield, it gave us momentum coming back up to bat.”

McTamney said, “I didn’t know if we were going to score in the first extra inning, but in the second one, I just felt it. I wasn’t tense.”

Lamb was the Blue Devil who started out at second in the bottom of the ninth. A bunt to the left side by Fennessy was fielded by Quinn in front of third base, but when Quinn turned to try and catch Lamb off of second base, she saw no one covering the bag. Lamb made it back safely.

The Quakers’ position in the field improved when they pocketed a pop-up for the first out and then secured a second when Lewis struck out the next batter. SCH’s DeAngelis hit a grounder to short, and when Charter tossed the ball to second base, Fennessy slid under the tag and the Devils had the bases loaded with two outs.

Kazlauskas came up to bat and watched as a pitch came in fast, but way too high. Even Stansfield, who’ll play for Division I Rider University, could not get up high enough to block the ball, and it zipped over the top of her mitt and hit the backstop with a clang.

On third, Lamb related, “I saw the pitch was way up there and I was just like – I’m goin’!”

Lewis ran in to cover home, but the foot of a sliding Lamb touched the plate well before the PC pitcher could get the ball down for the tag. SCH players gushed out of the dug-out.

Kazlauskas commented, “We knew it would be a close game, but this kind of pushed the boundaries of the imagination.”

McTamney (3K, 0BB, 8H) was asked about her two-day, 16-inning workout that culminated in a pair of extra innings.

“It was tough,” she replied. “I just knew that I couldn’t walk them. I wanted to keep them off-balance and I tried to keep the ball low so they’d hit grounders.”

Her classmate Kazlauskas summed up, “They had a couple of pitchers, but we had Kayla, and that was enough.”