by Tom Utescher

Although the weather was poor during the first week of the month, Penn Charter was able to get in a game-format softball scrimmage on the artificial turf field at Shipley School on March 12 .

Conditions were pleasant enough at the start of the session, but as the sunshine faded it grew colder. Fortunately, the visiting Quakers were able to put the mercy rule into effect, finishing off the Gators in five innings by a score of 13-1.

Runner-up in the Inter-Ac League and in the Pa. Independent Schools tournament last spring, Penn Charter graduated five players with the class of 2018, including the starting battery of pitcher Ava Nicolucci and catcher Grace Stansfield (who is now playing at Rider University).

The founding head coach of the Quakers’ program, Donald “Doc” Mittica, is back at the helm, and returning from last season is assistant Angela Smith, who knows Inter-Ac softball well as a former Baldwin School player. A new assistant coach, Gabrielle Tareila, came out of a strong Spring-Ford High School program and then played catcher and first base for Kutztown University.

Luciana Regalbuto, a freshman who just entered Penn Charter this year, stepped into the role of starting catcher for the Shipley scrimmage. Junior Anastasia Lewis started out in the circle and pitched for two innings, then sophomore Avery Schnupp went in for the next two frames and junior Maddie Solow finished up in the fifth. Earlier, Schnupp played second base and Solow was in her accustomed spot in centerfield.

A third junior who has moved up to varsity, Emily Spencer, saw some time in the infield and also used her speed as a pinch runner for pitchers and catchers.

The two senior captains for the Quakers are first baseman Abby Manion and third baseman Abby Quinn. Quinn, the clean-up hitter, has signed with West Chester University to play college ball.

Two more athletes named Abby were freshmen on the varsity squad last spring. While Abby Brown is back in action on the diamond, Abby Samuel is studying abroad in New Zealand this semester. Their classmate, Charlotte Zulick, has moved up to join the varsity this season.

Fellow 10th-grader Neilee Koslosky already earned the starting shortstop job in 2018, but she jammed a finger in warm-ups at Shipley last week. No worries; her sister Kamryn, a new freshman at PC, slipped right into the spot for last week’s scrimmage. The other two freshmen on the varsity roster are Hannah Bowe and Madison Brooks, products of Penn Charter’s middle school program.

In the Shipley scrimmage Lewis limited the host Gators to eight batters in the first two innings, striking out five and giving up two walks, while the eighth hitter grounded out to Manion at first.

PC scored three runs in the top of each inning. In the first, Lewis and Brown each singled in a run, while Quinn earned an RBI with a sacrifice fly. On Shipley’s artificial turf field, a ball slammed past the centerfielder by Solow in the second inning just kept on rolling, resulting in a two-run homer. Manion doubled in the Quakers’ sixth run later on.

Shipley went down in order in the third as Schnupp took over in the circle for Penn Charter. The Gators drew a couple of walks from the sophomore in the fourth, and had both runners on board with one out when a ball hit to short resulted in a force-out at third. The other runners went to second and third on a passed ball, but Schnupp scooped up a grounder and tossed to first base for the third out.

The visitors had already gone up 8-0 in the top of the third inning. With another line drive that sent the ball traveling far out on the turf, Brown circled the bases and earned two RBI.

Charter didn’t score in the top of the fourth, but then came back in the top of the fifth with five runs to make it 13-0. Quinn tripled in a pair, and the last two runs went on the board with a single by Schnupp to left center.

In the bottom of the fifth the Quakers’ third pitcher, Solow, had some difficulties with control initially, walking one Gator and hitting another with a pitch. Later, it was a teammate’s miscue on an attempted pick-off play at third base that allowed Shipley to score its lone run of the afternoon.

Solow had struck out a batter earlier in the home half of the fifth, and now she settled back down and fanned another. Next, she brought the game to a conclusion by fielding a bunt and throwing to first for the final out.

After the trial run, Coach Mittica noted that there will probably be some position changes going forward, with a number of spots still in flux. He related that after a few early encounters in the Philadelphia area, the 2019 Quakers will head out on a spring break trip to the Cal Ripken facility in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.