Methacton’s bats pummel Upper Merion
UPPER MERION >> Playing in the rain and having seen Upper Merion erase a big early deficit, Methacton’s softball team needed a late-inning spark.
With two runners already on base, Paulina Lowery stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning and delivered it. The Warriors second baseman belted a 1-1 pitch over the six-foot fence in left-center, clearing the bags and putting her side back in front.
The offense kept coming after that and not even the steady rain could put out the Warriors as they claimed a 17-7 nonleague road win Monday. Methacton mashed 21 hits as the entire lineup got in on the act with six players collecting multiple hits.
“When you step up to the plate, the most important thing is, even if you’re down, you can still change the game around,” Lowery said. “The most important piece of it is knowing that you can and doing what you know best. That’s the approach I take.”
Upper Merion led 7-6 going into the sixth inning and had held the Warriors in check for four innings before Methacton exploded in the sixth and seventh. Lowery’s three-run shot in the sixth was the winning hit, but Methacton kept going in the seventh, sending 13 hitters to the plate and adding on eight more runs.
Methacton also started the game on a tear, batting around in the first inning to put up a quick 5-0 lead with the big hit coming on a two-run double by catcher Sam Weil-Kaspar. The Vikings were able to contain the damage with two force-out plays at home then got to work erasing the damage.
“I thought we started off a little slow with the walks and (Methacton) hit the ball real well, but we didn’t throw the ball around,” Vikings coach John Whitney said. “We got right back in the game thought we might have gotten a little complacent once we got those runs and lost a little intensity. Methacton, you’ve got to give them credit, they came back banging the ball.”
Upper Merion got one in the second and four in the third then took a 6-5 lead in the third when third baseman Nicole Kowalski’s double scored Lauren Del Gudice. Kowalski was a bright spot for Upper Merion, going 3-for-3 at the plate and making a couple defensive gems in the wet weather.
Vikings first baseman and leadoff hitter Dezera Kandy walked three times and scored three runs while pitcher Olivia Shorline had two hits and two RBIs.
After the Vikings tied the game, Methacton sent Megan Stauffer into the pitching circle in a relief effort to start the third. An error in the frame led to the unearned go-ahead run, but after that, Stauffer was lights-out, allowing a run in the fourth then shutting down the Vikings in the final three innings.
“My speed was definitely there today but pitching in the rain is definitely a mental challenge,” Stauffer said. “I just tried to focus on the batter and make sure that I was mentally there.
“I made sure the ball was dry before every pitch and asked for a new one if I needed it so I could make sure I had a good grip and could get my spins.”
Whitney spent the game cycling through the game balls, a towel either perched over his shoulder or in use, making sure both sides had a relatively dry ball to throw.
Aside from her pitching, which included five strikeouts against just one walk, Stauffer went 3-for-5 at the dish with three infield hits. Third baseman Annalise Olivieri had two hits and scored twice while centerfielder and cleanup hitter Dani Duda went 4-for-6 with four runs and two RBI.
Olivieri and Duda started the sixth with back-to-back singles, bringing Lowery to the plate in a big spot. Her shot into the trees beyond the fence put the Warriors up for good.
“Once you play the game for so long you know you can always change your at-bat around and if you make an error you can always come back and fix it so you should have that positive attitude going up to the plate,” Lowery said. “The cool thing about our team this year, we all know we have each other’s back. There’s a really good team chemistry going, we don’t let ourselves get down and if we do, we pick each other up. I think there was some confidence going for us.”
Even with the lopsided final score, Whitney liked the fight his team showed when trailing. Even as Methacton kept pounding out hits and runs in the final two innings, he said the attitude in the dugout didn’t get negative.
Upper Merion still has hopes of going for a four-peat in the SOL American and Whitney expected Monday’s result to give his players a little incentive going forward. Methacton is looking to contend in the tough PAC-10, with two league games slated for later this week.
Monday showed what the team can do when all its parts are locked in and it’s something the Warriors hope they see quite a bit more.
“It’s one of our strengths,” Stauffer said. “We’ve been hitting really well the past couple of games. Hopefully that can carry on throughout the season.”
