Upper Merion’s offense explodes against Wissahickon in District 1-5A first round win
UPPER MERION >> Upper Merion’s offense exploded against Wissahickon.
The No. 6 seeded Vikings belted 17 hits in less than six full innings in a 14-4 win over the No. 11 Trojans in the first round of the District 1-5A playoffs Monday afternoon at Upper Merion Area High School.
All nine batters in Upper Merion’s lineup reached base. Eight recorded at least one hit and one run scored and seven tallied at least one RBI.
“There’s not a weak spot in our order,” UM coach Missy Toto said. “Everybody comes through when we need them to and we’ve been really focusing on hitting the last couple of weeks. I think they turned it on today and they did a really good job.”
The bottom of the lineup certainly came through against Wissahickon. The bottom three hitters — Samme Deskiewicz, Olivia Barr and Brianna Misseri — combined for four hits, five RBI and six runs scored.
“It really helps us,” Misseri, who was 2-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored, said of the balance throughout the lineup. “If we mess up in the field, we can always come back and pick ourselves up when we get hits.”
Deskiewicz and Misseri scored the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Deskiewicz worked a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Barr sacrifice bunt. She advanced to third and scored on two wild pitches. Misseri also walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. She scored when Lauren Del Giudice hit into an error.
The Vikings really took control in the third inning. The first four batters tallied hits, with Valentina Marino knocking in a run to make it 3-0. Barr brought home a run when she hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded and Misseri made it 6-0 with a two-run single.
They kept the pressure up with four more runs in the fourth. Moria Ryan hit an RBI double, Misseri brought home two more with a single and Vanessa Hutchinson made it 10-0 with an RBI base hit.
“Every kid up and down the (Upper Merion) lineup can hit the ball,” Wiss coach Borkowski said. “They hit to right field, they hit to left field. It’s just a solid group of hitters. You can see that they know what to do with the bat. They know where to place the ball. They’re really good with that.”
The Trojans were three outs away from losing by the 10-run mercy rule in 4 1/2 innings, but managed to extend the game.
Rory Goodrich, Josie Johnston and Danielle Ciliberto singled to load the bases with one out. Macey Segal was hit by a pitch to put Wiss on the board. Johnston scored on a wild pitch and Siani Paige-Miller and Ashley Radell each tallied two-out RBI singles to make it 10-4.
“I just got done telling the girls,” Wiss coach Mike Borkowski said, “the character and everything they’ve shown all year — it’s an awesome group of girls. Terrific group. They showed a lot of oomph, a lot of hop, never-give-upness. They had never felt like they were out of the game and they tried hard. They kept hitting the ball, but they kept catching it. It was a good game for us, good exposure. Our goal was to get in the playoffs this year and we made it.”
Upper Merion got one run back in the bottom of the fifth on a Warren home run to right field. Del Giudice had a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth and scored on an error to make it a 10-run game and give the Vikings the win, 14-4.
Barr got the win in the circle, throwing five innings. She allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk. Warren came on in relief and threw one scoreless inning.
Bella Harris took the loss for Wissahickon. In 5 2/3 innings she allowed 14 runs on 17 hits and three walks.
Upper Merion will face No, 3 Villa Maria in the quarterfinals Wednesday. The winner clinches a spot in the state tournament and advances to the district semifinals.
“We haven’t made (states) in any of the time I’ve been here,” Toto, who is in her 14th year with the program, said. “That would be a big accomplishment. These girls are hard workers and they deserve it. We’ll see how Wednesday goes, but that’s always one of our goals.”
Wissahickon’s season ends with the loss.
“Consdering we won three games last year and three games the year before,” Borkowski said, “and we won eight, got in the playoffs, ranked 11th going in — I don’t see how I can argue (that the season was a success). We’ve got a good returning group. We’re losing two seniors that are terrific kids, but other than that we have an awesome group of kids and I think we could make some noise and come back next year.”
