Perk Valley keeps calm, advances past Archbishop Ryan in 8 innings

CHELTENHAM ” Perkiomen Valley High is now in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA softball playoffs because of Shannon Beattie, Kelsey Impink, Emily Oltman and, of course, the Inverted U.

Huh?

In Wednesday’s 6-2, eight-inning win over Archbishop Ryan at Arcadia University, the Vikings got a clutch, two-out RBI single in the seventh inning by Beattie to force extra innings, a three-run double by Impink that chased home the game-winning runs and a solid, six-hit, seven-strikeout complete game by Oltman.

They also turned the school’s first state-playoff softball game into a winning venture, and will now meet the winner of Wednesday night’s Parkland-Avon Grove contest in the quarterfinals.

As for the Inverted U, we’ll leave the explanation up to Perk Valley head coach Dan McLaughlin, a psychology teacher.

“It’s a psychology term.’ McLaughlin said, “and it has to do with your mental approach in certain situations.

“If you’re playing in a big game, for example, you don’t want to be pumped up to play in it. You’re already pumped up because of the event. What you want to be is calmer, and more relaxed. You want to just try and have fun. That’s something I teach in class and something I introduced to the team last year.’

And the Vikings live and play by it.

So when the Philadelphia Catholic League-champion Ragdolls jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning via a triple and a steal of home by Isabelle Hoke and Kate Oshashenski’s RBI ground out, the Vikings were far from tight. Instead, their singing, jiving and bench hijinx just got crazier and louder.

Their friends and family may have been sweating bullets, but the Vikings were cool, calm and collected.

“We try and stay excited and happy because it creates great energy, and that helps us,’ explained Beattie. “That’s the Inverted U.’

Up 2-0, Ryan made moves to extend its lead, only to be thwarted by Oltman and the PV defense.

Oltman caught Hoke looking with two on in the third inning, then fanned three Ragdolls hitters over the next two frames.

PV, meanwhile, kept squandering chances, The Vikings left two on in the third, left the bases loaded in the fourth and got only one run, via a Beattie sacrifice fly, out of a bases-loaded, one-out threat in the fifth,

By the time they reached the seventh, it was do or die, and the Vikings were still having a blast on the bench. What they needed was a blast from the batter’s box.

Impink gave them hope when she walked on four pitches, then moved to second and third on wild pitches by Ryan pitcher Kerri Dadalski.

With two out, up stepped Beattie, with no desire to spoil the party.

“I was just trying to relax,’ she said. “I’m a senior and I didn’t want to be the last out of the season.’

Calmly, Beattie delivered a single between short and third, and the game was tied.

“I’m never calm,’ McLaughlin said. “I have extremely high blood pressure, so I have to try and stay calm. The players feed off your actions, whether you want them to or not.

“So I try and project calmness.’

Ryan got two on with two out in the home seventh, but Oltman got the dangerous Sarah Oshashenski looking to end the inning.

PV immediately threatened with nobody out in the top of the eighth when Erin Hallahan singled to left and Haley Streeper and Ana Bruni both reached on bunt singles.

Ryan got one out on a force play at home, but that brought up Impink, who was anxious to attone for some earlier at-bats.

“My first couple at-bats, my swing was too long,’ Impink said. “I needed to shorten it up, make better contact and put a good swing on it.’

Faster than you could say “better contact,’ Impink blasted a pitch which short-hopped the left-center field fence, scoring all three PV baserunners and leaving Impink at second with one out.

When Noelle McCullough followed with a foul fly down the right-field line, Ryan right fielder Skylar Elliott gloved it, then tried to throw a tagging Impink out at third. When the throw skipped past third, Impink danced home, and the celebration was three outs away.

Aided by a running catch in right-center field by center fielder Abby Wild, Oltman 1-2-3’d the Ragdolls, and it was time for some real fun.

And some more praise for that psychology term.

“We believe in it,’ Impink said of the Inverted U, “and it works.

“I’ve been playing for a long time, and I know it works for me.’