Kemmerling’s RBI in 6th pushes Quakertown past North Penn in District 1-AAAA 2nd round

RICHLAND >> All game long, on this steaming afternoon on the diamond at Veterans Park, both teams searched, waited and hoped for the big hit that would propel them into the lead.

Quakertown’s Ryann Kemmerling was confident she could provide it.

“I went up and I was like ‘I’m gonna get a hit. I’m gonna get a hit,’” the Panthers’ No. 9 hitter said of her monumental at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning. “I was hitting the ball really well — I had been struggling earlier in the season, and I was like ‘I wanna do this and I wanna help us move on.’”

With one out and a runner on third, Kemmerling ripped a single up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run for No. 5 Quakertown, sending the Panthers on their way to a 2-1 victory over No. 21 North Penn Thursday afternoon.

The victory advances Q-town to a District One Class AAAA quarterfinal match-up Friday at Perkiomen Valley.

“We were able to get our nerves out before we went on the field,” said Kemmerling, whose contributions proved to be even more vital as the Panthers were missing several players due to their Senior Trip.

North Penn managed 11 hits in the contest but opportunities melted away. The Lady Knights left 15 runners stranded in the second-round defeat.

“Some girls have to step up and today they didn’t. They had their chance, but it just didn’t happen,” coach Rick Torresani said. “Bri (Battavio) pitched her guts out. It’s a tough way to lose but congratulations to Quakertown. They deserved it.”

Battavio had four strikeouts, limiting the Panthers to five hits. Quakertown went up 1-0 in the first on a hard-hit single to left by Nikki Vanelli, but then Battavio settled in, pitching four shutout innings leading up to the sixth.

That allowed North Penn to tie things up in the second, with Katie Beer knocking in Elia Namey. The Lady Knights came away feeling they should have had more — NP had the bases loaded with no outs, but shortstop Spenser Gray went up high to make a terrific grab of a line-drive shot by Jamie Beer, and Gray then threw to third to complete the double play.

Katie Beer came through with a single to tie it, but Panthers right-hander Tori Caputo got Courtney Neal to fly out to left to end the inning.

North Penn again loaded the bases in the third, but Caputo got Melanie Lauro to line out to center. In the fourth, the Lady Knights had the bases loaded with just one out, but Caputo struck out Kariam Bou then got Jovanna Alfonsi to ground out to third.

Quakertown’s defense — making some sensational plays throughout — only made it tougher for NP. Britney Moyer belted a lazer back to the mound that could have scored at least one in the third, but Caputo — startled but instinctive — made the grab, in fact taking a quick timeout afterwards in order to catch her breath.

Elia Namey’s single loaded the bases, but then Caputo buckled down for the final out of the inning.

A leadoff walk by Caputo got something going for the Panthers in the sixth, providing the base runner Quakertown would need for Kemmerling to drive in.

North Penn had one more chance in the seventh.

One strike away from elimination, Lauro came through for the Lady Knights with a line-drive single off the outstretched glove of third baseman Nikki Vanelli.

Jamie Beer reached on an error, giving North Penn runners on first and second, but Caputo got Katie Beer to pop out to short to end it.

“It feels good. North Penn’s a good team,” Kemmerling said.

“I expected them to go hard at us and they did, but we just came back harder. So I’m really proud of that.”