Perkiomen Valley captures first ever District 1-AAAA title, tops Avon Grove 1-0
MALVERN >> Few sequels are ever as good as the original.
Match-ups between Perkiomen Valley and Avon Grove prove to be one of the few.
For Photo Gallery Click Here
In a game that featured 25 combined strikeouts and nine hits, it was Kelsey Impink’s RBI single in the top of the ninth inning that became the difference as the Vikings came away with a 1-0 victory over the Red Devils in the District 1-AAAA Championship Thursday afternoon at Great Valley.
The win marked the first-ever District 1-AAAA title for Perkiomen Valley, which fell in the district final last year to PAC-10 foe Owen J. Roberts, and it also denied Avon Grove its second title in three years.
“This feels amazing, we wanted this so bad,” Impink said. “All of our seniors made this one of our goals entering the year. It feels great to be able to get it done.”
“This district title says that we are where we want to be,” PV head coach Dan McLaughlin said. “I’ve been here eight years and we have steadily gotten better. It’s a reflection of not only the work these kids have put in, but the work of the kids before them. We built the program where kids want to play for our softball team because we’ve had success.”
Thursday’s game served as a rematch of last year’s 10-inning pitcher’s duel in the semifinals, Avon Grove’s Maggie Balint going toe-to-toe with Perkiomen Valley’s Emily Oltman in what ended up being a 1-0 PV victory in an anxiety-laced contest.
Balint, who is heading to Oregon University, returned for this go-around, Abby Wild stepped in the circle for Perkiomen Valley.
What transpired was a repeat of the pitcher’s battle last year provided. If only the fans brought the ‘K’ placards.
Balint recorded 17 strikeouts and yielded only four hits. Of her 112 total pitches, 90 were strikes. She allowed a runner past second three times in the contest, and worked 1-2-3 innings in six of the nine frames. … Yet, the district championship eluded her for the second-straight season as Wild and the Vikings were ready again.
“It’s a real disappointing loss,” Avon Grove head coach Mike DeLuzio said. “They’ll rebound, they’re kids. Right now they’re feeling the effects of the loss. It’s going to take some time to get them back, make them understand that if we go on another four-game winning streak, we’ll be the ones wearing the gold medals.”
Wild continued her sensational district run, recording her third eight-strikeout game since coming in relief in the PAC-10 playoffs. The junior righthander allowed just five hits, threw 77 of her 110 pitches for strikes and allowed runners to advance to third just three times.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” Wild said. “I knew it was going to be hard to score runs because you’re not going to come in and score 10 runs on Maggie Balint, you just won’t. She’s good. I figured it was going to be a similar game as last year so I knew I had to stay on, stay confident and stay relaxed.”
Her pitching effort was finally supplemented by the only offense the Vikings could generate. Senior shortstop and University of South Florida commit Ana Bruni got on base with a bunt single before getting moved over by Rachel Helverson’s sacrifice bunt. She then took advantage of a small defensive lapse to steal third before Impink came through with the deciding hit, a hard-hit single through the middle to give the Vikings all the offense they needed.
“I saw the catcher not watching me,” Bruni described her delayed steal. “I guess they didn’t think I was going to steal. The steal was big. I wanted to get home safely on a hit, I didn’t want to have to dive into home. It’d be easier for the team if I got to third.”
“Last year really helped us seeing her,” Impink said. “It was a battle last year, this year too. I think whoever scored first would win and that’s what happened in both games. It was a pretty nerve-wracking situation but I’ve been in it before. I just had to trust my mechanics and put it on the ground and good things would happen.”
That they did.
Fire for Fire
Wild said she was nervous before her first district title start. Who wouldn’t be? Yet, as she went strikeout-for-strikeout with Balint throughout the game, it was clear the junior was ready to go. Her change-up played a key role in her pitching effort again, as she kept Avon Grove hitters off balance all game.
“I was a little nervous obviously, that’s a given,” Wild said. “I had confidence in the defense, confidence in myself and confidence in Noelle (McCullough) behind the plate. We just had to play our game.”
“She was phenomenal,” McLaughlin said. “She was phenomenal all year. The best thing about her is she doesn’t get rattled. If we’re up, down, preseason or district one final, she pitches the same way. She just doesn’t change. Her emotions are kept at an even-keel which helps us.
Turning Point
Avon Grove threatened to break through in the fourth inning as the team had runners on second and third with one out. However, a failed safety squeeze followed by a great leaping catch by Bruni allowed Wild to escape the inning unscathed.
“Getting out of that inning was huge,” Wild said. “To have runners on and still get out of it, it gave me a little more confidence, a little boost. I knew it would be hard for them to score runs, just like it was for us.”
Better than a Machine
To hit fast, you have to prepare for fast. That’s why Perk Valley brought out the pitching machines to practice and set them at a blistering 60-7o mph. Balint proved that machines can’t emulate Division 1 talent. She struck out five in the first two innings, seven through three and 10 through four. Only three balls reached the outfield all game, a first-inning single by Impink, a ninth-inning fly out to right by Taylor Hamm and Impink’s eventual game-winning single.
“If you let her (Balint) beat you, she’ll beat you,” McLaughlin said. “Even on a bad day she’ll beat you. You need to put as much pressure on the defense that you possibly can. Whatever it takes, choke and poke, shorten the swing, just do anything you can to put the ball in play. Once she gets in a groove, she mows you down.
No Hope Lost
Despite the district title loss, DeLuzio and Avon Grove have lost no confidence entering the state playoffs.
“We still feel that we have a great team, we still feel that you’re going to have to beat us,” DeLuzio said. “We’re not going to beat ourselves. Today wasn’t our day. we lost our first game of the season, went on an 11-game winning streak, lost another then went on a 12-13 game winning streak. Now we just have to put four together.”
