Upper Perkiomen keeps rolling, garners first PIAA win in school history with win over East Pennsboro

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE >> The wins keep coming, but Upper Perkiomen’s softball team won’t let their excitement show.

The Tribe’s ride isn’t over, and with the way their playing, maybe not for some time.

Taylor Lindsay threw a complete-game shutout, allowing only four hits while striking out three as District 1 champion Upper Perkiomen took advantage of East Pennsboro’s miscues to come away with a 3-0 victory in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs Monday at Methacton.

The win marks the first PIAA win in Upper Perkiomen history. The Tribe will face District 11 champion Bangor, a 9-4 winner over District 2’s Wyoming Area, Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

Afterward, not much excitement was visible. They’re more internal, says Upper Perkiomen head coach Dean Sullivan. And that’s just fine.

“As you can see, they aren’t the most emotional of girls, but that’s the way they are,” Sullivan said. “As long as they are happy and they keep doing what they’re doing, we’re going to be in good shape.”

“We just want to stay within ourselves,” Taylor Lindsay said. “We’ve been there, we’ve been through losses. We don’t want to brag about our wins.”

Lindsay’s effort in the circle was a continuation of her effort in the team’s District 1 title game victory over Villa Maria. She only allowed one run while striking out 10 in an eventual 4-1 victory. Monday, Lindsay kept hitters guessing, inducing weak groundouts and popups.

Complementing her effort in the circle, was her three hits at the plate. But it wasn’t the usual offensive output for the Indians. Coming into the game averaging a little more than eight runs per game, the lineup was kept off balance by the pitching of East Pennsboro’s Cailey Joyce. The junior right-hander, who hurled a no-hitter this season against Hershey, struck out 10 in her six innings of work.

“We didn’t have the explosive offense today,” Sullivan said,” but we were facing a good pitcher that kept us off-balance with a good rise ball.”

What Upper Perkiomen did have, however, was the ability to make the Panthers pay for their miscues.

It started with a wild pitch that scored Olivia Young in the second inning and continued in the fifth. Catcher Morgan Lindsay started the inning off by working a one-out walk before she was moved to second by a Taylor Lindsay singe through the shift up the middle. Karlee Fretz singled to load the bases before Alyssa Sullivan flew out to deep left, the ball bouncing off the left fielder’s glove to allow Morgan Lindsay to trot home to make it 2-0. A bases-loaded walk to Alexa Banner made it 3-0, more than enough for Taylor Lindsay who worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth before working the side in order to close it out and send the Indians deeper into new territory.

“We want to keep going as far as possible,” Taylor Lindsay said. “I’m happy for our team that we have gone this far because this has never happened. We don’t want this season to end.”