Souderton tops William Tennent with six-run 4th
WARMINSTER >> The week didn’t start off so great for the Souderton softball team with the Indians getting rocked 11-0 by North Penn in their season opener.
But Big Red made sure to finish it on an up-beat note Friday afternoon against William Tennent.
After the host Panthers took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, Souderton had a resounding answer — scoring six times in batting around in the top of the fourth and the Indians pulled away for an 8-3 victory in the Suburban One League non-conference contest.
“North Penn really got our hopes down and we were really upset about it,” Souderton shortstop Jess Lepore said. “But we came back, we practiced this whole week, we practiced so hard this week and we just came out and won.”
After just three hits in the five-inning loss to North Penn four days earlier, the Indians (1-1, 0-1 SOL Continental) racked up 16 Friday, five coming during the decisive bottom of the fourth. Seven players registered at least two hits with Sam Nuneviller pacing Souderton with three hits, two going for doubles.
“We talked about (the North Penn loss) on Tuesday and then just went to work,” Indians coach Liz Parkins said. “It was nice that we had that game Monday and then three straight days of practice so we got to work on a lot. And then today, it’s just a difference — it was a little rainy in the beginning but the weather helped and again in my opinion it’s officially spring. But the team, they played really well together and excelled in all parts of the game — pitching, fielding, hitting.”
Lepore finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs, the first RBI on a single to right in the fourth that scored Megan Hamilton, giving Souderton the lead for good at 4-3. RBI singles from Sierra Ripka and Katie Huber later in the inning pushed the lead to 6-3. The Indians added a run in both the fifth and seventh for the final five-run margin.
“Our team, we’ve been trying to work on when they start scoring we need to keep up with them, do better than them and then keep that momentum going and keep getting runs and keep building,” Lepore said. “And I think that that inning really opened up and all of us, we weren’t nervous, we were ready to play, we were ready to hit off that pitcher.”
Devon Fithian was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI for Tennent (1-2, 0-1 SOL National). Mackenzie Clee went 2-for-4 with a triple while Brianna Koonce finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
“We came up with the big inning, got ahead and we’ve done that every game this week,” Panthers coach Rich Clark said. “We scored the three runs in the bottom of the inning, we give them right back.”
Souderton right-hander Abby Burns earned the complete-game victory, giving up three runs — two earned — on eight hits. She walked two and struck out four.
“Abby threw really well today,” Parkins said. “Her pitches were working, she found the zone early and for her, too, she had a great defense behind her. Our girls made a lot of great plays behind her, got the lead runners. But, yeah, she definitely bounced back well from Monday which is really good to see that as a coach.”
Tennent starting pitcher Clee took the loss, giving up six runs — one earned — on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings in the circle. The left-hander had one walk and struck out two.
Both teams are home for conference games 3:45 p.m. Tuesday — Souderton taking on Central Bucks West in the Indians’ home opener while William Tennent hosts Bensalem.
“I’m very confident with their ability,” Clark said. “I still believe that there’s nobody that can beat us except ourselves. We’re the only ones who can beat ourselves. And we’ve got to cut down on the mistakes. And if we cut down on the mistakes, we’re going to win a lot of ballgames. That’s what happened today, we don’t have those four errors in that inning, we win this game.”
In the bottom of the third, after Megan Curtis collected a one-out single Hannah Reimel doubled to deep right to put runners on second and third. Koonce’s single and an fielder error brought both Curtis and Reimel home to make it 2-0 Panthers. Fithian followed with a single down the right-field line to plate Koonce for a 3-0 lead.
Huber began Souderton’s half by reaching on an error. Two batters later, Abby Burns dropped in a out-out infield single to put runners on the corners for Nuneviller, who knocked an RBI double inside the left-field line to score Huber.
Burns came home as Hamilton grounded to the left side of the infield with an errant throw allowing Nuneviller to score the tying run and Hamilton to make it second. With two outs, Lepore ripped a RBI single to right, scoring Hamilton for a 4-3 Indians advantage.
“I got in the batter’s box and was like this just needs to happen,” Lepore said. “I closed my eyes and was like we’ve got to hit this ball, we’ve got to hit it wherever the fielders aren’t.”
Lepore stole second then scored on Ripka’s RBI single up the middle. After Alina Skrzat’s walk, Huber made it 6-3 with an RBI single before getting thrown out trying to reach second.
In the bottom of the fourth, Clee ripped a two-out triple to right center but Burns ended the threat with a ground out to the shortstop. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth Fithian doubled to right center but Burns got the next batter to pop out.
Julia Kistler gave Souderton a 7-3 lead in the fifth as her two-out bunt single scored Jen Klepfer
Lepore drove in her second run in the seventh, doubling just inside the left-field line to bring home Nuneviller.
