Tiley homers, Lansdale Catholic rolls past Pennridge in 6
LANSDALE >> On a rainy Friday afternoon it was Rebecca Tiley who made the biggest splash.
“I was looking for a good pitch,” the Lansdale Catholic catcher said. “And the weather like this, anything close you got to get it out there. You don’t know how many strikes you’re going to get in weather like this.”
Tiley took the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the fourth inning and sent it sailing over the left-field fence for a two-run home run, extending the Crusaders’ lead over visiting Pennridge to 10-4.
“As soon as I hit it I wasn’t sure, I had to peek,” Tiley said. “But pretty good swing.”
Lansdale Catholic’s offense continued to pour on the runs, tacking on three more in the fifth then another in the sixth to enact the 10-run mercy rule as the Crusaders rolled to a 14-4 non-league softball victory over the Rams.
“The other day we had a pretty rough game versus Bensalem and then we came back yesterday and we had a good game (against West Catholic) so today it was just kind of picking up the pieces from everything that happened,” Tiley said. “And everyone batted through the lineup and it was a really good day for the team.”
Tiley finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scores while Mary Picozzi earned a complete-game win in the circle and went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored as the Crusaders (6-3, 5-1 PCL) finished the week on a two-game win streak after falling 3-2 to Archbishop Ryan in a Catholic League final rematch Tuesday then getting shutout 8-0 by Bensalem Wednesday.
“We played terrible against Bensalem,” LC coach Paul Suder said. “We sat down and we had a good talk and their response, I always told them everybody’s entitled to a bad game, like in the Phillies’ (15-1 loss to the National Wednesday) and they get paid a lot more than you guys. I said it’s how you respond to a bad game is much more importantly to me than having a bad game because I know over the course of the year you’re going to throw a clunker out there.”
The lead flowed back-and-forth in the early innings Friday before the Crusaders went ahead by batting around in the bottom of the second and plating five runs — four coming in after the Rams could not catch a two-out pop-up in front of home plate — to take an 8-4 lead.
“She tripped over the bat,” said Pennridge coach Wendy Iadonisi of the error. “So, right, little fluke things that happen in the game that you don’t have control over. And us not hitting Mary very well today, she threw a great game. So, I think that even if we didn’t have those bad things I think that they still win this game with the hits they had.”
Tiley extended the advantage to six in the fourth with her two-run homer with the Crusaders going ahead 13-4 in the fifth on a Paige Paciolla RBI single and Picozzi’s two-RBI single. In the sixth, Julia Marozzi — who led off with a single — made it 14-4 by scoring on Olivia Davis’ RBI sacrifice fly to left.
“I think just watching the ball come in more, laying off high pitches and picking out our pitch towards the end of the game definitely helped us get those hits,” Picozzi said.
Kiley Watson went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Rams (5-2, 3-1 SOL Continental), who had a three-game win streak snapped.
“I think we did have some problems with the conditions, right, the rain was affecting us a little bit,” Iadonisi said. “But again, they played a good game so we can’t make excuses for things like the field or errors, they did what they needed to do.”
Picozzi threw four scoreless innings the Rams scored three runs in the top of the second. The LC right-hander gave up a total of four runs — just one earned —on six hits, walked five and struck out six in collecting the win in the circle.
“I have pitched in rain before, I do like pitching in the rain,” Picozzi said. “If you can pitch in the rain it does give you a slight advantage but I mean it was raining for both teams but I didn’t mind it too much.
Pennridge starting pitcher Ashlyn McClelland took the loss, allowing five runs — two earned — on one hit in 1 2/3 innings. She walked three, hit one batter and struck out one.
The Rams return to SOL Continental play Monday when they host Central Bucks East for a 6:30 p.m. contest at Druckenmiller Park. Lansdale Catholic is back in action 3:45 p.m. Wednesday for a home PCL matchup with Bonner & Prendergast that also has implications for the District 12-4A postseason.
Pennridge took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first Friday as Madi Silber’s one-out RBI single but the Crusaders answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Paciolla walked while Picozzi was hit by a pitch on the next at-bat. Tiley followed with an RBI single to left center to score Paciolla while Picozzi came in to make it 2-1 as Marozzi reached on an error. Tiley scored to make it 3-1 on an error as Marozzi stole second.
The Rams regained the lead by scoring three runs with two outs in the top of the second. An error on Silber’s grounder allowed Watson home, cutting the deficit to 3-2. After a Morgan Henry walk loaded the bases, Emily Hegen’s RBI single pulled the Rams level. Makenna Patterson’s bases-loaded walk made it 4-3.
LC answered yet again, scoring five times in the bottom of the second to take the lead for good.
With two outs, the Crusaders loaded the bases after a Paciolla walk but the Rams looked out of the inning when Picozzi popped up in front of home. The ball, however, did not stay in a glove and Jennifer Llewellyn came home to tie the game 4-4.
“It could of really easy stayed the other way but kind of picked up some momentum off of that and we stayed on top of it,” Suder said. “And I thought even with that, with it being a little sloppy, we hit the ball today. There was a lot of balls that were hit solid,”
Tiley was hit by a pitch to plate the go-ahead run while Marozzi’s bases-loaded walk put the Crusaders up 6-4. With the bases still full, Kaitlyn Leshak hit a ground-rule double to left center to bring in two more runs for an 8-4 lead
