Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Allison Beausoleil celebrates birthday with complete-game win over Wissahickon

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Plymouth Whitemarsh pitcher Allison Beausoleil celebrated her birthday in style.

The senior threw a complete game to help the Colonials pick up a Suburban One League American Conference win, 3-2, over Wissahickon Tuesday afternoon at Wissahickon High School.

Beausoleil, who turned 18-years-old, struck out five batters to one walk in seven innings of work. She allowed two runs on seven hits.

“She was working a bunch of different pitches, trying to keep the hitters guessing,” PW coach Dana Moyer said. “She knows, as I do, that she has a defense that can play behind her. She puts the ball in the air, the outfield is going to eat it up or infield is going to eat it up. (Wiss) has some really good, free-swinging kinds on that team. That’s a good team that we just beat.”

The right-hander started to dominate after allowing two runs in the first two innings. Over the final five frames, she held the Trojans to just three hits.

“I just kept making adjustments that my coach told me to make,” Beausoleil said. “Adjustments were really the key right there. It’s not like I changed my mindset.

“With my change-up, I have to make sure I have fast arm speed. My screwball I have to make sure I spin it at the end and finish. Just stuff like that — little things.”

Wissahickon coach Mike Borkowski noticed her adjustments, too.

“It looked to me like Allison was pitching us in reverse,” he said. “She started throwing her breaking stuff early on instead of her fastball, because we were jumping on her fastball early on. She started pitching us in reverse and I guess we didn’t make the adjustment, too. We kept popping balls up that we should not have. That’s a good team over there.”

After falling behind 2-0, the Colonials (7-1, 6-0) battled back to tie the game in the top of the third and take the lead in the fourth.

Sydney Melillo scored PW’s first run. She led off the third with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. She crossed the plate on a Kammy Kropinski single.

The Colonials other two runs came with two outs.

Kropinski advanced to second base on a groundout and reached third on a wild pitch. Lauren Kane brought her home with a two-out single to tie the game at two.

In the third, Josee Tassoni led off with a single and moved to second on an Emma Carney sacrifice bunt. After advancing to third on a grounder, she scored on a Carly Rosenberger single to give PW a 3-2 lead that would hold up as the final score.

“That’s a testament to this team,” Moyer said. “They don’t stop. It’s never, ‘Oh, two outs, we’re done.’ There’s a rally spirit in each one of them and it’s really nice to see.”

Outside of those two innings, Trojans (4-6, 4-4) pitcher Bella Harris posted zeros across the board. She allowed three runs on 10 hits in seven innings. She struck out two batters to no walks.

“(Harris is) a freshman,” Borkowski said. “She held the No. 1 team in the division to three runs. She pitched a heck of a game. She never gets upset, pitches great. She’s a pleasant surprise this year. I heard how good she was before, but I didn’t get to see her. Now she’s just showing how good she can be.”

Danielle Ciliberto led off the bottom of the first for Wissahickon and scored on a Siani Paige-Miller single to make it 1-0.

The advantage doubled in the bottom of the second, when Rebecca Selvanah worked a two-out walk and scored on a Ciliberto double.

Plymouth Whitemarsh is in good shape going forward, sitting at 6-0 in SOL American play.

“I think it’s the best start that PW’s ever had,” Moyer said. “We’re just going to keep bettering each part of our game. I stress to the kids that if you are working on your own individual adjustments each and every at-bat, each and every play, every game that we are going to keep getting better and we’re going to win games. That’s what we’re doing.”

Wissahickon is fighting for a District 1 Class-5A playoff berth. The Trojans entered Tuesday No. 15 in the rankings and the top 16 qualify for postseason play.

“Maybe with the strength of schedule rule, maybe we move up a notch even though we lost,” Borkowski said. “The goal this year was to make playoffs. No matter what we were ranked — get in the playoffs. This team hasn’t been to the playoffs in quite some time. These girls here — this is a terrific group of girls. I really want them to go.”

The Trojans are at the halfway point of their 20-game schedule.