Lucci’s 8th inning walk-off lifts Conestoga past Kennett
BERWYN—Ari Lucci wasn’t in No. 5 Conestoga’s line-up at the start of the game as the Pioneers took on No. 21 Kennett in the second round of the District 1, Class 6A softball playoffs Wednesday. In fact, she didn’t enter the game until she struck out as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. But Lucci sure redeemed herself an inning later, when she took a two-out, two-strike pitch deep to right to knock in the winning run as the Pioneers (18-2) edged the Blue Demons 2-1 in eight innings.
With the win, Conestoga advances to Friday’s quarterfinal round, when they will travel to Downingotwn West for a match-up with the No. 4 Whippets, a 1-0 winner over No. 20 Souderton Wednesday.
“Not gonna lie, my heart was beating out of my chest when I first stepped in the batter’s box,” said Lucci. “I knew I couldn’t let my team down. I think the pitch was a little high but down the middle and I swung. I saw the ball going up and thought,’please don’t catch it.’ Then I saw her going back and I just hoped it fell. Once I saw she wasn’t getting there, I started to round first and thought, hey, that’s it, we won!”
As nervous as Lucci was with the pressure on, her coach, Pete Ricci, knew she had it in her.
“She won a game for us earlier in the season with a game winner as a pinch hitter,” said Ricci. “So I felt pretty confident she could get it done. As long as she stays with pitches in the strike zone, she’s got the power to hit it deep.”
After Conestoga’s Lauren Lofland worked out of a jam in the top half of the eighth, leaving Kennett runners stranded at second and third, her Kennett counterpart, Genevieve Ebaugh answered back, retiring the first two Pioneers she faced in the bottom half.
Emme Rycyzyn got things going for the Pioneers with a two-out single up the middle, and Kate Clement followed with one of her own. When both runners advanced on a wild pitch, the Demons elected to intentionally walk Faith Walker, hoping to put a force play back in effect, which set up Lucci’s heroics.
From start to finish, this was a pitcher’s duel between Lofland and Ebaugh, with the two matching each other strikeout for strikeout, scoreless inning for scoreless inning.
The Pionners scored first, picking up an unearned run in the fourth. Claire Overton led off the inning with a walk, and Olivia Cepielik followed with the second of her two doubles on the day to make it second and third with no one out. Overton scored when Jenny Noll, who robbed several Kennett hitters of extra bases while patrolling center field, reached on an error. But Ebaugh escaped the inning without any further damage.
The Blue Demons tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth. Ebaugh (1 for 3, 2 SB, 1R) reached on a one-out single to left, and Ainsley Albert (2 for 4) followed with a double. Shannon Harvey then lifted a sac fly to left to score Ebaugh, and when neither team scored in the seventh, the game headed to extra innings.
Lofland got the win, going all eight innings. She allowed one run on six hits, striking out 11 and walking just two.
“Our goals were to win the Central, get to districts, and make it to states,” said Lofland. “This was an amazing win. I saw early on I could get them to chase high and outside, and got enough outs. It’s great to know we have at least two more games. Hopefully we can win Friday and get ourselves in states without having to go through a play back.”
Ebaugh was impressive in the circle for the Blue Demons, despite the loss. Over the first seven innings, she allowed just three hits—Cepielik’s two doubles, and a seventh inning single from Lofland. She finished with eight strong innings, allowing two runs—one earned—on six hits. She struck out 10, and walked five, though two were intentional.
Kennett, the Ches-Mont American champs, finish the season with a record of 14-7. Though they surely would rather the season had continued, this is a very young team that will only come back next year hungry for more. The Blue Demons do not have a senior on the roster, and over the past several weeks, the freshman Ebaugh has shown she can be one of the great pitchers, next in line of a pretty solid tradition of great pitchers from the Ches-Mont.
“Our season started off kind of rocky trying to work all the young players in and get them to work as a team,” said Kennett coach Lauren Gottstein. “But then about halfway through the season, things really started to click for us. And Gen has just been incredible the last nine or ten games—her ERA in those games is about 0.5. I told these girls to keep their heads up, because we will be back next year and we will be back stronger.”
