Downingtown West weathers it all for District 1-6A final spot, deals Spring-Ford first loss
ROYERSFORD >> Natalie Beebe should have been fazed.
She should have been fazed by the three balls to the warning track or beyond in the first inning. She should have been fazed when a fluky error gave Spring-Ford the lead in the sixth inning.
And the Downingtown West junior pitcher most certainly should have been fazed when lightning flashed and she had to wait for two and a half hours to try to record the final out of a win that would send the Whippets to the District 1-6A championship game … all with the looming possibility of being declared the losing team if the game was called off.
And yet, Beebe wasn’t fazed.
The junior dusted it all off her shoulder, returned from delay to record the final out and sent Downingtown West to a 4-3 victory over No. 1 seed and previously undefeated Spring-Ford in District 1-6A semifinal Tuesday at Spring-Ford’s Ram Park.
“I just had to breathe and know my teammates are behind me no matter what happens,” Beebe said. “This is super cool getting into the district finals – I’ve never been here, we haven’t been here in a while so no matter what happens, we’re all in this together.”
Beebe worked through tight spot after tight spot and was rewarded on sophomore third baseman Taylor Posner’s two-run single (2-for-3, four RBI) to score Meghan Sinkus and Cait Coker (2-for-3) in the top of the seventh after D-West (21-2) lost the lead half an inning earlier. Posner drove in all the Whippets’ runs off of Spring-Ford ace Bri Peck – her teammate at the club level with PA Strikers.
Two run single Taylor Posner, West leads 4-3! One out top 7 pic.twitter.com/HVUsrt3fOc
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) May 28, 2019
Posner’s heroics were nearly struck from the record in a situation that had both teams on pins and needles during the delay. Having played enough innings for an official result, the game would have reverted to the last completed inning – the sixth inning which ended with Spring-Ford leading 3-2 – if the game would have been unable to continue because of rain and lightning.
It made for a nervy two and a half hours for both teams.
“I was really scared,” Posner said. “When (head coach Joey Germani) came back and told us we were going to play, everyone was so excited.”
“Oh my gosh. I really don’t like rain,” Beebe said. “The same thing happened last year in a Ches-Mont game against Great Valley (where the result reverted) and I did not want a repeat of that especially in the semifinals. It would be terrible to lose because of rain.
“I was just hoping for the chance to come back out and play and that’s what we got. And I made the best of that chance.”
The Rams would have been declared the winning team despite being in a losing position in the game.
It was an outcome no one wanted.
“I honestly just wanted to come back out here and play again,” said Spring-Ford senior second baseman Julia Heine. “We definitely thought that wasn’t the best way to go to a district title game.”
A gap in the weather and a capable Spring-Ford grounds crew allowed the final out to resume.
Three pitches later, a pop out from the Rams’ most dangerous hitter on the day, junior first baseman Ashley Della Guardia (double, triple, 2-for-4), into the glove of right fielder Katie Zibello capped the dramatic win that sends No. 4 seed Downingtown West to the district final to face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between No. 2 North Penn and No. 3 Pennsbury. The championship is scheduled for Thursday, 4 p.m. at Immaculata University.
Resumption of Spring-Ford Downingtown West softball semifinal https://t.co/xrK8roiU0k
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) May 29, 2019
Spring-Ford (23-1) took its first loss of the season and will play a PIAA seeding game for District 1 third place against the loser of the other semifinal at home on Thursday.
The Rams took the loss hard – as any undefeated team would – but in a determined way if postgame body language carries any weight.
“I think we’re all angry right now, angry and upset, every emotion,” Heine said. “But I think we can come back from it. Like Coach (Tim Hughes) said, it’s a really good time for all of us as a team to learn from it.”
“I think we played really well honestly. You can play the ‘if’ game on a lot of things but honestly it wasn’t one thing.”
Beebe, who relies on mixing speeds and locations, went the distance, allowing one earned run on eight hits to go with one walk and two strikeouts. Counterpart Peck allowed four runs on six hits, three walks and five strikeouts over seven frames.
Downingtown West had the perfect opening statement against Peck, a pitcher coming off of a perfect game against Garnet Valley in the quarterfinals.
Coker, Nina Gallagher and Posner hit three straight singles – Posner’s scoring Coker – before Peck settled in and struck out the side.
The Rams responded with a loud first inning that ultimately yielded only one run – Julia Ryan’s solo home run to left-center – despite Peck and Madi Walsh also ripping Beebe deliveries to the warning track.
“I knew they were a super-strong hitting team coming into this. At first I started pitching outside and obviously that didn’t work,” Beebe said. “I tried throwing it inside – they were crowding the plate – and it really helped.”
Downingtown West manufactured a run in the third as Coker was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced on a Gallagher grounder to Peck and driven in by Posner’s grounder to shortstop.
Spring-Ford tied it 2-2 in the fifth after Noelle Reid reached third on a misplay in right field and was plated on Julia Ryan’s sacrifice fly.
2B gloves with wrong hand and runners are safe! Spring Ford leads 3-2 two out 2nd and 3rd bottom 6 pic.twitter.com/VzDDCePXSb
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) May 28, 2019
An inning later, Della Guardia hit a one-out triple. Bridget Sharkey walked, setting up Maddy Little’s chopper to second base. Second baseman Gallagher was ruled to have tagged Sharkey with her glove without the ball, every runner ruled safe, including Della Guardia at home for a 3-2 lead.
Beebe avoided further trouble when she got Peck to fly out with bases loaded, keeping it a one-run deficit.
The Whippets had the perfect antidote as No. 9 hitter Sinkus singled, Coker singled and stole second. After a fly out, Posner sent a two-run single through the right side for a 4-3 lead.
“To see that, I knew we had a great chance against this undefeated team and I was proud of everyone so much,” Beebe said.
Posner, who had been hit by a pitch in her previous at-bat, caught a spot of perspective before her big moment from first base coach Casey Coker.
“It was funny,” Posner said. “I came and said, ‘that really hurt.’ And she said, ‘You know what will hurt even more? If we lose.’ Yeah, I’m fine with getting hit if we win!”
The Whippets showed they were fine with a lot of less-than-ideal things Tuesday … so long as they added up to a spot in the championship game.
District 1-6A Playoffs
Downingtown West 4, Spring-Ford 3
DOWNINGTOWN WEST SPRING-FORD
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Coker 3 3 2 0 Reid 3 1 1 0
Gallagher 4 0 1 0 Peck 4 0 0 0
Posner 3 0 2 4 Ryan 4 1 1 2
DeFreitas 4 0 0 0 Hughes 4 0 2 0
Beebe 4 0 0 0 Walsh 4 0 1 0
Dailey 2 0 0 0 DellaGuardia 4 1 2 0
Grandazio 2 0 0 0 Heine 3 0 1 0
Lioumis 2 0 0 0 Sharkey 2 0 0 0
Sinkus 3 1 1 0 Little 3 0 0 1
Totals 27 4 6 4 Totals 31 3 8 3
Downingtown West 101 000 2 — 4
Spring-Ford 100 011 0 — 3
E — DW 2. 2B-DellaGuardia. 3B-DellaGuardia. HR-Ryan. SB-Coker 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
Downingtown West
Beebe (W) 7.0 8 3 1 1 2
Spring-Ford
Peck (L) 7.0 6 4 4 3 5
