Downingtown West rides early lead to District 1 6A Championship

MALVERN—The Whippets certainly didn’t have an easy route to a district title. After navigating a tough Ches-Mont National schedule—the top three teams all played in a district title game, with West Chester East knocking off Bishop Shanahan in the 5A final the day prior—Downingtown West had precious little time to celebrate it’s league championship before getting into a tough district 6A bracket.

West opened with a close win over a tough Souderton team, then had to get past the five seed, Conestoga, and the undefeated top seed, Spring-Ford, just to earn the right to play No. 2 North Penn in the 6A finals at Immaculata University Thursday afternoon.

The Whippets (22-2) jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first, and never looked back, cruising to a 3-2 victory over the Knights (21-2) to win the first District 1 softball championship in West history.

“It’s the most amazing feeling I’ve had as a coach,” said West coach Joey Germani. “This group of girls is incredible. No matter what was thrown at them all year—and we had our share of adversity—they just worked hard, focused, did what they had to do to get it done, and had fun doing it.”

When the Whippets finally recorded the last out of their semi-final win over Spring-Ford after a long lightning delay spent worried they might not be able to finish, and the game would revert back to a previous inning with the Rams ahead, the importance of winning every inning had to move to the forefront of the mind. West wasted no time Thursday.

Caitlin Coker, hitting a ridiculous .638, with a OPS of 2.021, on the season, strode to the plate as the Whippets’ lead-off hitter. Seconds later, she was standing at second base with a double to the gap. Taylor Posner took advantage of the scoring opportunity, taking a pitch to deepest center field for a home run and a 2-0 Whippets’ lead.

“It’s always nice to get the early lead, but when it started to rain late in the game, it was definitely good to know we’d led all the way,” said Coker. “I’ve had high expectations for this team. I knew if we worked at it, we could go far. It’s incredible to know we are the first district champs.”

North Penn cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning, pushing across an unearned run on a couple of West errors, and an RBI single from Elia Namey. The Whippets escaped further damage when centerfielder Meghan Sinkus caught a fly ball and unleashed a bullet to catcher Coker at home to nail a Knights’ runner trying to tag up.

With the early jitters out of the way, West, and starting pitcher Natalie Beebe, settled in, allowing just two base runners the next five innings. Beebe went the distance for the pitching victory, allowing two runs—neither earned—on five hits. She struck out 3 and didn’t walk a batter.

“We knew they had to be a good hitting team or they wouldn’t be in district finals,” Coker, who calls pitches behind the plate, said of North Penn. “But we also know that Nat is a great pitcher. All of her pitches were on today, so we just had to have her back defensively. Her endurance is crazy. She’s pitched like 25 games this year and she never seems tired. She’s amazing.”

Coker, as previously noted, is really good at softball, yet teams continue to pitch to her. Leading off in the top of the fourth, Coker delivered yet again, stroking a double to the wall in right center, then came in to score when Posner picked up her third RBI of the day with a single up the middle.

“It felt so good to get that early cushion,” said Posner, just a sophomore. “And amazing to get the win. This season has been an incredible experience. We have a lot of great players coming back, and I think if we all just stay together and play like we can, we can get back here.”

The Knights had one last gasp in the bottom of the seventh. Jamie Beer led off, and reached on a single to left, moving up to second on a wild pitch. Beebe got the next two outs, a pop up to Coker just in front of the plate, and a weak come-backer with Beer moving to third. Lizzy Stark followed, hitting a sharp grounder to short. Brooke Dailey went to her right, made a nice backhand stop, and fired to first, and the Whippets began to celebrate.

Not so fast.

The umpire ruled that the West first baseman had pulled her foot, meaning Stark was safe and Beer had scored, making it a one-run game. But the next hitter hit a short pop up. Posner camped out underneath, and squeezed it for the no-doubt last out, and a proper celebration ensued. 

While the Whippets have certainly earned the right to celebrate their district championship, come Monday and the start of the PIAA championship tourney, they will need to be ready to go again. West will play the loser of the District 1 fifth place game between Haverford and Conestoga, at a site and time to be determined.

“While we are definitely going to enjoy this high for a couple of days, in this sport, you have to have a short memory,” said Coker. “And that goes for successes as well as putting mistakes behind you. Ultimately, though, we have to get back to working hard so we can play well in states.”