William Tennent walks off against Wissahickon in extra innings to open District 1-6A playoffs
WARMINSTER >> Giselle McLaughlin had plenty of time to think about her upcoming at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.
A lengthy and confusing series of umpire, coach and umpire and more umpire discussions gave the William Tennent outfielder a lot of time to contemplate a lot of things like the tying run standing at third base, her three previous at-bats that had ended in outs and the end result of all that meeting that left her senior teammates called out and in need of a pick-up. McLaughlin hadn’t reached prior to the eighth, but she had been making adjustments.
McLaughlin was the hero, ripping a walk-off two-run home run to right field, giving the No.14 Panthers a 7-6 eight-inning win over No. 19 Wissahickon in the opening round of the District 1-6A softball tournament on Monday.
“I kept going through my head, I was really nervous,” McLaughlin said. “I was just standing there nervous the entire time. If she was out or safe, it didn’t matter, I needed to score the run on third because it was the most important run.”
“I made a lot of changes and they worked, so it felt really good.”
Monday’s contest packed a game’s worth of dramatics into the last two innings alone and both teams showed plenty of heart, fight and resilience as both fought to keep their respective seasons alive. It was also a much better game than their regular season meeting when the Trojans clocked the Panthers 13-2 as Tennent was just returning from a long COVID-19 protocol related layoff.
Wiss coach Mike Borkowski knew that first game wasn’t a fair representation of the Panthers but he also wasn’t surprised his young and short-handed team never considered the thought of giving up. While just one team gets to celebrate in the postseason, there was plenty for Wissahickon to be proud of in its effort Monday and throughout the season.
SOFTBALL FINAL (8 inn): (14) William Tennent 7, (19) Wissahickon 6
Giselle McLaughlin walks it off with a two-run home run to right that sends Panthers into second round
Tennent will face (3) Hatboro-Horsham on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/cj0VUqCSxZ— Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3) May 24, 2021
“That’s what happens in the playoffs,” Borkowski said. “I told my players you never know what’s going to happen, so just swing the bat and work hard. It was a great game, we went up, they went up, kept going back-and-forth, just a great game.”
In fact, the Trojans took the first lead of the day when senior captain and starting pitcher Emma Clayborne drove home a run in the top of the first and twice held leads that put the Panthers three outs away from saying their goodbyes to the season. Clayborne and shortstop Charlotte Horvat, who was sharp and steady defensively, were the Trojans’ only seniors this year and gave plenty of leadership and guidance to a young team.
One of those players was Emmi Fox, a sophomore who started the season playing infield on JV and ended it a starting outfielder on varsity who sparked the team’s seventh-inning rally and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on a pair of doubles as part of a 3-for-4 day. Luca Penna scored twice and had two key singles, including an eighth inning RBI that scored Fox as Wiss showed it has a lot of pieces to still build with.
“We said at the beginning of the year our goal was to make the playoffs,” Borkowski said. “We started winning games and for a little bit, thought we had a chance at a home playoff game. It’s the first time in nine years we’ve had a winning record, it was a time of a lot of growth for us, we’re doing really well and this is such a great group of kids, I’m proud of them.”
Tennent senior co-captain Mackenzie Clee had an eventful Monday afternoon. The left-hander threw every pitch for her team and scored the most pivotal run in the game prior to McLaughlin’s game-ender when she all but manufactured the tying run in the bottom of the seventh on the bases.
In a season that saw her team lose three weeks and several players test positive for COVID-19 only to return to the field and capture an SOL Freedom title, Clee wanted a little more. Not long after the game, the senior admitted she hadn’t really paused to think about all that had transpired.
“I’m on such an adrenaline rush right now, it’s unreal,” Clee said. “I can’t stop moving, that was just insane. I have no words for it right now.”
After giving up a run in the top of the first, Clee worked a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the frame. A sac bunt allowed her to score on classmate Meg Curtis’ RBI single and an RBI double by first baseman Lainey Scolese gave the Panthers their first lead of the game.
That score held until the bottom of the fifth when Clee’s younger sister Olivia, batting out of the No. 9 spot, led off with a double and Curtis was hit by a pitch to put two on for Gigi DeMito. The sophomore catcher, who called every pitch, delivered with a two-out, two-run double for a couple insurance runs.
“We didn’t give up and that’s the biggest part I think,” DeMito said. “It would have been easy for us to not come back and score those runs so it was huge to be able to come back and win like that.”
Three outs from advancing, the Panthers would have their resolve tested in a seventh inning where not much went right for them. Fox, who had been denied a chance to bat the prior inning when DeMito threw out a runner for the third out, led off with a double that sparked the Trojans.
A dropped third strike and a walk loaded the bases before Penna lined a single to right that allowed two runs to score and when Danielle Ciliberto hit a ball into left that took a tough hop past McLaughlin, the scored was suddenly tied 4-4. Wiss wasn’t done and with the help of a Tennent error, got a fourth run in to re-take the lead at 5-4.
“For Emmi to do that for us, it’s just tremendous,” Borkowski said. “It shows the character of all the girls that they really wanted to come back and they were determined. We did a good job today.
“If you’d told me that we’d have nine players the whole year and we’d be standing on William Tennent’s field in a playoff game on May 24, I would have taken it in a heartbeat.”
From up three runs to down one and three outs from ending their season, the Panthers banded together in the bottom of the seventh. Clee said the message to the team was nothing had changed and there wasn’t any reason to stop playing hard. The senior then went out and backed it up.
Clee fell behind 0-1 then drew four straight balls to reach base as the tying run. Anna Coulter put down a sac bunt but with Coulter drawing the throw to first, Clee put on the jets and took third as well. Curtis put a ball in play past the pitching circle on the first base side and that was all Clee needed, racing home and sliding in ahead of a tag to level the score at 5-5.
“It was soft off the bat and on the right side so I just decided ‘I’m going’ and ‘there’s no reason for me not to get home right now,'” Clee said. “We needed the run so I just booked it home.”
Tennent had extended the game, but Fox led off again in the eighth and roped a double again before she scored on a single by Penna that put Wissahickon in front 6-5 before Clee could get out of the inning. Once again, it was prove-it time for the host team.
“I think we showed that we have what other people think we don’t,” DeMito said. “Honestly, we’re kind of like underdogs and nobody expects us to win so we came out and did it today. We proved ourselves.”
Katie LaPlaunt worked a walk to open the home eighth, with Ella Mednick coming in to run for her. Senior Sarah Cummins followed with a ball to right field the umpire ruled hit the ground before bouncing into the fielder’s glove, but Cummins left first base thinking it was an out, leading to the series of conversations that ended with Cummins out, Mednick at third and McLaughlin up to bat.
The sophomore was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts at that point but had been talking to her coaches and teammates between trips to the plate and had a new approach ready.
“I had to elevate my hands higher because I was under every pitch,” McLaughlin said. “When I went up to bat there, I had my hands at my ear and that really helped.”
Tennent will get a chance to avenge another regular season loss in Wednesday’s second round when it heads to No. 3 Hatboro-Horsham. The Hatters topped the Panthers 8-4 in a tight regular season game but Tennent is going in with confidence after Monday’s gut-check win.
“I wanted to show that we had what it took to make it through to the next round,” DeMito said.
WILLIAM TENNENT 7, WISSAHICKON 6 (8)
WISSAHICKON 100 000 41 – 6 12 1
WILLIAM TENNENT 200 020 12 – 7 8 4
HR: WT – Giselle McLaughlin. 2B: WT – Lainey Scolese, Gigi DeMito, Olivia Clee; W – Emmi Fox 2, Emma Clayborne.
