District 1-6A Softball: Spring-Ford advances to title game with 2-0 win over Quakertown
UPPER PROVIDENCE >> Enough to get the job done.
That’s how things worked out for Spring-Ford Tuesday, when it hosted Quakertown in a District 1 Class 6A playoff semifinal. Though their run production wasn’t on pace with recent outings — a combined 20 runs in two playoff games last week — the Rams made it work in a 2-0 win over the Panthers at Ram Park.
A pair of third-inning runs, the second a solo home run by Bri Peck, proved to be all the offense both teams mustered in a duel of strong pitchers. But Jules Scogna made it hold up with three-hit, seven-strikeout pitching in a game that needed only an hour and twenty-six minutes to go into the books.
The Rams will face 13th-seeded Neshaminy, a 4-1 winner over Haverford, on Thursday for a District 1 title.
“I’m proud of the kids,” SF head coach Tim Hughes said. “They all worked.”
Peck (2-for-3) provided insurance for her team after it broke the 0-0 duel in the bottom of the third. After Morgan Lester (double) scored off the misplay of Noelle Reid’s grounder to third, the Rams’ senior shortstop Peck knocked a 2-1 offering from Quakertown’s Syd Andrews over the fence in straightaway center field, providing Spring-Ford (19-0) insurance that wasn’t tested the rest of the way.
“I just started sprinting,” Peck said of the start to her trip around the bases. “You never know.”
Scogna made the lead hold up by keeping eighth-seeded Quakertown from getting anything more than a pair of baserunners from the fourth inning on. Katie Muller’s leadoff single in the fifth, and Andrews’ reaching base on an error, were all the Panthers could muster down the stretch.
Scogna credited her defense for securing the breezy finish. Plays like the 4-6-3 double play Peck initiated in the fifth, and first-baseman Madison Peck’s over-the-shoulder catch of a Skyler Williams popup to start the seventh, were key to the cause.
“I just go out and throw,” the Rams’ senior hurler said. “Getting outs, I trust the defense.”
Quakertown managed just six baserunners for the game. Its other hits were singles by Williams in the second and Emma Hilton in the third; others reaching base were Laur Rose Morelock (error) in the first and Maya Hellyer (hit by pitch) in the second.
“Jules did her job, keeping the ball in play,” Hughes said. “We let the defense play, and it was solid behind her.”
Andrews’ pitching line for Quakertown saw her touched for five hits and three walks in six frames, with four strikeouts on the day.
“She was throwing more consistent pitches,” Peck said of Andrews. “Her changeup outside … it’s the first we’ve seen that in a while.”
Peck’s homer was a function of what Hughes has stressed with his players in the course of the season.
“We just focus on their (opponent) mistakes and hit line drives,” he said.
As the bracket’s highest-remaining unbeaten top seed, Spring-Ford retained home-field advantage for districts with help from Quakertown. The Panthers upset top-seeded Pennsbury Friday, 5-2, while second-seeded North Penn had been toppled by Haverford in last Thursday’s quarterfinals, 5-0.
The Rams have Neshaminy standing between them and the district’s championship trophy. Their last season of competition (2019), they ended up third in the district before going on to reach the PIAA semifinal round.
“We’re going to go out and play our game, bringing the energy,” Scogna predicted.
NOTES >> Hughes on his team’s seeding despite its unbeaten record: “It was the points system, with us not having any non-league games. It was a similar situation a couple years ago. It is what it is.” … Madi Walsh was the recipient of two of the Rams’ walks. The second was an intentional pass. … Bri Peck and Lexi Wescott moved into scoring position in the fifth with simultaneous stolen bases.
