North Penn edges Hatboro-Horsham in District 1-6A playbacks to earn PIAA berth

TOWAMENCIN >> Bri Wilmot put bat to ball then tried connecting with a higher power in the hope of having it drop in for a hit.

“I was just praying to God it was going over her head,” North Penn softball’s sophomore first baseman said.

Wilmot got enough of the pitch to loft it over the Hatboro-Horsham second baseman and into right field, her two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning scoring Sarah Sabocsik from third base to break the scoreless tie in Tuesday afternoon’s District 1-6A fifth-place semifinal.

“I kind of just thought this is the best pitch I’m getting,” Wilmot said. “So I just swung at it as hard as I could.”

In the seventh, Mady Volpe waited for another ball to drop – this one falling into her glove, the senior catching a pop out in the pitcher’s circle to work out of a two-out, runners on second and third jam to seal No. 2 seed North Penn’s 1-0 victory over the visiting No. 3 Hatters.

“It felt pretty cool getting the last out,” said Volpe, who gave the ball an emphatic spike to celebrate the win. “Especially on the last home game for me.”

Upset losses last Thursday in their respective district quarterfinals – NP to No. 7 Haverford, Hatboro-Horsham against No. 11 Neshaminy – set up a rematch of the teams’ May 7 contest at HH that went eight innings before the Knights claimed a 1-0 win.

Tuesday was another tense pitchers’ duel between Coastal Carolina commit Volpe and HH junior Kendal Leitner, the two right-handers each allowing just one hit but North Penn (21-2) again getting late clutch offense to qualify for its third straight PIAA Tournament.

“She’s a great pitcher, she’s a great player, I have a lot of respect for her and this Hatboro team – they’re no joke,” said Volpe of Leitner. “Both teams came out with their A game and it’s like I said it’s the team that make adjustment and has that hitting and good defense. So I think we really bounced back from last game, I feel like that really was a little eye-opener for us.”

North Penn visits No. 1 Pennsbury – a 3-0 winner over No. 5 Downingtown West in the other playback – in the 6A fifth-place game Thursday. The Knights fell 4-3 at Pennsbury April 20.

“That loss that we had the other day (5-0 to Haverford in the quarters) was devastating but they came back, worked hard yesterday, came back today and played awesome defense,” Knights coach Rick Torresani said. “I feel bad for them, I really do cause that’s a good team and they should still be in it but I’m just happy as hell.”

Thursday’s winner faces the District 11 champ (Northampton or Whitehall) in the state first round while loser takes sixth place and meets the District 3 champ (Chambersburg or Warwick).

“No matter what, we’ll come ready to play whether it’s the fifth seed or the sixth seed,” said Torresani of states, which begins Monday. “We just wanted to make states, I wanted to make sure Mady made states in her senior year and they did so that’s what I’m really happy for.”

Hatboro-Horsham, which went undefeated in claiming the SOL Liberty Division title, ends its season at 20-3, the Hatters’ losses in the quarters and playbacks denying them their first PIAA appearance since 2012.

“I’m going to give North Penn and their players a ton of credit and wish them the best on Thursday,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Kelly Krier said. “They fought, we fought. They had the opportunity and they took advantage of it. We had a couple there at the end, we fought to that last pitch as well. But both Kendal and Mady pitched great games. It was exciting to coach, exciting to be a part of.”

Volpe threw her second shutout in this year’s districts for the SOL Colonial champs, allowing just one hit – a single to Kayla Tauber in the fourth – walked four and struck out 10 – striking out the side in the top of the third.

“I had a pitching lesson yesterday and all I worked was my rise and my change, my go-to pitches,” Volpe said. “Obviously I was working my screwball as well but rise and change were my go-tos.”

Leitner took the loss despite a superb effort, the junior giving up one run – unearned – on one hit, walking four and striking out eight.

“It’s what she’s done all season,” Krier said. “Mentally, she just really locks in and when she’s locked in like that, she just has total control. And what she does really well is if a girl gets a walk or gets on, she doesn’t get too frazzled. She buckles down and either pitches out of it or pitches in a way that they ground out.”

After Volpe put the Hatters down in order in the top of the sixth, Sabocsik stared the bottom half of the inning by reaching first after an error on her bunt. A pop out on a bunt attempt kept Sabocsik on first but the sophomore catcher stole second then went to third on a wild pitch.

A strikeout brought up Wilmot with two outs and the go-ahead run still 60 feet away. After walking and a striking out in her first two plate appearances, the sophomore registered North Penn’s lone hit, dropping an opposite field single into right, scoring Sabocsik for the 1-0 lead.

“I tried to just relax and focus on not swinging at the high ones,” Wilmot said. “I was kind of trying to make sure I at least got a hit, make up for G’s (Gianna Cimino) at-bat cause I know she was pretty disappointed about it but yeah I was just trying not to let my team down.”

In the top of the seventh, Amya Lundy led off with a walk and went to second on Leitner’s sacrifice bunt. Marissa Rapino followed with another walk to put two on with one out. An Alyssa Tooley sac bunt advanced the runners to second and third with two out but Volpe got the next batter to pop up to her in the pitcher’s circle.

“I just feel like we’ve been in those pressure situations a couple times this year,” Volpe said. “And it’s just like ‘OK, I know what to do here, I know that my team has my back no matter what.’”

Kristen Myers began the top of the first with a walk but Volpe proceeded to retire the next nine Hatters – five by strikeout – before Tauber collected the game’s first hit, the Saint Joseph’s commit leading off the fourth with a single to center. An error on a pickoff attempt allowed Tauber to take second but Volpe stranded her there with back-to-back strikeouts and a soft liner to the shortstop.

Hatboro-Horsham put another runner on second in the fifth after Rapino started the inning with a walk and Tooley’s sac bunt. Volpe, however, ended the threat with a strikeout and ground out on a bunt.

North Penn got its first runner past first base in the bottom of the fifth with Sophia Collins drawing a one-out walk and advancing to second on Rachel Lowry’s sac bunt. But things remained 0-0 when Leitner got the next batter to ground out to short.