PERFECT ENDING: North Penn completes undefeated season with PIAA-6A championship

STATE COLLEGE >> On the first day of softball workouts in the fall, North Penn coach Rick Torresani put 28-0 on the scoreboard. It was a lofty goal, but a possible one for a team that returned a strong core of players that won a state championship in 2021 and a District 1 championship in 2022.

They achieved that goal Thursday evening.

Gianna Cimino and Sophia Orth hit back-to-back two-out doubles in the bottom of the fourth inning and that was enough offense for Julia Shearer, who threw her 22nd shutout of the season in a 1-0 win over Hempfield Area in the PIAA-6A state championship game at Penn State University’s Beard Field.

“As the season went on we started thinking that goal was more and more possible,” Shearer said, “especially in states – you can’t lose in states or you’re done. We were really pushing the last few games. It means so much because it’s so rare that you see a team go undefeated, especially against the great competition that we faced.”

Shearer was dominant once again in the circle. The lefty scattered four hits and struck out nine batters to one walk. She stranded five Hempfield runners in scoring position.

Shearer’s biggest challenge came in the top of the fifth inning. She hit the leadoff batter and, after a sacrifice bunt attempt was caught by catcher Sarah Sabocsik, allowed a one-out double. With the tying run on third and go-ahead run on second and the top of Hempfield’s order up, Shearer got a pop up to Cimino at second base and a groundout to Orth at third.

“There’s always a lot of pressure in those close games,” Shearer, who also pitched the Knights to an extra-inning 1-0 win over Chambersburg in the state semifinals, said. “I feel like in those close games it makes us play better. There’s no room for error. There’s no room to let a ball go passed you or take a pitch off in the field. I really think our defense stepped up in that way. They didn’t take a pitch off. They had my back through everything. If I missed my pitch, they would field it and get an out for me. It’s more fun playing these games, honestly, than blowing out every single team. It just feels that much better to win a 1-0 game.”

“When it’s on the line,” Torresani said, “there’s nobody better. I’ve never had a kid in 30 years or seen a kid in 30 years do what (Shearer has) done for this program. She’s the best player that I’ve ever seen in the state and maybe nationally. She just does everything right and a constant, really good leader. She just leads these girls and gets them prepared. It’s easy for me as a coach because I know I have these five seniors, led by her, to do the job.”

Shearer stranded the tying run on second base in the top of the sixth inning before striking out the side in the seventh to start the celebration.

The Knights scored their only run with a two-out rally in the fourth. With two down and nobody on, Cimino ripped a double over the center fielder’s head. Orth followed with a line drive double into the right-center field gap, scoring Cimino for what proved to be the deciding run.

“I knew she was going to throw me outside,” Orth said. “She’d been throwing us outside the first pitch the whole game. I wasn’t going to look at it. I knew I was going to take it, stay in on the ball and take it right to right-center field because I knew that’s the only spot where I want to hit it. I know with two outs I’m not trying to hit it at any of the fielders, just take it where it’s pitched and stay calm.”

“There’s a kid that was a catcher, we put her at third base,” Torresani said of Orth. “She never played there before and she just did an outstanding job all through the playoffs and all through the season. She had some clutch hits throughout the year, but that was huge. You can’t ask for anything more from a kid who was on the JV team last year and came up and did so well.”

Casey Sokol went 3-for-3 at the plate for the Knights while Orth was 2-for-3. Shearer went 1-for-1, bunting for a single on the only pitch she saw all game. She was intentionally walked twice.

Spartans (21-4) pitcher Riley Miller took the loss. The sophomore allowed one run on seven hits in six innings. She struck out three batters to the two intentional walks.

North Penn 1, Hempfield 0

Hempfield 000 000 0 – 0 4 0

North Penn 000 100 x – 1 7 0

WP: Julia Shearer 7 IP 9 K 1 BB 4 H 0 R

LP: Riley Miller 6 IP 3 K 2 BB 7 H 1 R

2B: H: Margaret Howard. NP: Casey Sokol, Gianna Cimino, Sophia Orth.