North Penn’s Julia Shearer is The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2023 Softball Athlete of the Year

As a junior North Penn’s Julia Shearer put together a stellar season that earned her selection as Gatorade Pennsylvania Softball Player of the Year.

And if there were any doubters remaining, Shearer had an encore – winning the award as a senior after a dominant year pitching coupled with extraordinary numbers at the plate as the Knights completed a perfect season by winning the PIAA Class 6A championship.

“I did get a lot of heat for it especially in the beginning of the year, people say I was overrated and stuff like that,” Shearer said. “It’s not even about the award – it’s just proving myself to all these teams. But I guess winning, really, it locked it in and I feel like people are starting to doubt me less I guess.

“But it’s not about the award, it’s just proving myself to other people. And that helped me a lot.”

Shearer, The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2023 Softball Athlete of the Year, finished with an undefeated 28-0 record in the circle, matching North Penn’s final mark as it claimed a second state title in three seasons and fifth in program history with a 1-0 victory over Hempfield Area in State College.

“I said before I didn’t think it was possible but looking back it makes sense that it happens because we worked so hard for this,” said Shearer of the Knights’ undefeated campaign. “Every practice we gave it 100 percent, this was our goal from the beginning. So I mean I’m not too surprised now that I’m sitting on it but in the moment it was absolutely incredible to me cause it’s something you never see happen in high school sports.”

The Maryland commit had a 0.21 earned-run average, struck out 355 batters and posted 22 shutouts – six in the postseason, including the last three PIAA games – and pitched a perfect game against Haverford in the District 1-6A final as the Knights defended their district crown.

“Especially over the winter and sometimes in the summer I work extremely hard on pitching and perfecting my pitches so to see that kind of success coming out of it, it’s really rewarding for me,” Shearer said. “Because as a pitcher you always want to be successful for your team so all the wins and the success that’s come from that, I feel like if I wasn’t a hard worker none of that wouldn’t of happened.

“And also if I didn’t have such a great team behind me that wouldn’t of happened. So I feel like there’s a lot of factors that go into my success but most of them is my offseason work and not giving up.”

Offensively, Shearer paced the Knights in batting average (.639), hits (53), RBIs (34), home runs (a school single-season record 11), on-base percentage (.714), slugging percentage (1.168) and tied for the team lead in doubles with nine. The Knights outscored opponents 231-10 in 2023, putting up 10 or more runs 14 times – plating a season-high 18 in the state quarterfinal win over Hazleton – in averaging 8.3 runs per game.

“Hitting’s one of my favorite parts of the sport in general and again being successful in that, it’s very rewarding,” Shearer said. “Because I’m always at my hitting coach or I’m hitting in my basement or I’m at the field so a lot of hard work goes into that. And to see the results that have come out of it, it’s great.”

A three-time Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association Class 6A all-state first team selection, Shearer played center field as a sophomore for the 2021 state championship squad. She took over as the starting pitcher her junior year and also with being named Gatorade State Player of the Year was also chosen PaHSSBCA’s Co-Pennsylvania Pitcher of the Year.

“I feel like I’ve grown into that position more than it being natural but I mean you always have to try new things,” Shearer said. “I feel like the pitching part really defines me now so I’m thankful for the opportunity.”

This season along with again earning Gatorade Player of the Year, Shearer was chosen as PaHSSBCA’s Overall Pennsylvania Player of the Year honors and was named to the Maxpreps All-America First Team.

“It’s an honor but it also proves that I wasn’t slowing down, I wasn’t going to rest on my laurels from the one award,” said Shearer of the back-to-back Gatorade honors. “Doing it twice, it does mean a lot but I feel like it’s something I should do. And I don’t know, I just expected myself to work as hard as I could to get that. And I mean getting it in the end, it was kind of like a breath of fresh air because I didn’t have to stress about it anymore.”

In her three seasons, North Penn went an astounding 79-4 with two PIAA championships, two District 1 titles, three Suburban One League Colonial Division titles while reaching the state semifinals in each year.

“I always say to people it’s not really about the record, it’s about the impact we leave on the program,” Shearer said. “And I feel like especially with this group of seniors we left a big impact on the program, I guess, with our records and all the success we had. But also, with the younger girls, we showed them what this program’s really made of, what they’re capable of and they can do anything with this program, it’s just in their hands.”

Shearer, who batted leadoff, collected multiple hits in 19 games – four times in the postseason – and had at least one hit in 25 of North Penn’s 28 games.

She opened the season going 3-for-3 with an RBI in a 3-0 victory over Tennessee High (Tenn.) March 17 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and ended the year with eight games with at least three hits, including a 4-for-4, three-RBI performance in beating Owen J. Roberts 14-0 March 31.

“I was just trying to work out of the leadoff spot, do my job for my team especially as the games were harder and harder,” Shearer said. “A lot of pressure lies on me being the leadoff batter so I don’t know I’m just proud of myself for handling all that I did this year.”

Against Bensalem May 1, Shearer belted three home runs in collecting six RBIs in an 11-1 win. She then hit home runs in the following two games – victories over Truman and Pennridge. Shearer connected on three more homers in the postseason, solo shots against Methacton (second round) and Ridley (quarters) in districts and a two-run blast as the Knights routed Hazelton in the state quarters.

“I want to say I started hitting for power more this season,” Shearer said. “I think I had like 11 home runs which not really used to cause I played with speed, I’m not always trying to hit a home run every time but when it does happen it’s the best feeling cause I always have my teammates waiting for me at home, it just feels great to be so supported in this.”

Shearer had multi-hit games in the Knights’ first three district games – 2-for-2 with homer against Methacton, 3-for-3 with a homer and double against Ridley then 2-for-4 with a double in the semifinals against Plymouth Whitemarsh. She also recorded a season-best 22 strikeouts against PW as the Knights edged the Colonials 3-2 in 10 innings.

“That was the hardest game one for me because it was 10 innings, too,” Shearer said. “It’s mentally and physically hard, I mean it’s hard-fought wins that mean the most in the end.”

In the district final against, Shearer was unhittable – striking out 16, including 10 of Haverford’s first 12 batters – in pitching a perfect game as the Knights secured District 1-6A gold with a 5-0 win.

“It’s rare to see a pitcher do that in a big game cause you know we’re the top two teams in the district so you’re expecting a high-scoring or a high-intensity game,” she said. “So I guess I was just proud of myself for getting through that and I had my teammates behind me obviously, they were a big part of it.”

In the six games opposing teams found a way to get a run off Shearer in 2023, only twice did they score more than once. She recorded 10 or more strikeouts in 22 contests, collecting 18 as the Knights’ began the state tournament with a 3-1 win over Governor Mifflin.

“I think being efficient is a big part of being a successful pitcher, so I was just working on getting ahead in counts, throwing as many strikes as I can, obviously getting the strikeouts along with that,” Shearer said. “so I was just working on being efficient and I mean if I made my defense work, they had to work, but that’s what they’re there for, they’re there to defend me.

“So getting a lot of strikes, a lot of swings and misses, that was my big goal. And my riseball helped me do that cause that’s a new pitch that I got this year and obviously my changeup that’s always my go to most of the time.”

Shearer struck out eight in throwing a two-hit shutout in the five-inning win over Hazleton while at the plate going 3-for-4 with a double, homer and four RBIs.

She then showed her mettle in pitching a pair of 1-0 shutouts to complete North Penn’s run to a state title. Shearer allowed two hits and struck out 15 in the semis against Chambersburg as the Knights won in eighth innings then in the final gave up four hits while striking out nine to beat Hempfield Area.

Shearer’s toughest test in the PIAA title game came in the top of the fifth after Sophia Orth’s RBI double in the fourth made it 1-0 Knights. A hit batter and a one-out double gave Hempfield runners at second and third, however Shearer worked out of the jam with a popped out to second and a ground out to third.

Hempfield put a runner on third in the sixth after a leadoff single and a sacrifice but Shearer proceeded to get a strikeout then a fly out to center field. In the seventh, Shearer sealed the title by striking out the side.

“It just meant that I had to go out and be as locked-in as ever, play with the most intensity that I could have,” she said. “And I feel like I did that because like I said in the high-pressure situations it makes me focus more I guess. Just cause it lies all on me so just always going out and providing for my team, it doesn’t matter what the score is, that’s my job so that’s what I try to do.”