MERTZTOWN — Somebody, somewhere, for some unknown reason, apparently counted out the North Penn Knights at the start of this season.
“Everybody said we’d be lucky to even win our league,” North Penn coach Rick Torresani said. “These kids have worked so hard, they just wouldn’t give up.”
With a gutsy, high-stress, rollercoaster 9-7 win over the Central Dauphin Rams in Monday’s state semifinal at Lyons Ballfield, the reigning Class-6A state champion North Penn Knights punched their ticket to go back to the PIAA finals at Penn State University on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
The Knights, the third seed from District 1 — who are seeking their third state crown in four years — will face Council Rock South, District 1’s fifth seed, for the championship.
The Knights beat Rock South 1-0 on April 23. Thursday was North Penn’s fourth straight trip to the state semis.
Bella Nunn, North Penn’s ace righthander, nailed down the victory and also delivered the go-ahead run at the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
Six of the seven runs she gave up in the circle were unearned. The Knights led 7-1 after the third inning, but Central Dauphin put up five runs in the top of the fourth and another run in the sixth to tie it 7-7 and erase the six-run deficit.
In the bottom of the sixth, Nunn broke the tie.
“I was stressing out, but I reminded myself I needed to get a clutch hit for my team, because they’d been scoring all the runs the whole game,” said Nunn, whose two-out RBI single to center with runners at the corners scored Alyssa Veal, courtesy runner for Liv Stevens, who had been plunked in the back by a pitch. Veal advanced on a Casey Sokol base hit and a Sophia Orth fielder’s choice.
“Oh my gosh, this is the best feeling ever,” Nunn said. “Everyone said we weren’t going to be as good this year, so it’s really nice to prove all the haters wrong. We thought we could do it.
“That was the most stressful game I think we’ve played all year,” she said. “I was freaking out a little bit, but I knew I had to keep calm and collected, because my team was doing so great at bat.”
Tallie Smink — who finished 2-for-4 with an historic homer and a pair of runs driven in — followed Nunn in the sixth with an RBI single to right that plated Sokol and accounted for the final margin.
Then it was up to Nunn to finish it off in the top of the seventh.
“In that last inning, a lot of my pitches were flying up, because my hands were shaking a little bit,” Nunn said. “But I just calmed myself down and prayed to God the whole game that He’d help me, and that helped so much.”
After a leadoff walk to the Rams’ Stella Gasper (who was CD’s starting pitcher), Nunn elicited a popout to third. Then, Gasper advanced to second base on a wild pitch. But Nunn got the next batter to ground out and the final batter to pop up out to first, and the entire Knights team erupted in celebration.
“I was like, ‘One more out, we got this, just one pitch at a time,’” Nunn said. “And then I told myself, that batter is probably freaking out just as much as I am, so they’re probably going to be swinging at a lot, because they don’t want to strike out looking in the last at-bat.”
North Penn’s Gianna Cimino, who entered the game having reached base in all eight of her PIAA playoff appearances, including a pair of home runs and a pair of doubles, went 3-for-4 with another home run, another double, and two more RBIs.
Orth finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. The Knights, who racked up nine hits, got production up and down their lineup.
“We really came together as a team,” said Smink, whose booming solo homer to left — which hit a second fence behind the field barrier, a feat accomplished by just five hitters in the 36-year history of the stadium — began a four-run third inning for North Penn that made it 7-1.
“A lot of people doubted us,” Smink said. “We wanted to prove to everyone that we are as good as last year, and we just had clutch hits, timely hits, that helped us get it done today.
“It feels amazing to be going to the state championship game,” she said. “Last year, I got to experience it as well, not playing but I still loved it, because my sister (Annabelle Smink, Drexel) was playing. I’m just so excited to play at Penn State.”
Brandi Groarke and Isabella Tubertini also had hits in the third. Tubertini lined a shot to right that got past the right fielder. It scored Groarke, and Tubertini rounded the bases and also scored.
“I had two strikes and I was just trying to get the bat on the ball,” Tubertini said. “Once I did, I saw it hop over the right fielder, I just took off. I wasn’t stopping unless the coach stopped me.
“I know, especially for us seniors, the is the best gift we could get with everybody,” Tubertini said of reaching the state final. “It’s Penn State, it’s amazing, it’s what we’ve worked hard for all year.”
Two batters after Tubertini, Cimino drilled a home run to left, punctuating the scorching-hot tear she has been on in the state playoffs.
“Honestly, I’ve just been trying not to think up there (at-bat),” Cimino said. “I tend to think a lot when I’m up there and put a lot of pressure on myself, but my teammates have been picking me up. I’m just not in my head right now, so hopefully I can stay that way.
“I’m so proud of every single person on this team,” she said. “They’re all like family at this point.”
Cimino’s leadoff single to right-center set the stage for a three-run North Penn first. It was followed by a Liv Stevens walk and RBI base hits by Sokol and Orth.
The Rams’ Kayla Fletcher led off the game with a triple, and CD loaded the bases with one in in that top of the first, but Nunn worked her way out of the jam without allowing a run.
A Knights error eventually led to Central Daphin’s first run, in the top of the second, on a Fletcher RBI single.
More North Penn fielding miscues open the floodgates for five unearned CD runs in the top of the fourth which made it 7-6, punctuated by Gasper’s double to left field.
The Rams tied the game in the top of the sixth on a solo shot to left by Allie Wenwrich.
“I’m just so extremely proud of our girls and happy, and looking forward to playing at Penn State,” Torresani said. “You get a 7-1 lead with Bella pitching and you don’t expect them to come back, but they’re a good team and they’re not going to give up, and we did make some mistakes in the field a little bit. We haven’t done that too much this year, but that’s going to happen. There’s a lot of pressure on these kids.
“All you want to do is advance, and we did,” he said. “We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
——
Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.
