Hatboro-Horsham improves to 2-0 with win over Lansdale Catholic
HORSHAM >> As the case a lot of times when it comes to early season softball, the weather conditions were less than ideal Tuesday afternoon for the non-league matchup between Hatboro-Horsham and Lansdale Catholic.
The Hatters made their offensive strategy apparent from the opening inning. Small ball would be the name of the game for Hatboro-Horsham as it opted for bunts, stolen bases and slap hits to account for the majority of its base runners.
“When you’ve got a 40-mile-per hour wind blowing in what else are you going to do,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Joe DiFilippo said of the small-ball tactics.
The small-ball tactics worked early allowing Hatboro-Horsham to get on the visiting Crusaders as it took a 5-0 lead after the first inning. Another run the second inning on a RBI double from Bryn Griffith stood as the difference in the game as the Hatters emerged victorious 6-0.
“It wasn’t an ideal day for softball but when you jump on somebody like that in the first inning it helps,” DiFilippo said.
Griffith also helped lead a stellar, especially for an early season game, defensive effort in center field. Her catch in the top of the second ended the inning as LC stranded three runners.
“We hit into a little tough luck,” LC coach Paul Suder said. “(We had) bases loaded and hit a line dive to center field on rope and she catches it at the top of her glove. (A) couple of balls hit hard, a double play on a line drive so from that point of view I was pretty happy with the way we swung the bats.”
Although the Hatters played strong defense, it was started by the excellent pitching from Taylor Sciubba that was the difference for Hatboro-Horsham in the field. Sciubba scattered four hits and struck out eight in the complete-game shutout win.
Shannon Hill also had a nice day pitching, unfortunately for the LC hurler, her Hatter counterpart outshined her efforts.
“She definitely could have been out of a few innings there if we make the plays behind her,” Suder said. “I though Shannon threw well.”
As the Hatters now move to 2-0 on the season, Lansdale Catholic looks to rebound when it starts Philadelphia Catholic League play Thursday. Suder is not concerned about some of the minor miscues Tuesday as he attributes them to a lack a of practice time over the last week.
“I think we’ll be fine,” Suder said. “It’s just the fact that we haven’t got enough repetitions for our girls and when you take five days off that’s just a killer.”
