Lansdale Catholic cruises past Bishop McDevitt in 3 innings

LANSDALE >> Consistent hitting has been something a young Lansdale Catholic softball team is working to find in the early portion of this season. But Crusaders coach Paul Suder is confident that as the temperatures get warmers, so will LC’s bats.

“We got to hit. I really believe this team can hit, we’ve got some got hitters. We’ve never been played well in the cold weather,” Suder said. “You look back on our history in softball up here, we usually start slow and get better as the season goes on. We’re just a warm hitting team.”

Wednesday afternoon was cool and blustery, but the bigger factor in LC collecting just five hits was the pitching struggles of visiting Bishop McDevitt. Ten walks helped the Crusaders stay unbeaten in Philadelphia Catholic League play with a 15-0 victory in three innings.

“The one good thing is you get some players in that haven’t had the opportunity to play and they come down here and they practice all the time, they practice just as hard as the rest of the girls,” Suder said. “And oftentimes they’re asked to pinch run or maybe get a pinch at-bat. So, it’s a good opportunity to get kids in to play like that and then to see them do good. That’s rewarding to see their hard work pay off.”

Junior Erin Llewellyn got the chance to be the starting pitcher for Lansdale Catholic (3-1, 3-0 league) and after giving up a leadoff walk in the top of the first, retired the next nine McDevitt batters — the last seven by strikeout — to earn the win.

“My fastball was throwing pretty good and my drop curve I was really liking that today,” Llewellyn said.

Nadia Schimony was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored while Rachael Harryn, Abby Caruso, Taylor Molettiere and Megan Maloney also collected two RBIs.

Vanessa DiBucci took the loss for Bishop McDevitt (1-2, 1-2), the right-hander giving up four earned runs in 1/3 of an inning.

“Pitching is a concern, it’s been a concern here for a long time,” Lancers coach Bill Holden said. “Just trying to get consistency at that position is tough, but we have some girls I think will get better as the season goes on.”

McDevitt beat West Catholic 16-1 for its first win Tuesday, but a day later the Lancers had only two batters reach base — Bridget Glasgow on a walk and Jessica Kaczmarczyk on a fielder’s choice — both in the first inning.

“We’re at a point right now where we’re starting to get better. We’re young, we only have one senior,” Holden said. “We had some injuries and some sicknesses, so we’re a little shorthanded,”

Lansdale Catholic steps out of PCL play its next two games, hosting Holy Cross out of Dunmore noon Saturday then visits Mount St. Joseph 3:45 p.m. Monday.

“We have to hit the ball better. We’re really not hitting it. Alessandra Messina’s been tearing the cover off the ball, we haven’t been able to get anybody on in front of her,” Suder said. “We’re going to have to figure out a way to get on in front of her so she can drive in runs. And we’re still young. Other than pitcher, catcher and center fielder, everyone’s an underclassmen.

“Got to play a little better defense. It hasn’t cost us or hurt us yet, but when we play the (Archbishop) Ryans and the (Cardinal) O’Haras, the (Saint) Huberts and we made the mistakes, they’re going to make us pay.”
Bishop McDevitt’s stay in the league for its next contest, visiting St. Hubert Tuesday.

In the bottom of the first, Maggie Wunder, Lauren Crim and Messina all walked to load the bases. A fielder’s choice by Harryn scored Wunder with consecutive walks by Llewellyn and Caruso bringing home Crim. With the bases still loaded Molettiere was hit by a pitch to make it 3-0 while Maloney’s RBI ground out plating Llewellyn’s courtesy runner Delaney Smith.

“Basically, at-bat we just had to wait just for that right pitch cause they weren’t always the perfect pitches. You just had to wait for it,” Llewellyn said. “

The Crusaders tacked on three more in the second. Harryn’s bases-loaded RBI sacrifice fly to center made it 5-0. Llewellyn and Caruso again drew consecutive walk to score another run with Molettiere’s RBI fielder’s choice giving LC a 7-0 advantage.

Lansdale Catholic finished things by scoring eight times in batting around in the bottom of the third. Emily Yost’s one-out RBI single scored Schimony — who led off with a base hit — while Llewellyn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 9-0. After back-to-back RBI walks by Tori Bloemker and Nicole Passerini, Maloney added another run with her RBI fielder’s choice. Schimoney’s two-RBI single pushed the margin to 14-0 with Rebecca Murgia’s RBI fielder’s choice ending the game by 15-run rule.