Lots to be decided in softball season’s final weeks
It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but the regular season portion of the high school softball calendar is quickly coming to a close.
With a little more than three weeks left, teams in the Reporter, Montgomery and Times Herald areas are going to be making a push to get into districts and fight for the best available seeding. District 1 hasn’t released power rankings just yet, but those should come early next week.
Even a very preliminary ranking would do a lot to take some of the fog off the landscape, where teams have seemed to go round-robin in beating each other up in conference play, where the coveted power ranking points come from. The level of parity has been high for the most part, especially in the Suburban One League Continental Conference.
It might be reasonable to rename the conference the SOL Clog-inental for the rest of the season, with six of the eight teams having at least four wins with either four or five games to play. Thursday’s rain threw a wrench into the schedule, but still saw Quakertown and Central Bucks East tied at the top with a 6-2 SOL record.
Close behind is North Penn at 5-3 in the league. The Maidens beat Quakertown in their first meeting and were going to play CB East for a second time Thursday, but the weather pushed that one back to May 9.
Behind the top three is a three-team tie for third with four wins. Hatboro-Horsham and CB South each had 4-5 records after Thursday when the Titans topped the Hatters Wednesday afternoon while Souderton’s game with Quakertown was pushed back because of the rain. CB West is 3-5 in conference while Pennridge has struggled to a 1-7 league record.
It’s been tough for teams to string together long winning streaks. North Penn started 4-0 in the league but is just 1-3 since, showing the ebb and flow in the Continental this season. Souderton and Hatboro-Horsham also have the lineups to get right back in it, but the key for these three teams is finding consistency each game.
Still, anytime one of these teams meets, the outcome is anything but a given. The area teams in the conference will turn to their seniors even more these next few weeks as the need to pick up wins intensifies.
North Penn has catcher Jovanna Alfonsi and infielder Katie Beer, Souderton has Angie Carty, Missy Wiley, Savannah Bostwick and Dayna Shelly, the Hatters look to Kaeli Simmons and Dee Moyer while the Bucks have their sole senior Abby Morrison as they continue to show plenty of growth from last season.
Quakertown and East still have control, but as this season has shown, they can be beaten.
TENNENT TAKES AIM
Last year, the Panthers were the 23rd team into the district playoffs in Class AAAA.
That seems good, except only 23 teams actually make the cut, with the No. 1-9 seeds all getting first round byes. Still, Tennent exceeded expectations with an upset of Spring-Ford in the first round before losing in the second round.
This year, the Panthers not only want to get back in the playoff hunt, but they want to do it as a higher seed. Just past the halfway mark of SOL National play, they’re in a pretty good spot. Tennent is currently 5-3 in the National, third place behind 8-0 Neshaminy and 6-1 Council Rock North.
The Panthers were swept by North and lost their first meeting with Neshaminy, but considering those are two of the stronger teams in the district, none are really bad losses. Senior shortstop and cleanup hitter Jackie Heim has authored a stellar season so far.
A conference title is likely out of reach, but the Panthers do face Neshaminy one more time and if they can handle business with the rest of the conference, they probably won’t have to sweat out even making the field.
VIKINGS CRUISING
After senior catcher Micaela Ghanayem asked for a player’s only meeting early in Upper Merion’s season, the Vikings have been tearing up the SOL American.
Upper Merion is atop the league with an 8-0 American mark and an 11-1 record overall, having gone without a loss since early April. Coach John Whitney has a core group of seniors which also includes pitcher Olivia Sborlini, first baseman Dezerea Kandy and outfielder Abby Volpe.
Having won the American the last three years, the seniors want to make it four-in-four years and also bring home the program’s first Class AAA district title and state playoff bid. Sborlini is a top pitcher in the American and if she gets run support, the Vikings are a very tough team to beat.
They haven’t locked anything up yet however, with Springfield Twp hanging around with a 6-1 conference record. The Vikings did handle the Spartans in their first meeting, but that’s enough to keep them focused, plus Whitney has a few tough non-league games coming up.
AMERICAN HUSTLE
While the Vikings have seniors all over, much of the conference is pretty young.
Upper Dublin routinely starts two or three freshmen, plus a number of sophomores as it continues to grow.
Cheltenham graduated a lot last year and while outfielder Maddie Gianelle is still an all-league player, the lineup around her is fresh-faced or inexperienced and it’s a similar story at Norristown where a young group is rotating into bigger roles.
Plymouth Whitemarsh and Upper Moreland, both tied for third with 4-3 conference records, have a mix of experienced core players and younger kids filling in the spaces. PW is coming off a 2-12 season and has been playing much better behind its seniors like Marissa McBride, Ashley Yeager, Elena Iannuzzelli and Amanda Galcyzk. The Bears are led by vets like senior third baseman Allie Miller and shortstop Brianna Byard.
Springfield, a Class AA school, is 6-3 overall with a relatively young roster. What the Spartans have helping them is a senior ace in Jen Hammons, a multi-year starter who improved her command over the summer and has kept her team in almost every game. With the Class AA field including only four teams, including usual title contenders Christopher Dock and St. Basil Academy, the Spartans will need a top-form Hammons if they want to surprise some people in the postseason.
TRAILBLAZING PIONEERS
It was fair to expect that Dock wouldn’t get off to a booming start after graduating a significant portion of its starting lineup.
The Pioneers did open up 3-4, but two of those losses were to Neshaminy and BAL Class A power Bristol. Since falling to District 3 school Oley Valley on April 21, the Pioneers have won four in a row and are 7-1 in the BAL with a rematch at Bristol slated for Friday, April 29.
Dock has gotten a big lift from senior Ella Barlick in the pitching circle and she’s been very strong as the No. 1 hurler. Junior shortstop Jill Bolton can swing the bat, sophomore Emily Groake is also a capable pitcher and infielder and seniors like Lanae Hunsberger, Maddie Swartley and Natalie Schweizer provide the leadership.
The Pioneers have lost the last two District I title games to St. Basil, and with only one team advancing to states, this group has eyes on turning the tables.
WATCHING WOOD
Archbishop Wood is putting together a pretty nice season in the PCL, standing at 6-1 after Thursday’s game at St. Hubert was postponed to May 4.
At 6-3 overall, the Vikings are certainly on their way to improving on last season’s 6-10 season. Coach Kevin Rosini, in his second year at the helm, has the team heading for a PCL playoff bid and a chance to go a bit deeper than it did last season.
Probably the biggest reason for Wood’s success was the addition of Marisa Browne to the roster. The sophomore, who transferred from St. Basil, immediately took hold of the pitching spot and has delivered a lot of strike and hasn’t given up a lot of runs.
Wood can hit a little, but the team’s biggest struggle this season has been driving in those runners once they get on base. There are bats up and down the order, and if they can get going in some of those big spots, Wood could make a little run late in the season.
A big test comes to town early next week when PCL leader Archbishop Ryan visits on Tuesday. The Vikings also have a date at Lansdale Catholic looming, a big game for Class AAA purposes.
UNDER THE LIGHTS
The end of the season means (hopefully) better weather and longer hours of sunlight. With that, it also brings up some evening games to finish up the schedule.
Pennridge, which plays at Druckenmiller Park, has a couple of night starts coming up the next two weeks, Dock and Souderton’s annual night game is set for next Friday and Upper Merion has some lights-only affairs, including a nonleague title with PAC-10 power Perkiomen Valley.
It’s not always friendly to deadline writers, but night games are fun and a nice reward for teams after a long season of hard work.
