Upper Moreland’s complete game tops Hammons, Springfield-Montco

UPPER MORELAND >> With the way Springfield Township senior Jen Hammons was throwing the ball Monday, Upper Moreland wasn’t going to beat he stringing bunches of hits together.

The old adage in softball is put the ball in play and see what happens. So when the opportunity arose in the fifth inning, Upper Moreland coach Scott Ludlow had his players do just that. They didn’t much, but they got enough.

Two good bunts, a couple timely hits and a stellar outing from Amber O’Connor was enough to lift Upper Moreland to a 3-2 win over Hammons and the Spartans.

“It’s a great way to start off the week and hopefully from this win we’ll be able to win our next game and stay positive,” UM sophomore catcher Chloe Tice said. “Myself this morning, I just had a great feeling about the game. I was excited to play and I hope it was the same way for everybody else.”

Tice had a big game at the plate and behind it. She doubled off Hammons her first time up, showing the Spartans ace could be hit, then dropped down a pivotal sacrifice bunt in the fifth that helped start Upper Moreland’s (9-3, 6-3 SOL American) scoring output. When the Spartans (6-5, 6-3) were making a bid for a comeback, she pushed all the right buttons with her pitcher to make sure it didn’t happen.

Hammons was tremendous, striking out 14 batters and allowing just three hits in the circle and also driving in a run. The Spartan senior, who is playing at Ursinus next year, retired 12 of the first 13 hitter she faced, Tice’s double the lone exception.

“Upper Moreland is a pretty good team, so to be in it and only lose by one, I think we played pretty well today,” Spartans co-head coach Josh Ringgold said. “It was too bad it came late instead of early, but they hung in there.

“Jen keeps us in the game every game. If we didn’t have her, it would be hard for us to be in a lot of the games with the young group we have. I’m proud of them that they stayed fighting and picked each other up.”

In the bottom of the fifth, Hammons walked Alison Creighton to start the frame, bringing up Tice as flex player Kayla Sawick came in to run. Ludlow had already talked to his team about what to do if a runner got on and Tice was up for the task.

“We talked between innings and that was the situation with the way Jen was throwing today, if we got a leadoff batter on, we needed to get her in scoring position somehow,” Ludlow said. “We couldn’t try to put two or three or four hits together today, that probably wasn’t going to happen.”

Not only did Tice put down a perfect bunt, but it got Sawick to third when Springfield’s defense didn’t cover the bag after the throw to first. Kim Benge followed with another great bunt and reached when the Spartans held Sawick at third. Hammons got the second out on a strikeout, but Upper Moreland wasn’t done.

Shortstop Brianna Byard came up and one of Hammons’ few bad pitches got away, allowing Sawick to come in and score. Byard, who hits ninth but is a capable hitter anywhere, then shot a double to deep center to score Benge. The junior scored herself on a long single by leadoff hitter Maddie Mull before Hammons was able to end the frame.

“The pitcher (Hammons) carries their team a little bit so if we put the ball in play and made them make mistakes, something would happen for us,” Tice said. “I like to do what’s best for the team. I love hitting, but whatever’s best, I’ll always do that.”

Springfield got two runs right back after leadoff hitter and catcher Mary Kate Smith walked then advanced to third on two wild pitches. That allowed Hammons to bring her home with a single before the pitcher came around on a long single by third baseman Gabby Gaskin.

Gaskin was denied a double when Benge fired a shot in to Byard from right field that cut Gaskin down at second. That big defensive play allowed O’Connor, who struck out seven and allowed only four hits, to get the next two and stop the rally.

Springfield got two runners on with two outs in the top of the seventh, turning the lineup over for Smith.

“I’m the catcher so being back there I know how to calm (O’Connor) down a little bit,” Tice said. “When she walked the one batter I was kind of worried because it was two outs but I knew she could do it. We just went outside.”

Smith connected on O’Connor’s first pitch, a sharp line that senior third baseman Allie Miller was able to get behind and snare just inches from the dirt for the final out. Ringgold was proud of his players for creating that opportunity and felt two runs could have scored if Miller hadn’t been there to make the play.

It was a good win for the Bears, who moved into a tie for second in the American with Springfield. Finding a way to beat one of the top arms in the league in Hammons only made it more gratifying.

“You have to think like you’re two-strike hitting every pitch with her,” Ludlow said. “You can’t try to kill the ball, you just have to put a bat on the ball. If you put balls in play, good things will happen. You can’t get runners if you don’t put balls in play.”