Council Rock North softball concludes season at Perk Valley

COLLEGEVILLE – Council Rock North came into its District 1-AAAA second round game averaging 10 runs over their past six games.

Perkiomen Valley’s Abby Wild made sure that average went down … in a big way.

Wild was sensational May 25 in her first district start as she silenced the big bats of Council Rock North (16-5) in a scintillating complete-game effort while also benefitting from the Vikings’ six-run second inning en route to a pretty convincing 8-1 victory.

“I was a little nervous in the first inning,” Wild said. “But usually once I get through the first, I’m fine.”

There was no evidence of nerves in her pitching display. The junior showed near flawless command in the circle, working the minimum in three of the seven innings. She finished the game allowing six hits and one run (zero earned) while recording eight strikeouts. She has 16 strikeouts in her last 12 innings pitched.

The Lady Vikings (19-4) advance to the District 1-AAAA quarterfinals for the second straight season and will host the winner of North Penn and Quakertown Friday at 4 p.m. Council Rock North’s season ends after compiling a 16-win year under first-year head coach John Engelhardt. Nicole Rounsavill and Lauren Begg each finished with two hits in the loss.

“Wild pitched a helluva game, she pitched a great game,” Engelhardt said. “Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap and say ‘you know what, they beat us today’. That’s what they did.”

PV, anemic on offense in the team’s PAC-10 Championship loss to Spring-Ford, made up for matters as the Vikings sent out 11 batters to the plate in the tide-turning second.

Noelle McCullough led the frame off with a single that was followed by a Wild walk. Ashley Bangert then made it 1-0 with a RBI single before Gillian Barrie (3-for-3, three runs) answered the next at bat with a single to center to bring home Jordan Sell to make it 2-0. Taylor Hamm then brought home Bangert in the next at bat, laying down a perfectly placed bunt down the first base line to make it 3-0 before Ana Bruni capped things off in spectacular style.

The senior University of South Florida commit took a first pitch fastball and slapped it to the base of the center field fence racing around the bases as Barrie and Hamm scored before sliding in safely at home to cap the momentous inside-the-park home run and give PV a 6-0 lead.

“In a format like this, you have to play perfect to get to that next level, to be a district champion, to be a state champion,” Engelhardt said. “Our motto from Day 1, the wins and losses go away, the character and the person you are stays with you for the rest of your life.

“That’s why ­— I’ve only been coaching these girls for five months — I’m pretty emotional. It’s been the best bunch that I’ve ever coached and I’m sad that we weren’t able to bring home a championship for them because I know these girls deserve it.”

The past four years have not been easy for Rock North seniors Amanda Camp, Nicole Rounsavill, Kalli Segel and Hannah Stalker. Current skipper John Engelhardt is their third coach in three seasons.

Before this, Engelhardt had coached girls volleyball but never softball. The coach says this senior group gets a lot of the credit for the Lady Indians’ 12-2 mark in the Suburban One National League and first-round district playoff win.

“The impact that they’ve had on me as a coach, to have seniors buy in – keep in mind this is their third coach in three years and I’m a guy with no softball experience – to buy in from the start, speaks volumes,” said Engelhardt.

“I want to put these girls in an environment to be successful because they are such good kids and they want to win.

“They’ve had so much adversity throughout their four years of high school softball that I would have loved to been able to send them off to college with a successful run.”

In a District 1 playoff opener that took two days to complete against 20th-seeded Methacton (12-9), Camp put the Rock in a good position to win when she tossed three scoreless innings in a starting role before giving way to freshman reliever Jenna Khantzian in the fourth inning and then a thunderstorm that delayed the outcome of the contest in the fifth.

Before the rains came, Segel hit her second home run of the season when she hit the first pitch she saw over the center field fence with two outs in the bottom of the second inning. The monster hit by the senior turned out to be the winning run.

Taking the field on day two with a 1-0 lead, the Indians’ padded their edge to 2-0 with a lone run in their half of the fifth inning. A walk and a two-base error gave the Rock runners at second and third, though Methacton nearly got out of the jam when starting pitcher Meg Stauffer induced a liner back to the circle then threw to third base for the double play.

North leadoff hitter Sabrina Crane then slapped an RBI single that gave the Indians that coveted insurance run.

The Warriors had a chance to do some damage in the sixth when they loaded the sacks on an Annalese Olivieri double, a walk to Dani Duda and a single by Paulina Lowery.

Rock freshman reliever Jenna Kantzian bore down however and retired the side in order from there, inducing a popup to Abby Penjuke, and fanning Samantha Weil-Kasper and Gabe Doran.

“Earlier in the season she was used to just blowing the ball right by people but at this level you can’t just throw the ball right over the plate,” said Engelhardt. “When they got the bases loaded, she bore down and started hitting her spots.”

The coach says he would have been happy had Khantzian limited the Warriors to a lone run in the sixth. To escape the inning with no damage done was remarkable for any pitcher, never mind the fact you have a 9th-grader pitching in her first ever district playoff game.

When Khantzian came off the field, Engelhardt was waiting for who will surely be his ace next season with a giant bear hug.

“I keep telling the girls, ‘if we play our game, we can play with anyone,’” said Engelhardt. “If we lose in this tournament, it’s because somebody beat us, not because we came out not focused and didn’t play our game.

‘The last two days, we showed that even though we didn’t get many breaks, we were able to win.”

Though the Rock waves goodbye to the four graduates, next year, the Indians will welcome back returning starters Sabrina Crane – centerfielder and the team’s leadoff hitter, catcher Taylor Amazeen, Lauren Begg, third baseman Taylor Briggs, right fielder Elena Calibeo, Madison Tomlinson and of course, Khantzian.

Steve Sherman contributed to this news piece. You can contact him at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter. Contact Sam Stewart at sstewart@pottsmerc.com OR @Samuel_Stewart7 on Twitter

DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAAA (first round)

Council Rock North 2, Methacton 0

(May 23 at CR North)

METHACTON 000 000 0 – 0 6 0

CR NORTH 010 010 X – 2 5 1

WP – Amanda Camp; LP – Megan Stauffer

2B – Abby Penjuke (M), Annalese Olivieri (M); HR – Kalli Segel (CRN)

RBIs: CRN-Segal, Sabrina Crane

MULTIPLE HITS: M-Aubrey Seal 2-for-4, Paulina Lowery 2-for-3

DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAAA (second round)

Perkiomen Valley 8, Council Rock North 1

(May 25 at PV)

CR NORTH 000 010 0 – 1 6 1

PERK VALLEY 060 101 0 – 8 10 0

WP: Abby Wild; LP: Amanda Camp.

EXTRA-BASE HITS: CRN — Kalli Segal 2B; PV — Ana Bruni HR.

MULTIPLE HITS: CRN — Nicole Rounsavill 2-for-3, Lauren Begg 2-for-3; PV — Ana Bruni 2-for-4, Gillian Barrie 3-for-3.

RBIs: CRN — Madison Tomlinson; PV — Ana Bruni 3, Ashley Bangert, Gillian Barrie, Taylor Hamm, Rachel Helverson.

RECORDS: CR North (16-5); Perk Valley (19-4)