Hatboro-Horsham tops Quakertown in key SOL American clash

HORSHAM >> Hatboro-Horsham shortstop Alicia Tauber was pretty fired up Tuesday.

With her team coming off a good nonleague win over Pennsbury on Monday and a pivotal game with SOL American softball rival Quakertown on deck Tuesday, Tauber was confident things would carry over. She made sure they did, lacing a two-out single to ignite a five-run first inning.

From there, the Hatters rode the pitching of Mikayla Fedele and some solid defense to a 7-0 win over the visiting Panthers.

“We played well yesterday and I think it led into our start today,” Tauber said. “We got the hits early and that helped motivate us. Everyone started realizing getting hits and the next person up was thinking ‘I want to get a hit too.’”

The Hatters and Panthers have waged a couple of crazy games since Quakertown joined the American last year, so Hatboro-Horsham wasn’t expecting a shutout win. But, the Hatters (11-1, 10-0 SOL American) were happy to take it, even more so doing it the way they did.

Fedele knew the game would come down to her control in the circle and the right-hander did a terrific job keeping the ball away from the spots the Quakertown (9-3, 7-2 SOL American) hitters wanted it. The Panthers can hit, so anything in the middle of the strike zone would be ripe to get sent into the grass beyond the infield.

Quakertown racked up just five hits and just one runner advanced past second base.

 “I think my curveball was working pretty well, I was trying to hit the corners a lot because I knew they have pretty good hitters on this team,” Fedele said. “My off-speed wasn’t as good I wanted it to be, but I just focused on hitting every pitch (the coaches) called. I was trying not to keep it over the middle because they would hit the stitching out of the ball.”

Hatters coach Joe DiFilippo said his team hits “in spurts” and it’s the perfect way to describe the Hatters’ first inning. After the first two batters went down, Tauber fouled off four of the first five pitches she saw before lacing a single up the middle to get things going.

The next five players up would all reach base for the Hatters. Catcher Brittany Hubler followed Tauber’s hit with a single, followed by right fielder Maddie Yeager striking an RBI single. First baseman Logan Cummings was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting the stage for the bottom of the order to produce.

Second baseman Antoinette Spinosa came up clutch with a two-out single and left fielder Grace Daniels bombed a two-run double.

Spinosa had a good game at the plate going 3-for-3 and in the field, helping turn one of the two Hatters double plays and making a couple other solid defensive plays.

“Her family has been around this program forever,” DiFilippo said. “She’s playing unbelievable. She’s like a ninja, you see her run the bases and you’re not even sure her feet hit the ground. She made a nice play at second base, grabbing that ball and turning a double play, she’s just having a great year.”

Tauber helped the Hatters tack on a sixth run with an RBI double in the second inning, plating Dinnien after the senior center fielder led off the inning with a single. From there, the Hatters were widely held in check by Quakertown pitcher Tori Caputo, though Hatboro-Horsham scratched a run across in the sixth aided by two Panther errors.

Cummings and Tauber are the two returning players in the infield with Hubler behind the plate and along with Tauber’s younger sister Kayla, a freshman at third base and Spinosa, have been solid defensively. Fedele said she was able to pitch with confidence on Tuesday knowing her teammates were flashing the leather behind her.

“We’ve been working on those types of double plays so to be able to execute gives us a lot of confidence,” Fedele said.

“It’s what they’re capable of,” DiFlippo said. “This infield is on par with everybody’s infield in Pennsylvania. I don’t there’s many better out there player for player.”

The Hatters have been hitting the ball well all season and now have a two-game lead in the conference standings. Fedele said with all the rainouts and poor weather earlier in the spring, the team spent a lot of time working on their hitting in every manner possible.

The Hatters were fourth in the District I 6A power rankings entering Tuesday’s game.

“We’ve just been playing well and we want to keep playing well,” Tauber said. “We have to keep getting hits, keep getting runs and making plays in the field. If we can keep the momentum going, we should be ok.”       

QUAKERTOWN 000 000 0 – 0 5 2

HATBORO-HORSHAM 510 001 x – 7 10 0

2B: Q – Halle Frederick; HH – Alicia Tauber. Multiple hits: HH – Antoinette Spinosa 3-3, Alicia Tauber, 2-3, Grace Daniels 2-3