Begg delivers Council Rock North a win over Souderton in District 1-6A 1st round

FRANCONIA >> Lauren Begg did not lack for motivation or determination stepping into the batter’s box in the top of the seventh inning.

The Council Rock North pitcher had given up five runs, including a three-run home run, in the bottom half of the sixth that allowed host Souderton to tie their District 1-6A softball first round game. With two runners on and two outs, Begg knew this was her chance to make up for it and maybe win the game.

Begg came through, lacing the go-ahead single into right field for one run with a second scoring on an error as No. 19 North topped No. 14 Souderton 10-8 on Monday.

“We really had to focus as team to make sure we came back in the following inning to put up runs again,” Begg said. “I knew that at-bat was very important and I just channeled any emotion I had into that because I did not want this to be our last game.”

Begg and her team withstood a gutsy effort from Souderton and senior pitcher Alex Scheeler to advance to Wednesday’s second round against No. 3 Avon Grove. Scheeler injured her left quad running out a ground ball in the fifth inning, but fought through the pain to pitch the rest of the game and launch the game-tying home run in the sixth inning.

Souderton coach Liz Parkins said she was going to pull Scheeler, who has committed to play at Moravian, after the senior was injured, but Scheeler wanted to keep going. If it was going to be her last game for Souderton, Scheeler wanted to finish on her terms.

“It was my last game and I felt like I would have let my team down if I didn’t finish it,” Scheeler said. “I just pushed through, and I’ve pushed through worse so I decided to suck it up.”

The teams combined for 22 hits and a lot more well-struck balls that were hit to fielders or stopped by defensive work so the ball was in play quite a lot. CR North, which advanced to the state quarterfinals last season but was one of the last few teams into districts this year, scored its first run in the top half of the first inning.

Center fielder Riley Sheehy, who went 4-for-5 for North, said the Indians realized the more together they were and the more fun they were having, the better they were playing. It was a big part of their close to the season and something that carried them on Monday.

“Right now, we know it’s you lose, you’re done, so we all came together,” Sheehy said. “We started cheering really loud because we knew if it didn’t happen then, there was a good chance we were done playing and nobody wants to be done yet.”

Souderton got two in the bottom half of the first on RBIs from Jen Klepfer and Ali Gould, which would hold up as the only scoring until the fifth inning. Klepfer had two hits and two RBI for Souderton while Gould, a senior, had three hits and also drove in two.

Sheehy, who had hits in her last three at-bats, led off the fifth with a single and eventually scored on a bases-loaded error to make it 2-2. The big hit of CR North’s five-run fifth came from first baseman Abigail Seiple, who laced a two-run single just past the glove of Souderton’s sliding second baseman.

Souderton made three errors in the game, with costly ones in the fifth and seventh helping CR North. The hosts were shorthanded on Monday and had a couple of fielders playing out of their usual positions.

“Things got away from us just a little bit, but I’m really proud of this team for their fight,” Parkins said. “This isn’t the first game we were down and came back to tie it. The errors did not help and that happened to us a couple times this year where we gave up a couple runs late.”

Scheeler ended up reaching on the play where she was injured, and her replacement runner ended up scoring a run only for Rock North to come back and tag the returning Scheeler for two runs in the sixth. Down 8-3 going into the home half of the sixth, Souderton found a way to rally.

A solo home run by Katie Huber with one out jumpstarted the bench’s energy, followed by a bunt single from Julia Kistler, an intentional walk to Bri Neely and Megan Hamilton drawing her own walk to load the bags.

Klepfer hit a sac fly to plate one and bring up Scheeler, who said she wasn’t going to be able to run past first base. It didn’t matter as she sent the first pitch of the at-bat screaming over the right-center fence to knot the game.

“For my first three at-bats, I just saw it go down the middle and I didn’t see much movement and a lot of her first pitches were strikes so I was ready to swing,” Scheeler said. “After the fact, I thought about it being my last high school hit and I was glad it was that kind of home run.”

Madison Tomlinson singled with one out in the top of the seventh to start things up for North and pinch-runner Carly Yoder took second on a passed ball before Sheehy’s two-out single extended the inning and brought up Begg with runners on the corners.

“I really didn’t want to get out, I just wanted to keep going,” Sheehy said. “That’s really it, I just wanted to get a hit or get on base any way.”

 “Our team tends to jump on the ball early in the count and I knew because we were being aggressive all game, we could get some hits,” Begg said. “I mainly think about situational hitting in those circumstances, I want to make sure they get around the bases but also try to get on too.”

Begg hit a bouncer up the middle into right that scored Yoder and an overthrow to third base allowed Sheehy to score and Begg to end up on third with her team up two runs. The lefty came back to shut the door in the seventh, getting three straight outs after a leadoff single.

“We stayed aggressive and played together as a team,” Begg said.

After winning just three games last season, it was quite the turnaround season for Souderton. After the game, Parkins told her players to remember the feeling of loss but also what they had accomplished in getting to the playoffs.

“We knew our history of last year and knew there were going to be some doubters this year so to do what we did in the regular season against some of the big dogs in our league and get a home playoff game, these girls worked really hard all year and earned it,” Parkins said. “There’s nothing to hang their heads on today, we just didn’t come out on the right side.”

COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 10, SOUDERTON 8
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 100 052 2 – 10 12 1
SOUDERTON 200 015 0 – 8 10 3
HR: S – Alex Scheeler, Katie Huber. 3B: S – Bri Neely.
Multiple Hits: CRN – Riley Sheehy 4-5, Lauren Begg 2-4, Abigail Seiple 2-4, Madison Tomlinson 2-4; S – Ali Gould 3-4, Jen Klepfer 2-3, Bri Neely 2-4, Alex Scheeler 2-4, Alina Skrzat 2-4.