Archbishop Wood bats come to life in win over Lansdale Catholic

LANSDALE >> Somehow, in the cold and bluster of Thursday afternoon, Archbishop Wood’s offense found its hitting groove.

“We needed that,” Vikings coach Jackie Ecker said after her team’s clash with Philadelphia Catholic League rival Lansdale Catholic. “It’s a young team. We’ve been hitting the ball OK, just not scoring as much as we wanted to. I think, today, they just came out and really wanted it.”

The Vikings pounded out 10 hits and scored runs in bunches, earning a 15-5 victory over the Crusaders in five innings.

“It’s a really good win. It’s gonna get us back on track,” said Vikings catcher Paige Ross, who reached base all four times she batted, going 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBI’s. “We were on fire.”

Wood raised its PCL record to 2-1 on the year and is 3-5 overall. The Vikings travel to St. Basil Academy on Monday for a 4 p.m. game.

“We’re gonna get there,” Ross said of her team’s improvement.

Big Bursts >> Wood plated four runs in each of its first two at-bats, and Ross was at the heart of that success.

Winning pitcher Dakota Fanelli smacked a two-run single to make it 2-0 and Julia Yogis knocked in a pair with a hard-hit chopper, doubling the lead to 4-0 in the first.

Ross’ single up the middle widened the gap to 5-0 in the second.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster, for the whole team,” Ross said of the hitting performance.

Riley Nolan and Alyssa Miller also drove in runs in the second to stretch the lead to 8-0.

Another RBI by Ross, a sophomore, made it 9-0 in the third and she drove in two more in the fifth to make it 12-3.

“It’s been nice to see them grow from the beginning,” Ecker said of her squad. “They’re really all freshmen when you think of it because they all missed out on last year (because of the pandemic).

“Hopefully going forward, we’ll just keep hitting.”

Nolan belted an RBI triple in the fifth for the Vikings, helping to extend the margin to 15-3.

Of the freezing winds, Ross said: “It was rough, but when we work as a team, we get through everything.”

Crusaders Make Some Noise >> Lansdale Catholic, also a young squad in 2021, got the bats going in the third.

Ella Moran came through with an RBI single to right and Sam McHugh’s two-run double kept the rally going.

LC also had a big fifth, keyed by Skylar Diehl’s two-RBI double.

The Crusaders travel to Hallahan on Tuesday.

“We’re extremely young, and inexperienced pitching-wise,” Crusaders coach Paul Suder said. “And with inexperienced pitching, sometimes your defense gets a little soft. So there’s probably a couple of balls we should have had.

“But the girls had a lot of intestinal fortitude. They battled. They went up there and got their cuts.”

Archbishop Wood 15, Lansdale Catholic 5 (5)
Archbishop Wood 441 06 – 15 10 3
Lansdale Catholic 003 02 – 5 6 7
WP: Dakota Fanelli (5IP, 5R, 3ER, 6H, 6K, 3BB).
LP: Kelly Griffin (15R, 12ER, 10H, 1K, 5BB).
3B: AW-Riley Nolan. 2B: LC-Ella Moran, Sam McHugh, Skylar Diehl.
Multiple Hits: AW-Fanelli 2-for-3, BB, 3R, 2RBI; Ross 3-for-4, 3R, 4RBI; Nolan 2-for-4, 2R, 2RBI; LC-Moran 2-for-3, R, RBI; McHugh 2-for-3, R, RBI.