North Penn punches ticket to PIAA-6A title game with 5-inning win over Canon-McMillan

MECHANICSBURG >> North Penn is headed to the state championship game for the first time in 36 years.

The Knights dominated Canon-McMillan, 10-0 in five innings, in the PIAA-6A state semifinals Monday afternoon at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School.

North Penn will face Haverford in the championship game Thursday at 4 p.m. at Nittany Lion Softball Park at Penn State University.

Mady Volpe continued her dominance in the circle. The senior threw all six innings, scattering four hits while striking out 12 batters to one walk.

“I was just working everything,” Volpe said, “working both sides of the plate and working ahead of batters. Everything was working.”

After a scoreless first inning, the North Penn offense got progressively stronger to close out the victory without even batting in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Carley DiGiuseppe got things started in the bottom of the second. She hit a two-out single and took second base when the left fielder bobbled the ball. Sophia Collins followed and put the Knights on the board with a two-run blast over the left field fence.

“I was just trying to make contact with the ball,” Collins said. “It going over was just an added bonus of it. I was right on it. I didn’t know how far it was going to go, but I felt like I was right on it.”

The Knights added three more in the third. Gianna Cimino made it 3-0 with an RBI double and the Big Macs intentionally walked Bri Wilmot to load the bases with one out. Volpe grounded to third, but an error on the throw home made it 4-0. DiGiuseppe added another run when she was hit by a pitch.

Everyone got in on the action in the fourth inning. Annabelle Smink and Volpe each had RBI singles — Volpe’s coming after another Wilmot intentional walk — and Collins walked with the bases loaded to make it 8-0. With two outs and the bases full, Rachel Lowry and Julia Shearer had back-to-back RBI bunt singles to make it a 10-0 game.

Volpe struck out the side in the top of the fifth to start the Knights’ celebration and punch their ticket to State College to play for a state title for the first time since 1985.

“It honestly feels unreal,” Volpe said. “I can’t believe it’s coming so soon. It feels awesome. I know we didn’t achieve one of our goals (District 1 title), which motivated us to achieve this goal. I’m really excited to see what happens.”

“It feels great,” Collins said. “We’ve worked hard ever since like September. It’s actually happening now. It feels great.”

North Penn 10, Canon-McMillan 0
Canon-McMillan 000 00 – 0
North Penn 023 5x – 10
WP Mady Volpe 5 IP 12 K 1 BB 4 H 0 R
LP Lauren Duke 2.1 IP 2 K 2 BB 5 H 5 R
2B: NP Gianna Cimino.
HR: NP Sophia Collins.