Sabocsik homers, Shearer throws 1-hit shutout as North Penn stays unbeaten with win over Souderton
TOWAMENCIN >> Sarah Sabocsik made sure she had at least one productive trip to the plate Thursday afternoon.
“The first couple at-bats she was just throwing outside and hitting those corners and I was just looking for my pitch during the last at-bat,” North Penn softball’s senior catcher said. “Struggling in the beginning, I was just trying to stay within myself and just go with it, go with the pitch.”
After coming up empty her first three plate appearances in the Knights’ SOL Colonial contest with visiting Souderton – striking out her first two – Sabocsik finally broke through in a big way in the bottom of the fifth, belting a two-run home run over the fence in center field.
“It was definitely a relief because I haven’t had the best at-bats beforehand,” Sabocsik said. “And definitely getting one out definitely boosted my confidence.”
The blast capped the day’s scoring, adding to North Penn’s total more than enough support for Julia Shearer, who struck out eight in pitching a one-hit shutout as the Knights remained undefeated with a 7-0 victory.
“I told her before the game, ‘I think you’re going to hit a home run today,’ and she was like ‘Ha, ha, ha,’” Shearer said. “But the first few at-bats I think she was in her head and then we just had to calm her down, talk to her and she had a way better approach her fourth time up.”
The lone hit Shearer gave up was a one-out Lily Ponce single in the top of the first. Ponce was forced out on a Kayley York fielder’s choice and NP’s senior left-hander did not allow another baserunner until York drew a walk with one out in the seventh.
“After the first inning I realized they were coming out to hit and our defense was going to have to work a little harder than usual,” Shearer said. “So I was just trying to hit my spots and the defense was ready for anything and I think that really helped us today.
Along with collecting her fourth straight shutout – and 14th on the season – Shearer also went 2-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs for the Knights (18-0, 14-0 division), who were looking for a better offensive effort than Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Central Bucks West.
“I think our game against West was pretty surprising for everyone,” Shearer said. “So we were really trying to come out today and they gave us a good game for the first few innings. But I think we got our approach together in the later innings and it’s a way better turnaround than we expected.”
Up 1-0 on Souderton (9-9, 7-7) after a Shearer RBI single in the second, the Knights sent nine batters to the plate in the third, scoring four times to extend their lead to five.
“It was huge,” NP junior designated player Casey Sokol said. “As coach said we were looking to get our mojo back and I just felt everything felt so smooth and we were all there for our teammates and everything went so well.”
Sokol, Bella Nunn and Annabelle Smink all went 2-for-3 for the Knights, who are first in the District 1-6A rankings. North Penn, which has already clinched the outright SOL Colonial title, finishes the regular season with two division games – hosting Central Bucks South 3:45 p.m. Monday then visiting Central Bucks East 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The Indians, who came into Thursday having won three of their last four, sit 18th in the 1-6A rankings and have two home games next week. Monday, Souerton takes on East 5:45 p.m. at Stover Park then faces Central Bucks West 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.
“We definitely want to win the last two games,” Indians coach Carol Atkinson said. “And we’re home, so that’s a nice advantage for us.”
Souderton starting pitcher Lindsay Detwiler took the loss in a complete-game effort, the righty giving up seven runs – four earned – on 10 hits in six innings. She walked two and struck out three.
“She’s pitched the last two games for us,” said Atkinson of Detwiler. “Just changing it up a little bit. She hits her spots 90 percent of the time and that keeps the balance. She’s got nice movement on the ball that keeps the batters off balance. And they’re hitting it at us just where we want it.”
Smink started the bottom of the third lacing a single up the middle. With one out, Smink went to third as Gianna Cimino reached on an error and advanced to second on the play. Sophia Orth followed with an RBI to make it 2-0.
Cimino scored on a Nunn squeeze bunt single while on the next at-bat Sokol connected on a RBI single to bring in Orth for the Knights’ fourth run.
“I just knew that she was going to try to throw me another changeup cause she did last time so I was looking for that and then she threw a little outside so I was like ‘OK, I’ll take it that way.’”
Two batters later, Shearer put the home side up 5-0 as the Maryland commit’s chopper to the right side of the infield was snagged by the first baseman but Shearer sprinted to first for an RBI single.
“With two outs, obviously you have to run everything out even if it’s literally to the first baseman,” Shearer said. “But I wanted that RBI, I wanted another hit so might as well run it out. And I saw how far she came off the base – it’s not a big deal.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Shearer led off with a walk with Sabocsik following her two-run shot to center as North Penn duplicated the 7-0 scoreline from its April 11 victory over the Indians.
The Knights came close to scoring their first run in the opening inning, but with runners on second and third and two outs Souderton center fielder Sierra Miller made a diving catch on a Cimino fly ball to shallow center.
In the bottom of the second, Sokol kept the inning going with a two-out single. Reyna Doherty reached after an error on her fly ball to center to put two on for Shearer, who knocked in Sokol with an RBI single.
North Penn 7, Souderton 0
Souderton 000 000 0 – 0 1 3
North Penn 014 002 X – 7 10 0
WP: Julia Shearer 7 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 8 SO.
LP: Lindsay Detwiler 6 IP 10 H 7 R 4 ER 2 BB 3 SO.
HR: NP-Sarah Sabocsik.
NP: Sabocsik 2 RBI; Shearer 2-2, 2 RBI; Bella Nunn 2-3, RBI, R; Annabelle Smink 2-3, R; Casey Sokol 2-3, RBI.
