THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM: Plymouth Whitemarsh beats Souderton in District 1-6A opener

WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh pitcher Molly Moore made two district playoff starts entering Monday and both were dominant performances. In 13 1/3 combined innings, the right-hander allowed four runs on nine hits and struck out 16 batters to six walks.

Both games, however, were losses to Souderton in the first round of the District 1-6A playoffs.

Moore and the Colonials got another chance to face Souderton in the district opener Monday afternoon and got their revenge. The right-handed senior threw a complete game two-hitter to lead her team to a 7-1 win at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

“It really was a revenge game,” Moore said. “I feel like all the girls were really into this game. Everyone really wanted it and this was a team win.”

“This is a big revenge game for us,” PW junior Marissa Perez said. “Obviously we played them the last two years and this is our biggest game in the bracket. This is the game we’ve looked forward to since the season started.”

Moore threw just 66 pitches in her seven-inning effort. She allowed one run on two hits while striking out two batters – the last two batters of the game – to one walk.

“She was very efficient and they came out swinging,” PW coach Mike Perez said. “It’s tough to strike them out when they’re attacking like that and they’re making contact. I think we did a pretty good job with our scouting report. We had a good idea of where they’d be and how to pitch them accordingly and it worked out really well. Our outfield played phenomenal – they have been all year – and they shut it down today. It was great.”

“I feel like I just did not have it today as much as I usually do,” Moore said. “It was just one of those days. I’m lucky to have a team behind me to pick me up when I have one of those days on an important day like this.

“I trust the defense behind me 100%. It takes a lot of pressure off of me when the team hits and we play defense like that.”

Moore, who took a perfect game into the fourth inning and a no-hitter into the fifth, didn’t get into many jams. With a 6-0 lead and two outs in the top of the fifth, she walked and hit back-to-back batters before allowing an RBI double to Grace Christie. The top of No. 21 Souderton’s lineup was next, but Moore got a groundout to end the threat.

“We were hitting the ball hard and deep and they just knew right where to play us and we hit it right at them,” Souderton coach Carol Atkinson said.

No. 12 Plymouth Whitemarsh (15-6) did most of its offensive damage in the third and fourth innings.

Joslyn Perez worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the third and Marissa Perez followed with a single. Joslyn Perez went from first to third and Marissa Perez advanced to second on the throw to third. Caelin Kosvitch legged out an infield single to load the bases with one out. Moore grounded to shortstop, but the throw home pulled the catcher off the plate and Joslyn Perez slid in for the game’s first run. Sam Skivo doubled the lead with a grounder to shortstop, scoring Marissa Perez and making it a 2-0 game.

“(PW) hit the ball,” Atkinson said. “They put the ball in play when they needed to. They did what they’re supposed to do.”

Kalina Childers led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple down the left field line. She scored on a single by Jenna Yablon, who stole second and scored on a Joslyn Perez single. Marissa Perez singled before Kosvitch knocked in Joslyn Perez with a sacrifice fly. Marissa Perez scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0 Colonials.

“I like the unselfish approach at the plate,” Mike Perez said. “That’s something we’ve been preaching all year long about when runners are on and making contact and moving them around. That’s what we just talked about in the outfield. In the third inning we scored two runs on one hit. A couple fielder’s choices and just putting the ball in play and making things happen.”

“Our motto, all week what we focused on was situational hitting and coming up big when we need it most and just executing,” Marissa Perez said. “We don’t need triples to the fence, just dinks down the right field line and that’s what got it done for us today. Being able to execute and string hits together was huge in this game. One through nine, every single one of us came up when we needed each other.”

While small ball is their bread and butter, the Colonials admitted that Childers’ three-bagger gave the team an energy boost.

“Even Kalina’s reaction was the best reaction you can get from her,” Marissa Perez said. “It fires up the whole dugout. When your first batter of the inning gets on it’s just huge for everyone else. It takes so much pressure off everyone else. Then it’s just – hit for contact and that’s what we did and we were able to string them together again, but that triple was so huge for her.”

Yablon led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and stole second. She scored when Joslyn Perez bunted and the ball was thrown away into right field, giving PW a 7-1 edge.

McKenna Schroding threw all six innings for Souderton (9-12). She struck out eight batters to one walk and allowed seven runs on seven hits.

Plymouth Whitemarsh will travel to face No. 5 Spring-Ford in the second round Wednesday.

Plymouth Whitemarsh 7, Souderton 1

Souderton 000 010 0 – 1

Plymouth Whitemarsh 002 401 x – 7

WP: Molly Moore 7 IP 2 K 1 BB 2 H 1 R

LP: McKenna Schroding 6 IP 8 K 1 BB 7 H 7 R

2B: S: Kayley York, Grace Christie.

3B: PW: Kalina Childers.