Errors Undo Lady Hatters in Softball Loss to Pennridge

From the opening pitch of Tuesday's annual senior night celebration at the Hatboro Little League facility, it seemed that the Hatboro-Horsham High School varsity softball team was fighting an uphill battle and the Lady Hatters never quite made it to the top of the summit in a 7-4 loss to Pennridge.

Taking advantage of three uncharacteristic first-inning errors by the Lady Hatters and sparked by Morgan Labs' three-run homer, the Rams took control early and held on for a Continental Conference victory. 

Hatboro-Horsham finished with a season-high five errors for the game. 

"You can't spot a team as good as this four runs and expect to win," said Hatboro-Horsham coach Joe DiFilippo. "I don't know what happens if we get the plays we normally make in the first inning. You take away the first inning and its a better game."

Those dangerous HHHS bats chipped away and closed to within 4-3 by the end of the third inning, but Pennridge pitcher Paige DeCew was able to limit the Lady Hatter damage to no more than one run in any inning and a three-run rally by the Rams in the fourth put the game out of reach.

That outburst was fueled by a two-out pop-up that dropped between pitcher Nicole Casagrand and third baseman Maria Spinosa to keep the inning alive. 

For a team that was on the verge of blowing open the conference standings with a two-game lead heading into the contest, Hatboro-Horsham (11-2 overall, 8-2 in conference) had its advantage trimmed back to a single game over Pennridge (11-3, 7-3) and Central Bucks East (11-3, 7-3).

CB East held off North Penn (8-5, 5-5) 2-1 on Tuesday and CB South (9-5, 6-3), another team with three conference losses, takes on Quakertown today before hosting Hatboro-Horsham on Thursday.

Hatboro-Horsham and Pennridge split their two-game conference series for the second year in a row, with each of the victories coming on the opposing team's diamond. 

Hatboro-Horsham honored seniors Casagrand, Adrienne Giuliani, Carlie Johnson, Heather Lutz, Spinosa and Emily Wrenn and their parents in ceremonies before Tuesday night's game and the Lady Hatters seemed a little too jacked up emotionally as the game began. 

Lead-off hitter Emily Mayhew started the first with a little grounder to third that Spinosa bobbled for her first error of the season. 

Pennridge followed with a one-out walk to Brook Labs and a looping single by DeCew that right fielder Jaynie Black couldn't quite secure, allowing Mayhew to score. The ball then rolled past Black for an error that put runners at second and third.

Morgan Labs then drilled a liner over the left-field fence to give the Rams a stunning 4-0 lead. 

Spinosa made another error when she dropped a pop-up later in the first, but Casagrand was able to strand Haley Taylor at third base.

Hatboro-Horsham started its rally in the bottom of the first with a Jen Cader lead-off single and Pennridge left fielder Mayhew overran the ball to allow Cader to second on the error.

Spinosa drew a walk and Cader scored on an RBI-grounder by Edwards. Taylor robbed Edwards of a hit with a sparkling stop on the play. 

Casagrand (3-for-3, two doubles) tripled to right to open the second and pinch-runner Jackie Locke took advantage of a short wild pitch to score with a brilliant slide under the tag of DeCew, cutting the Pennridge lead to 4-2. 

It looked like Hatboro-Horsham was ready to take control of the game when Edwards slammed a home run to deep left with two outs in the third to make it 4-3, but that was as close as the Lady Hatters would get.

Casagrand bookended a pair of strikeouts between singles by Mayhew and Brittany Gray in the fourth, but appeared to be out of the inning unscathed when she coaxed a pop-up out of DeCew. 

But Casagrand misjudged the fly to the right of the pitching circle and Spinosa couldn't get there in time to make the catch, allowing Mayhew to score.

Gray came home on a wild pitch and and singles by Morgan Labs and Taylor plated another run to make it 7-3.

"Nicole pitched a great game against a very good team," said DiFilippo. "We just didn't make the plays behind her tonight."

Casagrand just missed a homer with a shot off the center-field fence with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but pinch-runner Locke was stranded at second when Taylor made an acrobatic catch of Giuliani's little fly to short center to end the inning.

In the fifth, Black beat out an infield hit and was sacrificed to second when Spinosa tried to bunt for a base hit. But DeCew managed to strike out the dangerous Edwards after falling behind 2-0.

It appeared that DeCew was trying to pitch around Edwards, but the junior shortstop, who announced her commitment to attend Towson University on a softball scholarship before the game, expanded her zone in an attempt to drive in Black. 

Hatboro-Horsham managed one final run in the sixth when Johnson smacked a ball to the fence in center and Casagrand missed a homer by inches with another shot off the center-field barrier. 

But Casagrand was stranded again when Taylor caught Locke's liner to the hole at short and Giulani struck out on a questionable pitch that appeared high and out of the strike zone. 

DeCew, who fanned nine batters and scattered eight hits without walking anyone, retired the Lady Hatters one-two-three in the seventh to cap off her complete-game victory. 

"I don't want to see this team again," said DiFilippo. "I don't want to meet any of the teams we play in conference in the playoffs. I would rather play some team from some other part of the state."

In junior varsity action, the Lady Hatters (5-8, 2-8) battled hard for six innings and were unlucky to strand several runners on base in a 6-5 game. But Pennridge broke open the contest with a seven-run seventh on the way to a 13-7 victory. 

Pennridge stroked two home runs, including a back-breaking grand slam in the final inning. 

Hatboro-Horsham pitcher Lexi Campbell had allowed only one earned run in the first six inning and only one additionalrun in the seventh was earned on a day when the JV Hatters committed four errors. 

Center fielder Jamie Mroz led the HHHS offense with a 3-for-4 plate performance that included a triple, two runs scored, two stolen bases and an RBI. Campbell also went 3-for-4, with an RBI and a run scored.

Catcher Kaeli Simmons, shortstop Meghan Fitzgerald and left fielder Emmy Rivkin all finished with two hit games as the JV Hatters knocked out 13 hits altogether. 

Both Hatboro-Horsham teams will be on the road to visit CB South for 3:30 p.m. contests on Thursday.