Is The Selection Committee Conspiring Against The Lady Hatters?

I'm not one who is much on conspiracy theories and I don't particularly enjoy Oliver Stone movies either.

But you have to wonder if the folks doing the seeding for the District One and PIAA 4-A softball playoffs are trying to make things as difficult as possible for the state's best softball confederation — the brutally-tough Continental Conference — in 2013.

There is no doubting the strength of the Continental Conference, with Hatboro-Horsham High School winning state 4-A crowns in 2008 and 2011 and Central Bucks South earning that title in 2012. 

If Hatboro-Horsham reaches the state championship game in 2013 — and HHHS has to beat Central Bucks East Friday in a 1 p.m. home game to qualify for that tournament — it will make it four trips to the finals in eight years for the Lady Hatters. 

Even when teams like Hatboro-Horsham, CB South and Souderton have been ousted from state tournament play in recent years, they have gone down kicking and screaming and have usually been beaten by teams that ultimately win gold medals in that 4-A title contest. 

HHHS made its first major mark on the state playoff scene in 2006 when current athletic director Lou James took the Lady Hatters to their first state championship game appearance before losing to Shaler, 3-0.

The program has continued to thrive from there, with coach Kelly Krier and assistant Erika Lee taking the Lady Hatters to that 2-0 victory over Arnold Palmer's alma mater Latrobe in 2008.

The program has only grown in the past three years under Joe DiFilippo, a veteran of the travel softball circuit.

When Hatboro-Horsham's senior left-handed pitcher Nicole Casagrand was asked by another reporter Wednesday, after the 6-5 victory over Perkiomen Valley, what the goal of the 2013 Lady Hatter squad was, she gave a long pause before answering: 

"To advance as far as we can," said Casagrand.

Unspoken in her response was that she and her teammates expect to be playing for a state title on June 14 at Penn State.

Fans, coaches and players alike are almost stunned when the Lady Hatters lose a game, something they have done only 13 times in Casagrand's four varsity seasons.

“Every team looked at us like it's the World Series,” DiFilippo said after the season-ending 4-1 loss to Bishop Shanahan in the quarterfinals of last year's state playoffs. “Everyone wanted to beat us." 

Even without that state crown to defend this season, a big target has remained on the Lady Hatters. 

Junior outfielder Charlotte Coulson received icy stares from Pennsbury players last week when Falcon players noticed her Hatboro-Horsham sweatshirt as she attended a showdown between Pennsbury and Neshaminy at Bristol Fields.

There was respect, but also no less tension when a group of 13 varsity players from HHHS watched CB South host CB East last week in a game that helped the Lady Hatters secure an outright Continental Conference title. 

Former Hatboro-Horsham players Maggie Shaffer and Danielle DiFilippo, both back from successful college seasons, recounted at a varsity practice last week how they had received their share of verbal snips when they attended a Neshaminy-Pennsbury game in the past. 

Opposing teams love to turn the Lady Hatters nickname into a new moniker, calling them the "Haters."

Hatred, respect, or whatever the case may be, Hatboro-Horsham and the Continental Conference were given no favors in this year's District One tournament.

The selection committee pretty much had to take six of the eight teams from the Continental Conference in the 24-team tournament, with Hatboro-Horsham, CB South, CB East, Pennridge, North Penn and Souderton all deserving berths, but the seeding of the tournament made it practically impossible for more than two of those teams to reach state play. 

Souderton was knocked off in the first round by Upper Darby, but the No. 19 seeded Indians would have needed to have upset either No. 3 Pennsbury, or No. 6 West Chester Henderson to have qualified for the state tournament.

No. 4 seeded CB South and North Penn — the defending district champion — had to square off in the second round and North Penn stunned the defending state champion 14-3. 

North Penn's reward for upsetting CB South is a quarterfinal showdown with Pennridge, fresh off a 3-0 shutout of No. 5 seed Owen J. Roberts and one of the most dangerous teams in the field.

Also on Friday, one of the other Continental Conference heavyweights will take the other out when Hatboro-Horsham hosts CB East.

When Joe DiFilippo was asked about the inequity of CB South and North Penn having to play on Wednseday, his reaction was shift.

"You think CB South had it bad," snarled DiFilippo. "The seeding committee didn't do me any favors having us play CB East in the quarterfinals."

Even though the past two PIAA 4-A title games have been all-District One affairs, the state softball committee removed one of the district's five bids into the 16-team tournament and constructed the brackets so that three of the four District One qualifiers (the champion, runner-up and fourth-place teams) would be in the top half of the draw.

The only way for an all-District One contest for the state title would be if one of those three advanced to Penn State to take on the No. 3 team from the district. 

The western districts of the state must have grown weary of those all-District One title games. 

It might be just the delaying of the inevitable with top-seeded Neshaminy, No. 2 Hatboro-Horsham, Pennsbury, Henderson and either North Penn, or Pennridge all capable of a state championship run.

CONTINUING THE STREAK 

The last time that Hatboro-Horsham lost to CB East, Casagrand and the other seniors on the current Lady Hatter squad were freshman 

Coming off a tough, 1-0 loss to eventual state runner-up CB South, HHHS dropped a 4-2 decision in April, 2010 to the Patriots less than 24 hours later. The Lady Hatters have dominated the series since then, winning seven consecutive games, including two this season.

Hatboro-Horsham opened conference play with a 9-4 win at home against CB East and built an early lead and was in total control again in a 7-4 victory last month in Buckingham.

The Patriots' biggest problem has been the inability of its young pitching staff to control the Lady Hatters' explosive bats. 

CB East (15-4) needed all the pitching it could muster in Wednesday's 1-0, eight-inning victory over Methacton.

Freshmen Theresa Haug and Kayla Ventura held Methacton scoreless until the Patriots finally managed a run in extra innings. Haug limited the strong Methacton bats to three hits in five innings and Ventura didn't allow a hit in the final three innings. 

CB East also sparkled defensively, making several key plays to support its freshmen pitchers. 

The normally potent-hitting Patriots only managed five hits against Villanova-bound Methacton pitcher Jordan Prutzer, but the Patriots finally broke through in the eighth when Kerry Schulz and Allie Chase stroked back-to-back hits with one out and Julie Schoenewald battled back from a 1-2 count, fouled off several pitches and finally walked. 

That brought up Caroline Schoenewald with the bases loaded. After fouling off several pitches, like her sister had done earlier in the inning, a hard grounder to second left Methacton with a do-or-die play to get the speedy Schulz at the plate.

Methacton's fielder tried to throw before she had fielded the ball, booted it and Schulz scooted home with the winning run.

PROM NIGHT 

For the second year in a row, Hatboro-Horsham has moved up the starting time for Friday's quarterfinal from 4 p.m. to 1 p.m. to enable seniors to have time to prepare for Friday night's Senior Prom. 

The game will be the final home for seven seniors Casagrand, left fielder Carlie Johnson, second baseman Adrienne Giuliani, first baseman Heather Lutz, shortstop Maria Spinosa, pitcher Emily Wrenn and injured outfielder-catcher Kelsey Koelzer.

The remaining games in the District One and PIAA 4-A state tournaments will be at neutral sites.