Lady Hatters Clinch Conference Softball Crown

The Hatboro-Horsham High School teammates of Maggie Shaffer have grown accustom to her doing some pretty remarkable things during a four-year pitching career that has helped the Lady Hatters build their reputation as one of the state's top softball programs.

But the Lady Hatters watched in awe again on Monday night as Shaffer lifted them to at least a share of the Suburban One League/Continental Conference crown with a sparkling 2-0, senior-night victory over North Penn on a rain-soaked evening at the Hatboro Little League complex. 

It wasn't enough that Shaffer had pitch with a slippery ball. She also had to put aside her trademark prescription sun glasses on a night where the wet and humid conditions were causing the stylish shades to fog up. 

Casting aside the glasses for the first time since suffering an eye injury when she was a freshman, Shaffer tossed a five-hit, complete-game shutout, out-dueling freshman North Penn pitching ace Jackie Bilotti for the second time this season.

"It takes a lot of focus on every pitch," Shaffer said of overcoming the poor conditions. "We had to keep reminding everyone to focus on the game and not the weather."

Shaffer stranded runners at second and third in the fourth inning, left the bases loaded in the sixth and got out of a second and third jam in the seventh to close the lid on another Continental Conference title for the Lady Hatters (18-2 overall, 12-2 in conference). 

"It's not easy to pitch in weather like this, particularly when you have small hands like Maggie does," said Hatboro-Horsham coach Joe DiFilippo. "It makes you have to concentrate on every pitch." 

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when senior shortstop Val Sadowl scored on a Bilotti wild pitch to give Hatboro-Horsham the lead. 

Sadowl led off with one of the three walks she received on the night, went to second when catcher Daria Edwards (2-for-2) dunked a soft liner over Bilotti's head for an infield single and advanced to third when Maria Spinosa walked on a 3-2 pitch. 

Bilotti handled the rain like a veteran, but the one pitch that got away proved costly as Sadowl dashed home and made it across the plate with a nifty slide before North Penn catcher Jess Mower could fire the ball back to Bilotti covering. 

Hatboro-Horsham missed a chance to break the game open when first baseman Nicole Casagrand's liner was speared by Maidens shortstop Jen Halcovage for the third out, saving two more runs from scoring. 

Shaffer's biggest problem was of her own making in the sixth when she surrendered a lead-off single to hard-hitting Michelle Holweger and then pulled second baseman Chrissy James off the bag at first on Erin Maher's sacrifice bunt attempt for an error.

Instead of one out and a runner on second, Shaffer quickly found herself with the bases loaded and one out after a sacrifice and a walk to Megan Curley on a full count.

But Shaffer coaxed Hannah Sheehan to fly out to Heather Lutz in short right and then fanned Halcovage to end the threat.

Hatboro-Horsham added an important insurance run in the bottom of the sixth and only a badly blown call at the plate kept the Lady Hatters from going ahead 3-0.

Sadowl was at the center of things again, walking on a 3-2 pitch and going to second when Lutz was hit by a Bilotti delivery. Edwards sacrificed and Spinosa drilled a clean single to left to drive in Sadowl.

Lutz gambled to try to score from second and clearly avoided Mower's backhanded sweep of a tag with a beautifully executed slide on a strong throw to the plate. But the out-of-position umpire had his vision blocked on the play and called Lutz out. 

Senior designated hitter Nicole D'Andrea walked for the second straight time to load the bases, but Bilotti got senior center fielder Jackie DiPietro (1-for-4) to ground out to third for the final out.

With one out in the seventh, Melissa Basick looped a base hit over third base and Mower walked on a full count to put the tying runs on base. But Shaffer got Holweger with just one pitch on a soft fly to right and won a 3-2 battle with Maher by getting the North Penn center fielder to ground out on two hops to James at second base. 

Threats were few and far between on the night for Hatboro-Horsham, who missed out on a bases loaded opportunity in the second when Casagrand grounded sharply into a double play. 

The Lady Hatters lost another scoring chance in the fifth with runners on first and second with none out when James made the rare mistake of failing to get two bunts down after a D'Andrea walk and DiPietro's bunt base hit.  

Bilotti then walked a tight rope as James ripped a liner to second that Holweger turned into an unassisted double play and Shaffer's line drive to third was gloved by Curley. 

Clearly bothered by the wet weather, the normally-accurate Bilotti walked eight batters and hit another one, while striking out just two.

Shaffer walked five herself, but struck out five North Penn batters. Shaffer also received flawless defense behind her, with DiPietro making the defensive play of the night when she tracked down a long fly to left-center by Basick with a running, backhanded catch in the fifth. 

Five seniors, D'Andrea, DiPietro, James, Sadowl and Shaffer were honored during pre-game ceremonies. 

Those five will have their prep careers extended by the District 3 playoffs beginning next week. The seeding meeting for the district will take place later this week, with Bishop Shanahan, Pennsbury, Neshaminy and Hatboro-Horsham expected to be the top four seeds. 

DiFilippo and HHHS athletic director Lou James said they expect Hatboro-Horsham to come away with the third seed. Bishop Shanahan has one loss and either Pennsbury or Neshaminy will finish with one loss after they meet for the Suburban One/National Conference crown on the line on Wednesday.

Central Bucks South (14-3, 11-2), can tie Hatboro-Horsham for a share of the Continental Conference title with one more win, but the three losses overall would probably ranked the Titans below the top four seeds and a couple of other league champions.

North Penn (12-7, 9-5) is also expected to make the district tournament and could prove to be a tough draw for teams from other leagues.

Hatboro-Horsham would receive a first-round bye in the district tournament with a top-four seed and would host a second-round game at the end of next week. The top four seeds are also assured of home-field advantage until the semifinals of the district tournament, when neutral sites will be used.

"We are right where we want to be," said DiFilippo, who led the Lady Hatters to their second state 4-A title in four years when he took over the program as head coach last season. 

The Lady Hatter JV squad (5-12, 2-10) capped off a season where they started slowly, but showed strong improvement in the final month with a 5-2 loss to North Penn. The game was called after five-and-a-half innings due to a predetermined time limit.

Emily Wallace started in the circle for Hatboro-Horsham and was victimized by three unearned runs as North Penn scored twice each in the second and third. Lexy Campbell came on in relief and issued a bases-loaded walk for the final Maiden run in the sixth.

The pitching pair held North Penn to five hits on the night and combined for six strikeouts, but the Lady Hatters were limited to just four hits. 

Maggie Leisch (2-for-3) lined a double inside third and Wallace walked with two outs to give Hatboro-Horsham a chance for the lead in the first before the rally fizzled.

The key inning proved to be the third when Campbell walked and Leisch bunted for a base hit with two outs. Wallace followed with a booming double to the left-center field gap for two RBIs to cut North Penn's lead to 4-2. 

Mara Witsen then drilled a single to left and Wallace drew a throw to the plate before retreating to third. After the throw to the plate, North Penn's catcher rifled a bullet back to third, with Wallace sliding head first back to the bag. 

But both umpires managed to get themselves screened on the play and couldn't decide if Wallace was safe, or out. After discussing the play for several moments, the home plate umpire waited several seconds more and then signaled that Wallace was out to the heavy distain of the crowd.

Instead of having the potential tying run at second, Hatboro-Horsham was out of the inning and had only one more base runner the rest of the game.

Jackie Locke also missed a double in the third inning when a drive down the left-field line kicked up chalk when it hit, but was called foul. The calls probably cost the snake-bit Lady Hatters at least three additional runs.

Jessica Carroll walked with two outs in the fourth and stole two bases to get to third, but the inning ended when Brooke Berridge was thrown out on a strong play by the third baseman. 

Campbell drilled a fly nearly to the center-field fence in the fifth before it was tracked down on a fine defensive play.