Lady Hatters Clinch Share of Conference Crown

DOYLESTOWN — It almost seemed like an unfair matchup on Monday afternoon as Hatboro-Horsham High School, the preeminent prep softball program in the PIAA, took on forlorn Central Bucks West.

On one side, you had a program that is looking to reach the state 4-A championship game for the fourth time in eight years and a squad that was a victory away from another Continental Conference title. 

On the other was a rebuilding team that hasn't won even one game in 2013.

And the gulf between the two programs proved to be as wide as the nearby Delaware River as the Lady Hatters rolled to a 15-0 win in three innings to clinch at least a share of the conference crown. 

Hatboro-Horsham (14-3 overall, 11-3 in conference) piled up 16 hits as it scored four runs in the first, six in the second and five in the third. 

Shortstop Maria Spinosa (3-for-4, one run, two RBIs) gave pitchers Nicole Casagrand and Emily Wrenn all of the support they would need on the first at-bat of the game when she smashed a triple all the way to the nearby junior varsity diamond and scored on a single by third baseman Daria Edwards (3-for-3, three runs, 2 RBIs) two batters later.

The left-handed Casagrand gave up just one hit and had a pair of strikeouts in two innings in the circle before right-handed Wrenn finished off the win by allowing just one hit and striking out the side in the third. 

The heart of the Lady Hatter lineup, first baseman Heather Lutz, left fielder Carlie Johnson and center fielder Jen Cader contributed seven more hits, seven runs and seven RBIs.

Lutz was 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBIs, Johnson was 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBIs and Cader was 2-for-3, with a triple, a run and two RBIs.

Right fielder DeAnna Moyer added three runs scored and one hit, while Casagrand and second baseman Adrienne Giuliani also had hits, with Casagrand scoring once and earning an RBI. 

The Lady Hatters seemed more intent on taking a field trip to Central Bucks South on Monday evening to watch a showdown between the Titans and Central Bucks East, both who had designs on staying in the title chase.

Thirteen varsity players from Hatboro-Horsham watched on from behind the center field fence as CB South turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-4 victory on senior night to eliminate CB East from the championship race.

If CB South defeats Souderton Wednesday on the road, the Titans will share the title with Hatboro-Horsham for the second year in a row. If Souderton, a team struggling to stay alive for a District One playoff berth, wins, the Lady Hatters will win the title outright.

Should the defending state 4-A champion CB South beat Souderton, it would almost certainly draw a higher seed in the District One playoffs when the brackets are announced on Thursday night, due to two wins over Hatboro-Horsham this season.

Hatboro-Horsham has completed conference action, but still has non-conference games at Conestoga on Wednesday, at home with Garnet Valley on Thursday and will possibly make up a rained-out game with Bensalem on Saturday at home to tune up for next week's district playoffs. 

The JV Hatters had almost as much fun as the varsity on Monday in a 22-3, four-inning victory over CB West.

Freshman Kaeli Simmons, who along with outfielders Jamie Mroz and Charlotte Coulson joins the varsity for the playoff run, tuned up with an outstanding day, earning the win in the circle and going 3-for-4 with a trio of doubles, a walk, four runs scored and seven RBIs.

Catcher Emmy Rivkin got the JV Hatters off to a quick start with a two-run single in the first. Emily Wallace and Meghan Fitzgerald added RBI base hits in the 11-run second inning and Kayla Richard chipped in with a bunt single.

Hatboro-Horsham (7-10, 4-10) received 19 bases on balls and had two batters hit by pitches as the Bucks pitcher struggled with control throughout the game.

Wallace finished off the win with three innings of relief pitching, tallying a trio of strikeouts as the JV Hatters finished in fifth place in the Continental Conference.