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Health & Fitness

Lady Hatters Closing in on Continental Crown

DeAnna Moyer and Carlie Johnson lead a 13-hit attack as Hatboro-Horsham crushes Quakertown 13-0 in softball to move within a win of the conference title.

Hatboro-Horsham High School had to wait an extra 24 hours to take on Quakertown Friday afternoon at home, but the delay wasn't nearly long enough for the Panthers.

With the bats blazing again, the Lady Hatters remained in first place in the Continental Conference with a 12-0 thrashing of Quakertown that moved them within a win of another conference title.

Right fielder DeAnna Moyer smacked three hits and scored three times and left fielder Carlie Johnson stroked a pair of doubles, scored twice and drove home four more runs to lead the 13-hit attack.

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Left-hander Nicole Casagrand didn't need much help from the circle as she tossed a two-hit shutout in four innings for the Lady Hatters.

"You go out and hit the ball and you take care of business," said Hatboro-Horsham coach Joe DiFilippo, whose team improved to 13-3 overall and 10-3 in conference.

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Hatboro-Horsham can wrap up at least a share of the Continental crown with a victory Monday against winless Central Bucks West. 

Central Bucks East (14-3, 10-3) stayed in the hunt for part of the title with a 3-1 win over suddenly-stumbling Pennridge on Thursday, while Central Bucks South (12-5, 9-3) is a half-game back after having its game at Souderton rained out on Thursday.

CB East travels to CB South on Monday, with a loss eliminating one of those teams from the title chase. CB South then makes up that game at Souderton on Wednesday.

Hatboro-Horsham was originally scheduled to play Bensalem in a non-conference game on Friday, but that contest was moved back to Saturday at 2 p.m. to accommodate the conference make-up game.

With the Quakertown game moved to Friday, the biggest news for the Lady Hatters on Thursday was the addition of three players from the junior varsity ranks to the varsity squad, outfielders Charlotte Coulson and Jamie Mroz and pitcher-catcher Kaeli Simmons.

Earlier in the week, pitcher-third baseman Emily Wallace had been moved to the varsity roster. 

While Hatboro-Horsham had waited until the middle innings to jump on Quakertown in the first round of conference action, it stormed out of the gates this time.

Just like Tuesday's 11-5 win over North Penn, the Lady Hatters jumped on Quakertown quickly, scoring five times in the first inning, added three in the second and four in the third. 

DiFilippo had challenged his team to close out games after the Lady Hatters built a 10-0 lead against North Penn before watching the Maidens come back. But the Panthers were not as fortunate.

At the top of the order, with Maria Spinosa and Daria Edwards adding doubles, two runs score each and 2-for-3 performances to the bats of Moyer and Johnson, there was a parade of base runners throughout the day.

The JV Hatters fell victim to two-out rallies in the first and second innings on Friday and that set the tone for a 13-2 loss to Quakertown. 

The Panthers scored two runs in the first and five in the second after pitcher Wallace had retired the first two batters in each frame.

Quakertown added six more runs in the third to totally break the game open at 13-0. 

Hatboro-Horsham (6-10, 3-10) had only one base runner in the first three innings, when second baseman Kayla Richard was hit on the foot by a pitch. Richard then broke up the no-hitter in the fourth with a nifty bunt single. 

Richard was safe at second on a steal attempt, but was declared out on a blown call, but the JV Hatters still managed to score two runs in the inning on a two-out infield single by a hustling Bria Cashman, a base hit to center by Emmy Rivkin, a single through the hole at short by Miranda Nish and Carlie Mount's first career hit, a looping single to left that plate two runs. 

Richard, in only her second game back from a concussion, was perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2. She added a liner between first and second for the final of Hatboro-Horsham's six hits in the fifth and final inning. 

Meghan Fitzgerald flagged down a liner to short and turned it into a double play with a throw to Mount at first base in the fourth inning for the defensive play of the game.

The Hatboro-Horsham JV squad will be back in action on Monday at CB Bucks to close out conference play.

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