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Health & Fitness

Lady Hatters Down Garnet Valley, Earn No. 2 Seed

Hatboro-Horsham ends the regular season with a 9-0 win over playoff-bound Garnet Valley to secure the No. 2 seed in the District One softball playoffs.

The road to the District One 4-A softball championship got a little less cloudy for Hatboro-Horsham High School on Thursday when the Lady Hatters were given the No. 2 seed in the 24-team field. 

With the playoff announcement coming several hours after HHHS closed out the regular season with an impressive 9-0 victory over playoff-bound Garnet Valley, the Lady Hatters can set their sights on a second-round encounter at home with either No. 15 West Chester East, or No. 18 Perkiomen Valley next Wednesday at 4 p.m. 

Should Hatboro-Horsham win that game, the Lady Hatters would host the winner of the Central Bucks East (No. 7) contest with No. 10 Methacton or No. 23 William Tennent in the district quarterfinals next Friday. 

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Tennett edged out Bensalem for the third and final spot awarded to the Suburban One League's National Conference, meaning that the rained-out game between Bensalem and Hatboro-Horsham that was tentatively rescheduled for Saturday will not be played.

Hatboro-Horsham and CB East were two of six teams from the state's most powerful conference — the Suburban One League's Continental Conference — chosen for the district tournament. 

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Defending state 4-A champion Central Bucks South — which tied with CB East for the runner-up spot in the Continental Conference — was the No. 4 seed, following top-ranked Neshaminy, Hatboro-Horsham and No. 3 Pennsbury.  

Neshaminy and Pennsbury finished one-two in the SOL's National Conference.

Of the other Continental Conference teams in the field, Pennridge drew the No. 12 seed, with defending District One champion North Penn 13th and Souderton 19th. CB East and Souderton were the only other Continental Conference teams placed in Hatboro-Horsham's side of the draw. 

The Lady Hatters will need to advance to at least the district semifinals to qualify for the PIAA state 4-A tournament. 

Last year, five teams from District One went to the state tournament, but only four will be in the field this year. 

Hatboro-Horsham, the 2011 state 4-A champion, bowed out in the quarterfinals of District One play, but beat Methaction and Spring-Ford in a four-team play-in tournament to earn that fifth and final spot.

The Lady Hatters were beaten by eventual state runner-up Bishop Shanahan in both the district and state quarterfinals.

In the final regular-season tune-up on Thursday, left-hander Nicole Casagrand allowed a first-batter base hit against Garnet Valley and then held the Lady Jaguars hitless the rest of the game to finish with a one-hit, complete-game shutout.

Casagrand fanned eight batters and walked three as she dominated Garnet Valley. 

Domination was also the word offensively as the Lady Hatters banged out 14 more hits on the way to another easy win. Since being shutout by CB South 2-0 two weeks ago, HHHS has outscored opponents 58-6 in the past five games.

Third baseman Daria Edwards celebrated her 17th birthday with a 3-for-4 performance that included two runs scored and an RBI single in the first that scored DeAnna Moyer with the first run of the game and one of three runs scored by the freshman right fielder.

Moyer and center fielder Jen Cader also were 3-for-4. Cader drove in a pair of runs with a first-inning single and added a double later in the game.

First baseman Heather Lutz only had one hit in the game, but it was a big one — a two-run homer in the fifth that put the game out of reach. Lutz also walked and was hit by a pitch in five plate appearances.

Maria Spinosa, Carlie Johnson, Adrienne Giuliani and Jaynie Black also contributed hits to the balanced Lady Hatter attack.

In the junior varsity game, Hatboro-Horsham played its most complete game of the season on the way to a season-closing 10-3 victory over Garnet Valley.

Center fielder Jamie Mroz returned to the lineup after missing three games with a leg injury and went 3-for-3, with three runs scored, a double and a sacrifice fly to lead a season-high, 17-hit attack. 

Second baseman Kayla Richard, third baseman Bria Cashman, catcher Emmy Rivkin and first baseman Carlie Mount also had two hits each. 

Consecutive singles by Cashman, shortstop Meghan Fitzgerald and Rivkin in the third, a throwing error and Mroz's sacrifice fly turned a 3-2 deficit into a two-run lead in the third.

Ahead still just 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Hatboro-Horsham (8-11) scored four times to break the game open.

With one out, Mroz hustled her way to a double and stole third base.  

After a walk and stolen base for left fielder Miranda Nish, right fielder Charlotte Coulson drove in Mroz with a hard grounder to short and Mount followed with a looping single to center to plate Nish.

Mount came around to score on an error when Kaeli Simmons grounded to short and Richard pushed home Simmons with a two-out single to left.

Simmons settled down after some early trouble for a complete-game, two-hitter, but could have easily tossed a no-hitter. 

A bloop single to left led to a run in the first for Garnet Valley and a misjudged fly ball resulted in a double and a pair of runs for the Lady Jaguars in the third.

Simmons scattered five walks, but she was effective with a nice change-up and struck out eight in the seven-inning victory.

Defensively, the JV Hatters committed a season-low one error and were sparked by a double play in the fourth inning to stave off a potential Garnet Valley threat.

First baseman Jessica Eble charged a bunt aggressively and fired a strike to Richard, covering the bag at first. Richard then saw a runner make a wide turn at third, gunned the ball across the diamond and nailed her for the third out of the inning as Fitzgerald made a nifty tag.

The season ended on Thursday for most of the JV squad, but Coulson, Mroz and Simmons will move up to the varsity roster for the playoffs.

PIAA District One 4-A Softball Playoffs

All games at 4 p.m. in the first three rounds

First three rounds at higher-seeded teams

First Round, Monday, May 20

Upper Bracket 

No. 1 Neshaminy, bye

No. 17 Kennett at No. 16 Boyertown

 

No. 8 Downingtown East, bye 

No. 24 Interboro at No. 9 Spring-Ford

 

No. 5 Owen J. Roberts, bye 

No. 21 Conestoga at No. 12 Pennridge

 

No. 4 Central Bucks South

No. 20 Garnet Valley at No. 13 North Penn

 

Lower Bracket 

No. 2 Hatboro-Horsham, bye

No. 18 Perkiomen Valley at No. 15 West Chester East

 

No. 7 Central Bucks East, bye

No. 23 William Tennett at No. 10 Methaction

 

No. 3 Pennsbury, bye

No. 19 Souderton at No. 14 Upper Darby

 

No. 6 West Chester Henderson, bye 

No. 22 Avon Grove at No. 11 Haverford

 

Second Round, Wednesday, May 22

 

Kennett-Boyertown winner at Neshaminy

Interboro-Spring-Ford winner at Downingtown East

Conestoga-Pennridge winner at Owen J. Roberts

Garnet Valley-North Penn winner at Central Bucks South

 

Perkiomen Valley-West Chester East winner at Hatboro-Horsham

William Tennett-Methaction winner at Central Bucks East 

Souderton-Upper Darby winner at Pennsbury

Avon Grove-Haverford winner at West Chester Henderson

 

Quarterfinals, Friday, May 24

Semifinals, Tuesday, May 28, Neutral Sites

Finals, Thursday, May 30, Neutral Site

PIAA State 4-A Playoffs, June 3-14

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