Quick Start Lifts Lady Hatters to Victory in Softball

Coming off a , Hatboro-Horsham High coach Joe DiFilippo didn't have a lot of questions about his 2012 varsity softball team. 

But one of the biggest uncertainties was answered quickly in the Lady Hatters' first game Friday at home when Hatboro-Horsham scored five times on the way to a 7-1 victory over Harry S. Truman High School of Levittown. 

Left fielder Kelsey Koelzer whacked a three-run double in the first inning that rattled off the top of the fence and Val Sadowl followed with an RBI single to spark the early uprising.

"Everybody hit the ball well," DiFilippo said."I knew our defense and our pitching would be good, but the way we came out answered a lot of questions about our offense."

Koelzer and Sadowl each had a double and a single in three at-bats and lead-off hitter Jackie DiPietro got on base in each of her three plate appearances, reaching on two singles and an error. 

A seven-run, eight-hit attack was all pitchers Maggie Shaffer and Nicole Casagrand needed to pitch the Lady Hatters to a victory. Shaffer hurled five innings of one-hit ball, striking out six batters and walking just one. 

"If I can rest Maggie in games like that, I'm going to do it," said DiFilippo.

Freshman Jayne Black, who was moved up to the varsity on Thursday to provide the Lady Hatters with more speed and depth made an immediate impact, scoring from first as a pinch-runner on Koelzer's double in the first.

Black also added a hit and made a nice play in the outfield on a well-hit sacrifice fly in the late innings. 

Hatboro-Horsham will get a bigger challenge on Monday when it hosts Lansdale Catholic at 3:45 p.m. during a week that features three home games. 

"They gave us a good game last year when we played them and they have their pitcher (Mary Kate Scott) back," said DiFilippo of last year's 6-3 Lady Hatters' win.

The Crusaders made it to the PIAA 3-A quarterfinals last season before losing to Manheim Central, 5-4. Lansdale Catholic won the Philadelphia Catholic League championship for the first time in school history last year. 

Hatboro-Horsham also plays Conestoga High on Wednesday and Crestwood High on Thursday in two more non-league games. 

In junior varsity action on Friday, the Lady Hatters battled back from an early deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a clutch, two-run single by center fielder Maggie Leisch, but defensive miscues cost Hatboro-Horsham dearly in an 11-7 loss.

Among the highlights for the junior varsity Hatters were the pitching of freshman Lexy Campbell, who battled out of several jams, and the catching of sophomore Anna Mitchell in her first high school appearance behind the plate.

Freshman Jackie Locke had some strong moments defensively and also sparked a three-run rally in the seventh with a line-drive single to right. Locke took advantage of good base-running on the play to scoot to third on an error.