Lady Hatters Receive Paparazzi-Like Welcome Home

The screams began before they were even in sight. And, as the tour bus got closer, gold balloons, banners and bouquets of flowers were waving frantically through the air Friday night. 

No, it wasn't a scene at a concert. It was friends and family who, just after 9 p.m. Friday, welcomed back the Lady Hatters hours after the team beat the Pennsbury Falcons 4-3 to claim the state title. The girls' tour bus, led by fire trucks from , trekked through the parking lot at, before making a stop at .

Tired, yet exhilarated, the newly crowned state champs strolled off the bus, which had transported them home from Penn State, to pose for pictures, jump up and down and bask in the excitement of taking home the title. Some of the seniors, like Hatter Melissa Spinosa, were lucky enough to begin and end their high school softball careers as PIAA state champs. 

And Amanda Sadowl, big sis of junior Hatter Val Sadowl, had played on the state title-winning team in 2008. The older Sadowl was on hand to greet Val as she stepped off the bus, perhaps wearing the biggest congratulations yet - a T-shirt listing her kid sister's team as the 2011 state champions. 

Hatboro-Horsham Patch caught up with some of the players and Coach Joe DiFilippo before the team set out for a victory lap around the track during the Relay for Life event, happening nearby at Hatter Stadium.