Volpe grounds Fords, North Penn crowned state champs
Haverford’s historic run ends with loss in state final to North Penn
STATE COLLEGE » Brooke McKeown got most of the way through the answer before the tears came.
There was little crying from Haverford – and none from McKeown, the Fords’ centerfielder, when they accepted their silver medals at Penn State’s Beard Field Thursday evening. There were few tears when they lifted the runners-up trophy after an 11-0 defeat at the hands of North Penn in the PIAA Class 6A softball semifinal. A loss in the last chapter of a journey that exceeded all reasonable expectations entering the season, that wasn’t a reason to cue the waterworks.
It’s not until she was reminded that Thursday marked the last game with this special group, which has taken Haverford deeper into a state softball tournament than ever before, that true sadness set in.
“Words can’t really describe it,” McKeown said. “We’ve never been here before. Just to be here with this close of a team is amazing.”
That extra two weeks together, after their 2020 season was taken away by the COVID-19 crisis, is what McKeown and others left treasuring. It wasn’t the Fords’ day against North Penn (26-2), which has been on a mission since Haverford beat the Knights in the District 1 quarterfinals. And Haverford was merely the last name on the redemption list for the rampaging Knights to check off.
“I feel like that game was a wakeup call,” North Penn pitcher Mady Volpe said. “I don’t remember one thing from that Haverford game, the one we played in the districts. I just try to keep my memory short, especially in
big games. But this is just something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”
Take your pick of an area of the game, and the Knights dominated Haverford (23-5) in it. North Penn rapped out 11 hits, including four extra-base hits. Leadoff hitter Julia Shearer, a star sophomore, scored four times and drove in four runs, including a sixth-inning solo home run. North Penn played big ball – six hits for five runs in the top of the seventh to seal it, with Shearer lacing a tworun double and Sarah Sabocsik clubbing an RBI triple. It played small ball, capitalizing on three Haverford errors to push two runs across in the second.
And all that was more than enough for Volpe. She allowed two singles, both to McKeown, Haverford’s leadoff hitter and Volpe’s club teammate. McKeown was the only Ford to even see third base, though she got picked
off in a bizarre play after stealing it. Only McKeown’s leadoff single and a fly out by Rachel Yocom even escaped the infield.
Volpe walked four and hit two batters, but she struck out seven, dialing up a diabolical changeup that got the Fords flailing time and again.
It caps an unbelievable state tournament for North Penn, which didn’t allow a run in four games. Since Kerri McCallum’s solo home run in the fifth inning of the District 1 quarterfinal, North Penn did not allow another run over six games, including playbacks. That 42-inning scoreless streak to end the season counts the Coastal Carolina signee Volpe as the principal protagonist.
“It’s just so unreal, especially in the state tournament, not giving up a run,” she said. “That’s something I could not even imagine I could be able to do. I just have fun, at the end of the day, it’s just a game. There’s nothing you can do. Don’t
overthink, don’t do too much, just do what you’re able to do.”
Emma Taylor, whose walk-off home run sent the District 1 third seed Fords to their first final, battled early but tired late. It’s the third time she’s seen the Knights this year, losing a 2-1 duel with Volpe in the regular season before the 5-0 win in districts.
In the final, North Penn worked counts adeptly, fouling off a ton of early pitches. They worked a pair of walks in the second inning, and by the seventh, they got to Taylor.
“This game, they hit better than the last two games we played against them,” Taylor said. “I was throwing inside, outside, high and low, and they were making contact on everything, so we couldn’t really go with what I had been throwing them early in the season, so that made it much harder.”
It didn’t help that Haverford ran into two outs on
the bases, in the face of Volpe’s ever slimming margin for error. McKeown was tagged out at third after advancing to the base on a wild pitch, and Sarah Hubley, the courtesy runner for catcher Haley Greenwald, was caught straying off first base in the second. The big blow in the two-run fourth, which steepened the mountain to climb, was a groundball from Shearer that slipped under the glove of Tess Smiley at shortstop.
That didn’t dim the fight in the dugout or the batter’s box, Taylor said, which has been a hallmark all season. And it’s one of the reasons why her memories of this squad will be so fond.
“This season, we really just fought to make up for everything last season and just have those extra couple of weeks with everyone because we’re super tight and we’re super close,” Taylor said. “It made a huge difference and it meant a lot to us.”