Back At It
Fusco’s pinch-hit delivers Perkiomen Valley’s first win of the season
GRATERFORD >> Recovering from two stress fractures in her spine last winter, Perkiomen Valley’s Sela Fusco didn’t have a chance to try out for the varsity squad.
Now fully healed and in her sophomore season, Fusco offered a little glimmer of what she can do.
Tied at 2 with two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Fusco made the most of her first varsity at-bat, hitting a pinch-hit single down the third-base line to bring in the eventual game-winning run as Perkiomen Valley ousted Boyertown, 3-2, in their Pioneer Athletic Conference opener Wednesday afternoon.
“It was pretty nice to know that I could come back from a bad year last year and be able to show my ability and show what I can do to my coaches and my teammates,” Fusco said afterward.
The win starts the season off right for the defending District 1 Class 4A champions, who graduated a bevy of starters from their district tourney run including Ana Bruni, Emily Oltman and Kelsey Impink ... all of whom are playing collegiate softball. The “new look” Vikings, both in makeup of lineup and in style (Vikings sported new alternate gray uniforms), hit some bumps
in the first inning but behind starting pitcher Abby Wild, then settled down the rest of the way.
Nothing not to be expected by head coach Dan McLaughlin.
“Abby pitched well for it really being the first time playing a game on a field this year,” McLaughlin said. “It’s kind of to be expected to struggle. I was kind of worried about that and the worries were supported early on. We hung together. You can see how many kids we used today. We lost a lot of firepower last year and one or two kids isn’t going to replace what we lost. It’s going to take everybody. Everyone has to be ready and do their job, whether it be pinch running or pinch hitting. Just like Fusco.”
Fusco’s hit dampened the day for first-year head coach Kim Musselman and Boyertown. The Bears staked themselves a 2-1 lead in the first behind two steals from Sarah Reinert, an error on a botched first-and-third defensive play by the Vikings that allowed her to score, and a perfectly executed safety squeeze by Alyssa Acker that scored Lauren Ferguson. From there, however, the Bears couldn’t string together any hits, only advancing a runner to second twice in the next five innings.
“I thought we did phenomenal in the first inning but we couldn’t string any hits together,” Musselman said. “I was happy with how the girls played defensively. The first inning I was really excited, loved how they executed the squeeze play. It was a good game, I was happy with it.”
Wild, overcoming a rocky start, looked in good form the rest of the way. The senior righty retired the side in order in four of the next six innings and benefitted from Jess Ott’s RBI liner to right that tied it at 2 in the second inning. Her decision was in question until the impactful sixth, where Ashley Bangert reached on an error by the center fielder. Fiona Warren, pinch running for Bangert, was moved over to third by a sacrifice bunt by Brittany Donigan and a groundout by Taylor Hamm before Fusco hit a grounder that went underneath the glove of the Boyertown third baseman before going over the bag.
Wild finished with eight strikeouts and allowed three hits in her complete-game effort.
Boyertown starter Emily Bradley went all seven, allowing three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and three walks. Veronica Maryanski had two hits in the loss.