Knights bash their way to quarterfinal round
Namey hits grand slam, North Penn slugs 4 home runs to rout Quakertown
TOWAMENCIN » With the help of four total home runs, the North Penn softball team powered its way to a 13-2 District 1-6A second round win over Quakertown in six innings Wednesday afternoon.
No. 13 seed Quakertown beat No. 4 North Penn — which had a first-round bye — 5-3 back in April making this game a revenge game for the Knights. Leading the way for the Knights (17-4) was catcher Amanda Greaney, who hit two home runs in the victory.
“I just felt great because we all came together as a team since we were ready for today,” said Greaney. “We knew we had to come out strong because Quakertown beat us earlier this season and today we got it done.”
“It’s so surreal because we all had goals to make it as far as we could in the tournament and this is the first step in the process.”
North Penn hosts No. 12 seed Coatesville in the district quarterfinals on 4 p.m. Friday with the winner earning a spot in the PIAA tournament. Coatesville upset fifthseeded Hatboro-Horsham 6-0.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third in-
ning when Elia Namey crushed a grand slam over the center field fence at to give North Penn a 4-0 lead.
Namey was overwhelmed with excitement on her way to home plate to unite with her teammates.
“After I got it, I was really happy because I really wanted to break that tie,” said Namey. “I knew Quakertown was going to come in with their heads in the game and wanted to win, but we wanted it more.”
The last of three Knights to hit at least one home run was Jordan Pietrzykoski, who launched one over just to the right of the left field pole for a tworun shot in the bottom of the fifth.
“I was so excited after my home run because we wanted this game so bad,” said Pietrzykoski. “Knowing that Quakertown beat us previously, we knew that we had to put a lot of runs on them.”
Out of 15 combined runs in the game, 12 of them were scored on a home run as Quakertown had a solo home run off the bat of Nikki Vanelli.
North Penn head coach Rick Torresani was thrilled for his team to get the huge win and move on in the district tournament.
“I was fearful at first with Quakertown not throwing good pitches,” said Torresani. “But once it got the second time around the lineup, they started hitting the ball hard and putting them far.”
“Amanda has been hitting really well for us and I’m very happy with her performance with two home runs.”
With the loss, the Quakertown High School softball team finishes its season 15-5 and snaps a four-game winning streak. Quakertown had defeated Methacton 1-0 in the first round to make it to North Penn. District 1-6A 2nd Round (4) North Penn 13, (13) Quakertown 2 (6)
Quakertown 000101— 2 61 North Penn 004 054 — 13 15 1
WP:Volpe6IP6H2R1ER6SO. LP: Caputo 5 IP 14 H 11 R 11 ER 1 BB 2 SO. Quakertown: Vanelli: 2-for-3, HR, 1 RBI; Frederick: 2-for-3; Schwartz: 2-for-3, R North Penn: Greaney: 3-for-3, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Namey: 2-for-3, HR, 4 RBI; Pietrzykoski: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI.