Neshaminy pounds out 23 hits in romp over Pennsbury
FAIRLESS HILLS, PA. » It’s not just the way Neshaminy has completely reversed the tables and is consistently beating a Pennsbury softball team it once lost to 17 times in a row.
Now some of the games aren’t even competitive.
For the second time in their last three meetings, Neshaminy run-ruled Pennsbury on Thursday, this time by the score of 15-4 in a six-inning game in which it poured across eight runs in the sixth inning.
With the victory, Neshaminy improved to 7-1 with a battle of unbeaten Suburban One National League squads on the immediate horizon with the Redskins set to head to Council Rock North (6-1) on Monday afternoon.
Pennsbury, meanwhile, is 0-5 for almost certainly the first time in program history and has the tough task of playing New Jersey powerhouse Donovan Catholic Saturday after a game against JP Stevens earlier in the day.
Although Pennsbury had hopes when it came back to tie the game on a threerun double by Karli Haines in the third inning and an RBI fielders’ choice by Carly Parsons in the fourth, you couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time before the Neshaminy bats would really explode.
After Amber Brugger deposited the second pitch of the game over the left field fence and Natalie Rios blasted an even longer homer to center one batter later, Neshaminy only scored two runs over the next three innings.
This all started changing in the fifth, however, as Neshaminy put together five hits to score three times. As it turned out, that uprising was just a warm up for the next inning in which 10 more hits put the run rule in effect.
The Redskins got production from up and down the lineup with eight players driving in at least one run. In addition to hitting a homer along with Brugger, No. 3 batter Rios was on fire with three singles and three RBIs.
“I did feel good at the plate today,” said Rios, who came into the game batting over .400. “We had seen her (Pennsbury pitcher Alyssa Hileman) many times before and knew what to expect.
“We absolutely came into the game ready to play and wanted to set the tone right away. When Amber hit that home run it got us even more pumped up.”
By the time the beat down was finished, Neshaminy had collected a whopping 23 hits. Catcher Paige Metz was on fire at the bottom of the order with a sac and three hits, including an RBI single in the second and a three-run double in the sixth. Penn State recruit Liana Jones and Haley Duffy had three hits as well, while Alexis Watkins singled and drove in two runs with a double.
“We hit the crap out of the ball,” said Neshaminy coach Dave Chichilliti. “And it’s nice to have another pitcher like that when your other one isn’t available.”
Chichilliti was referring to lefty Sarah Dowalo getting the ball because Brugger had a blister on her pitching hand. Dowalo finished with a six-hitter and seven strikeouts.
There’s nothing, of course, Neshaminy enjoys more than beating Pennsbury. Keeping that in mind, this was about as much fun as it could possibly get.
Neshaminy (7-1) Pennsbury (0-5) 211 038 — 15 23 2 003 100 — 5 6 2
WP-Dowalo. LP-Hileman. 2B-Metz (N), Watkins (N), Haines (P). HR-Brugger (N), Rios (N). RBIs: N-Brugger, Rios 3, Jones, Kurtz, Duffy, Watkins 2, Smith, Metz 4. P-Parsons, Haines 3.