CR North rallies to beat Villa Joe on Sheehy’s homer

NEWTOWN, PA. >> What a difference a year has made for the neighbor Council Rock North and Villa Joe Marie softball teams.

A year ago Rock North struggled through a very difficult 1-18 campaign, while Villa Joe compiled a glittering 19-4 record and advanced all the way to a PIAA state semifinal game.

Well, as they say that was then and this is now because it was a much different story on Friday afternoon as Rock North rallied for a 6-5 victory over the Jems when Molly Sheehy blasted a dramatic game-winning, two-run, two-out homer over the center field fence in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With the victory, Rock North improved to 4-0 and set up an a showdown on Monday afternoon in Newtown against undefeated sister school Council Rock South.

Villa Joe is now 2-4 and has already equaled its loss total in all of last year despite the fact the calendar had not yet reached April.

It was a well-played game with just one error and for much of the afternoon it looked like VJM might hand the Indians their first loss of the year.

Playing a huge part in staking the Jems to a 4-1 lead after five innings was Ava Tsiouplis. Easily one of the top shortstops in the entire area, Tsiouplis slammed a pair of hard doubles for a VJM team that also got a two-run single from pitcher Leah Pagano in the third inning off Rock North freshman Lucy Mills.

With its number of remaining outs rapidly winding down, Rock North tied the game in the sixth when Taylor Gearhart belted a three-run homer to center field with one out to tie the game at 5-all.

VJM came right back to take the lead in the seventh. After Abbi Phillips led off with an infield single, Rock North elected to intentionally walk Tsiouplis despite the fact it put the go-ahead run on second with no outs.

Mills nearly got out of the inning, but ended up giving up an RBI single to Lindsey Rooney on a play in which VJM elected to hold the speedy Tsiouplis at third with two outs.

This decision proved fatal because in the bottom of the inning Olivia Schlindwein singled, stole second and then trotted home on Sheehy’s game-winner over the center field fence that set off a jubilant celebration at home plate.