Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Oxford clinches division title
OXFORD >> With the post season just barely over a week away, Oxford is looking like a team poised to make another deep post-season run. The Hornets are doing just about everything right — getting timely hits from up and down the order, and playing fantastic defense behind the solid pitching of Cece Figueroa.
All of those traits were on display Thursday afternoon as Oxford (15-3 overall, 14-3 Ches-Mont) cruised to a 9-1 victory over visiting Sun Valley (5-12, 4-13). With the victory, the Hornets clinched the Ches-Mont American title, for the first time since 2011.
“We set a series of goals at the start of the season,” said Oxford coach Josh Socash. “We can now cross off two of them. First, we wanted to qualify for districts, and the next one was to win our league. We’re really starting to hit our stride.”
Thanks in no small part to some excellent defense behind her, Figueroa put together a gem of an outing. The Hornets’ ace was perfect for 3 2/3 innings, before giving up a two-out single down the right field line in the fourth. Figueroa picked up the win in the circle, allowing one run on three hits, striking out six without issuing a base on balls.
“Cece pitched really well today,” said Socash. “She’s been pitching great, not giving up any free passes, and trusting the defense to make plays behind her. And the defense has been coming up with some big plays. The diving catch from Sydney Kargulewicz in left was big, coming right after they hit the ball hard, and we were only up two at the time.”
Offensively, the Hornets had four players with multi-hit games, banging out 12 hits, including three for extra bases. Leading the way was McKenna Frank, who finished the day a perfect 4 for 4, with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI.
Frank’s stellar performance at the plate came on the heels of reaching a hitting milestone in
her previous game, when she passed the 100 hit plateau for her career, a mark made all the more impressive that it came in just three years, thanks to the pandemic stealing a season.
“For her to do it in just 63 games is amazing,” said Socash. “She’s an incredible player and is putting together an amazing season for us. I couldn’t be happier to see her reaching her goals.”
Frank, who will be playing collegiately just over the border in Delaware next year at Goldey-Beacom, is relieved that she passed the mark ahead of the post-season.
“It means more than you could know to get past 100,” said Frank. “To be honest, it stressed me out way more than it should have, but I was afraid I might get stuck on 99 and just miss. Now that it’s past, I’m a lot more relaxed and confident at the plate.
“Winning the league means so much to us. In the past, we just never seemed to compete with the better teams like we should have, and this year we’re really putting it together.”
Joining Frank with multiple hits against the Vanguards were Angela Beadle (2-for-4, two runs, one solen base) and Natalia Donofrio (2-for-3, triple, two RBIs, one stolen base). Ashley Flynn added a triple for the Hornet offense, which scored single runs in the first, second and fourth, along with three runs in both the fifth and sixth.
The Vanguards lone run came in the seventh, when Layla Murphy (2-for-3, double) led off with a double down the left field line, then came home on an errant throw to first on a ball from Carly Hess. Sun Valley’s only other base knock was a single from Lacie Gilpin.