Konkrete Kids win, Zamadics tosses no-hitter
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference softball all-star team was released at about 3 p.m. on Thursday.
At 4 p.m., Northampton went out and showed why it had the league’s MVP in second baseman Taylor Kranzley and four firstteam selections overall.
Senior Kaira Zamadics, who was a second-team choice, showed why she could have been another first-team by tossing a no-hitter and the top-seeded Konkrete Kids had little trouble advancing to Monday night’s semifinals with a solid 8-0 win over visiting Nazareth.
Northampton (20-1) will face No. 4 seed Bethlehem Catholic at 6 p.m. Monday at Patriots Park in the second game of a semifinal doubleheader. Becahi advanced with a 2-0 win over Stroudsburg.
Emmaus, a 4-3 winner over Whitehall, and Parkland, which routed Freedom, 10-0, will meet at 4 p.m. Monday in the first game of the twin bill.
Konkrete Kids coach Kristy Henritzy told her team after the game about the all-star selections and while the players were happy about it, all-league teams aren’t what they’re striving for.
“I mentioned the first-teamers and then I talked about the second team and then I went through the entire dugout and the girls who could have made it as well,” Henritzy said. “But we’re not about that. We’re all good because of each other. We don’t shoot for individual things. If it happens, it’s great. It’s not something we strive for or think about.”
Still, Henritzy was happy Kranzley got the MVP award. The three-sport athlete was also all-league in field hockey and a starter on Northampton’s basketball team that went 23-7.
“TK is a four-year starter and it’s an honor to coach her,” Henritzy said. “She’s a great teammate. She’s a great leader, but quiet. The play she made today was phenomenal but she does that kind of play all the time. There’s no second gear for her.”
The play came in the third inning when Kranzley dove to her knees to stop a hard-hit ball up the middle and from her knees, she fired a strike to first to get the out.
“That was an amazing play that really saved me,” Zamadics said. “She can do it all. She’s so fast she can get behind second in a split or first.”
Kranzley, who will play college softball at Bloomsburg, said it was an honor to get the MVP distinction, especially as a three-sport athlete.
“We have such a good team and our starting lineup is so strong that it could have been any one of us to get the MVP, but it’s a great honor,” she said. “I just go from one sport to another and keep working through each of them.”
As for her team, Kranz
ley thought it was a good win. Northampton won the earlier meeting with Nazareth 13-4 on April 21, but experienced no sense of overconfidence.
“We got the bats going and I thought we really played great defense,” Kranzley said. “On that one play I really got a good angle on it and I knew I had to pop quick and make the throw to first.”
Kranzley said that losing in last year’s EPC final to Freedom 10-0 has everyone motivated to take care of business as the tournament moves to the south side of Allentown next week.
“Most of us started on the team last year and we really want EPC gold and not silver this time,” she said. “We’re looking forward to going to Pates Park. I really like the atmosphere over there.”
Having a healthy Zamadics will be big for the team. The senior battled through a case of mononucleosis for several weeks and said she is just getting back to full strength.
“This is the strongest I’ve felt,” she said after walking six and striking out 14 in a performance that took 112 pitches.
“This was my first full game back and for it to be a no-hitter was great. It was exciting. I know my first game back against Parkland was tough and by the seventh inning, I was like falling on my face. It was a lot on my body and I’ve struggled to get all the way back and against Whitehall, I was lucky to have Kaitlyn Renson there behind me to pick up everything I dropped. But this was the best I’ve felt physically. I felt strong.”
The Northampton attack was strong as usual in collecting eight hits. Devyn Demchak homered, Alexa Chromey had a pair of hits and three RBIs and Arianna Patterson had two hits and scored twice.
“My seniors have never seen an EPC tournament game so this was a big deal for them,” Nazareth coach Steve Genzale said after his team fell to 13-8. “That pitcher [Zamadics] was tough. We had a tough time figuring her out, but we didn’t give up and we tried to have good at-bats until the end of the game. We got a couple of freshmen in there to give them some experience, but Northampton’s just a great team.”