Pennsville wins region opener

UPDATED: New Jersey Senior Softball champs breathe a sigh of relief after coming from behind twice to beat Maryland

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WORCESTER, Mass. – As experienced as the team is at these things by now and should be comfortable with the surroundings, it took a little while for the Pennsville Senior Softball All-Stars to get used to this stage.

Pennsville, looking to claim the region title they felt got away from them last year, won their opening game in the Little League Senior Softball East Regional here Saturday, beating high-powered Havre de Grace, Md., 13-7, but it took a while for them to get going.

They fell behind twice early, rallied to tie it both times, then took advantage of the Marylanders’ shoddy infield defense to ultimately pull away. 

They trailed 2-0 in the first inning and 4-2 in the third, tied the game both times, then took the lead with two runs in the fifth. They added two in the sixth and broke it open with five in the seventh. It was more than enough cushion to withstand Maryland’s mini-uprising in the home seventh.

They will play Smyrna, Del. (3:30 p.m.) and Stroudsburg, Pa. (6 p.m.) in their final two Mid-Atlantic pool play games Sunday. Delaware beat Pennsylvania in the first pool game of the day, 11-1.

“I feel like maybe we weren’t used to playing a competitive team,” third baseman Bella Farina said of the slow start. “In sectionals we didn’t really have much competition. It always takes us a little bit to get in our groove and we always give everybody anxiety.”

Pennsville starting pitcher Jess Bretz really had trouble getting out of the gate and manager Chris Watson lifted her for Kloi Tighe after six batters and 18 pitches in the first inning. Tighe got out of the bases-loaded jam she was introduced to with a strikeout and fly out and then went the rest of the way. She gave up nine hits, three earned runs and struck out seven in her 6 2/3 innings.

At the finish, Maryland scored two runs in the seventh and had bases loaded with one out, but Tighe shut the door with a strikeout and a pop to the infield. She also pitched the last 2 1/3 behind Bretz Tuesday night to lock down Pennsville’s state championship game win.

“I didn’t expect him to put me in to pitch at that time, but I knew he wanted to get the win,” Tighe said. “I’ve been put in pressure situations a lot with travel and I pitched school games like that, so I was OK other it being super hot. It was really hot today.”

Part of Bretz’ trouble Saturday may have been the absence of her regular catcher Kylie Harris. Harris and Leadoff Lily Edwards, the regular first two hitters in their lineup, both missed the game.

Harris usually calls pitches and moves the defense, but without her Tighe made her first start behind the plate since fall ball three years ago and even then “it wasn’t for a lot of innings.” When Tighe went to the circle, Graillyn Weber came in to catch and, Tighe said, “we worked together to make it work.”

“Birdie’s (Weber’s) hand was hurting so I was like I can try (to start off catching) because we really didn’t have anyone else to do it, but it really wasn’t working out for us,” Tighe said. “If was definitely different for (Bretz) because she had me behind the plate and I don’t catch. I kind of felt bad for her because I really wasn’t helping her much, but we really didn’t have a choice. At that point, that was the best we had.”

Bella Rappa and Bella Farina led the offense with three hits apiece, Bretz ripped a pair of doubles and Havre de Grace helped them with 10 errors. Pennsville’s last three runs came on a dropped fly ball with the bases loaded.

The New Jersey champs tied the game the first time with a two-out rally in the third. Bretz got it started with a double. Rappa followed with an RBI single and went to second on the third and scored on Farina’s RBI single.

They tied it the second time in the fourth. Pinch-hitters Kam Garron and Audrey Claybourne opened the inning with a walk and single, respectively, and Tighe sacrificed them up a base. Special pinch runner Gina Shinn, a special pinch-runner for Garron, slid around the throw on Savannah Palverento’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-3 and and Claybourne scored the tying run when Maryland dropped Bretz’ pop up in the infield that would’ve ended the inning.

They took the lead in the fifth  Avery Watson got it started when she took one for the team with one out. Sawyer Simmons then hit a ball that died right before first base line and the throw to get her was dropped at first.

Watson took off for third and that throw was wild allowing her to sprint home with the go-ahead run. Simmons took second and then went to third on a wild pitch. Another run scored when Maryland couldn’t hold the throw Palverento’s grounder to short.

“I think it just gets us going,” Farina said of finally breaking the ice. “It hypes us up and we all get excited and we all just feed off that. That’s when we get all the good hits.”

Maryland bounced back from its loss to beat Pennsylvania 10-1 in its second game of the night. The first six hitters in Maryland’s lineup all had at least two hits.

Pennsville 002 222 5 – 13 10 3
Maryland 202 001 2 – 7 12 10
WP: Kloi Tighe (2-0). LP. Lilly Dalton. 2B: Jess Bretz 2 (P), Bella Rappa (P), Katie Burr (M).

DELAWARE 11, PENNSYLVANIA 1: Smyrna gave Stroudsburg a taste of its own medicine, scoring double-figure runs for the seventh time in seven tournament games to run-rule a team that had won each of its previous seven tournament games by the run rule.

Alexis Dennis led Delaware with four hits and five RBIs while spinning a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts in the circle. Pennsylvania hadn’t given up a run in its previous four games and came in with a streak of 21 scoreless innings, a streak that ended at 23 when Dennis ripped a two-run double in the third.

Pennsville plays both teams Sunday.

LITTLE LEAGUE SENIOR SOFTBALL
East Regional, Worcester, Mass.
Pool A (New England): Connecticut (Bristol), Host (Mass D4/Worcester), Massachusetts (Marblehead), Rhode Island (Warwick North)
Pool B (Mid-Atlantic): Delaware (Smyrna/Clayton), Maryland (Havre de Grace), New Jersey (Pennsville), Pennsylvania (Stroudsburg)
Saturday’s games
Delaware 11, Pennsylvania 1
Massachusetts 11, Host (Mass D4) 0
Pennsville LL 13, Maryland 7
Massachusetts 8, Connecticut 2
Maryland 10, Pennsylvania 1
Rhode Island 10, Host (Mass D4) 0
Sunday’s games
Massachusetts (2-0) vs. Rhode Island (1-0), 1 p.m.
Maryland (1-1) vs. Delaware (1-0), 1 p.m.
Connecticut (0-1) vs. Rhode Island, 3:30 p.m.
Delaware vs. Pennsville LL (1-0), 3:30 p.m.
Host (Mass D4) (0-2) vs. Connecticut, 6 p.m.
Pennsylvania (0-2) vs. Pennsville LL, 6 p.m.
Monday’s games
1A vs. 4B, 5 p.m.
2A vs. 3B, 5 p.m.
2B vs. 3A, 8 p.m.
1B vs. 4A, 8 p.m.
Tuesday’s games
Semifinals
1A-4B winner vs. 2B-3A winner, 5:30 p.m.
2A-3B winner vs. 1B-4A winner, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday’s game
Championship, 1 p.m.

File photo of Pennsville manager Chris Watson and Kloi Tighe from a game earlier this season by Lorraine Jenkins