Opperman near-perfect as West Chester East blanks Unionville in 5A semis
By Bill Rudickbrudick55@gmail.com
EAST MARLBOROUGH>>West Chester East starter Rebecca Opperman threw about as good a game as one could ask, allowing just one baserunner all game as the No. 4 Vikings upset top-seeded Unionville 8-0 Friday afternoon in the District 1, Class 5A semi-finals.
With the win, West Chester East (18-4) returns to the District 1 championship game after a two-year absence since winning it all in 2021. The Vikings will square off against No. 3 Marple- Newtown (18-4), a 4-3 winner over Rustin Friday, at Marple-Newtown High School next Wednesday, May 28, with gametime slated for 4PM.
“I think some people may have underestimated us this year because this is such a young team,” said East coach Bobby Swier. “We have a lot of freshman and sophomores coming through for us now, when it matters. At the beginning of the year, we weren’t worrying about wins and losses as much as simply getting better every game, and that is resulting in wins now.”
Opperman had the Longhorns off-balance all day, changing speeds and finding her spots. One of the few times Unionville hit the ball hard came in the first inning, when Madison Parisi connected for a triple. Opperman picked up the shutout victory allowing just one hit in seven innings. She struck out seven, and didn’t walk a batter.
“We all trust each other on the field, knowing we’re going to make the plays we need to make,” said Opperman. “I can’t do anything without the team behind me. For me, I was hitting my spots, and moving the ball well, and the pitch calling was great. Pretty much everything went well today.”
For Swier, it’s just nice to have Opperman in the circle again for a full season.
“To see Rebecca fight through injuries like the she has the past two seasons to come back with the season she’s had this year, says everything you need to know about her character,” said Swier. “She puts the trust in her defense and goes out and executes. She’s hitting her spots and staying focused.”
The Vikings broke a scoreless tie with a massive top of the third, pushing across seven runs. After Grace Koberg (2-for4, run scored, 2 RBI) beat out an infield single to lead off the inning, Ava Cross dropped down a bunt, and made it second and third when the throw sailed down the right field line. Caelyn Rodriguez (3-for-4, two doubles, triple, two runs scored, two RBI) made the error hurt, knocking in both runners with a double.
“Once we got things going, we just kept scoring and scoring,” said Rodriguez. “We want to keep this going and give our seniors two district gold medals. For me as a freshman, to know we have a shot to win districts and to know we’ll be playing in states is an amazing feeling.”
East tacked on another five runs in the inning, highlighted by RBI singles from Koberg, Emma Antczak and Mia Picciotti, and then rounded out the scoring in the sixth, with Carly Bickle knocking in Rodriguez.
“I might be biased, but I think the Ches-Mont is the best softball league in the state, and that prepares us all for this time of year,” said Swier. “With Rustin and Unionvlle, we have three of the top four teams left in class 5A, and with the two Downingtowns, we have two of the top four teams left in 6A. Playing each other all year makes us all better.”
As much as the loss stings, the Longhorns (17-5) are going to have to have a short memory. Unionville still has a shot to secure a slot in the state tournament, but they will need to beat Rustin in the third-place game next Wednesday.
“Any time you play, you want to win,” said Unionville coach Amanda Panati. “But we just weren’t making the routine plays. Too many errors in that one inning really hurt. But, to their credit, East made the routine plays, and hit when they had to. We just have to put this behind us and play the way we can, and we can make it to states.”
West Chester East 8 Unionville 0
WC East 0 0 7 0 0 1 0—8Unionville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0—0
WP—Opperman LP—Parisi3B—Parisi, Rodriguez 2B—Rodriguez (2)
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