Late rally carries West Chester East past Unionville
by Bill Rudickbrudick55@gmail.com
WEST GOSHEN>>The West Chester East softball team is getting hot at just the right time. After starting off the season 1-3, the Vikings have won eight of its last nine, including a 4-2 win over Unionville Friday afternoon. With the win, the Vikings (9-4 overall, 9-3 Ches-Mont) move up to the number five spot in the District 1, Class 5A rankings, with the playoffs looming just around the corner.
“We are just getting better every time we take the field,” said East coach Bobby Swier. “Hats off to Unionville on the kind of season they are having. With our team, our pitching and defense has been tough all year—it hasn’t been often we’ve given up more than four runs—and that will keep you in games. This is a young team, and I think it just took us a couple games to start to gel.”
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, the Vikings exploded for four runs. Ava Cross got things going, working a lead-off walk and swiping second. Cross came around to score on a one-out single from Carly Bickle to cut the Unionville lead to 2-1.
The Vikings then took advantage of some sloppiness by the Longhorn defense, with Emma Antczak, Daria Cross, and Mia Picciotti reaching to load the bases on errors. Up came the Vikings’ number eight hitter, Caroline Rudderow, who came through with a big, bases clearing double.
“We put three people on ahead of me, so I just tried to stay calm and do what I knew I could do for the team,” said Rudderow. “I saw a pitch I liked and came through with a double. But this isn’t about me—everyone on this team contributed to the win.”
Unionville came out of the gate strong, pushing across both their runs in the first inning. Madison Parisi (2-for-2, double) got things going with a two-out single to left, with Shannon Megill following with a near carbon copy of Parisi’s hit to make it first and second for Lily DeLong. DeLong knocked in both runners, ripping a double to deepest center.
But West Chester East starter Rebecca Opperman was unfazed, allowing just two hits the rest of the way. Opperman picked up the win in the circle with seven strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits. She struck out seven, and walked just one.
“It’s never easy giving up a string of hits in the first inning,” said Opperman. “I just had to calm myself, find my grounding, and knowing I can just put my trust in my team behind me to make plays. We took a little while to learn to trust each other, but we are really coming together as a team.
Through the Longhorns fall to 10-2 on the season, they are still in the driver’s seat for Ches-Mont American title, and are currently ranked number two in the District 1, Class 5A, with a big game with Rustin coming Monday.
“We just have to be goldfish and have a short memory,” said Unionville coach Amanda Panati. “This is a good team. We just have to put this behind us, learn from our mistakes, and get ready for Rustin. It was just a couple mistakes in the sixth that cost us. We’ll move on from here.”
West Chester East 4 Unionville 2Unionville 2 0 0 0 0 0 0—2WC East 0 0 0 0 0 4 X—4
WP—Opperman LP—Parisi2B—Parisi, Delong, Rudderow
View more on Mainline Media News