PHILADELPHIA >> The Delaney Smith highlight reel was going to get one more addition.
In the bottom half of the seventh inning, Bonner & Prendergast’s Meghan McNulty struck a ball deep in the hole at short stop. Ranging over, Smith made the stop then, from one knee, the Lansdale Catholic senior fired to first for the out.
It was a terrific play and the capper on a terrific game for Smith and her Crusader teammates, who topped the Pandas 15-4 in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals Wednesday at La Salle University.
“I did not want this to be our last game and I know the rest of the team wanted it,” Smith said. “I think it showed.”
The win sends the No. 3 Crusaders to Friday’s PCL final, set for 3 p.m. Friday again at La Salle, against No. 1 Archbishop Ryan, a 3-0 winner over Archbishop Wood. It’s the first PCL softball championship game appearance for every player on LC’s roster and they couldn’t have gotten there in more emphatic fashion.
Leading the charge was their energetic senior shortstop, who belted two doubles and a triple en route to three RBIs and two runs scored to go with some stellar defense. Even the plays she didn’t make had Smith jumping for joy at short, living up every second of her team’s play.
“What got me going is, for us to get to districts, we need to win the PCL,” the shortstop said. “If we take it one game at a time, we can do it. I firmly believe this is the best team we’ve had in my time here and I think we can do it.”
The Crusaders’ fate is up to them heading into the showdown with Ryan. Despite losing on Wednesday, Bonner-Prendie still has the lead track to the PCL’s 4A spot in the District 12 title game unless LC can take down the top-seeded Ragdolls.
In order to get to that point, they had to find a way to knock off a Pandas team that had beaten them 10-9 in nine innings during the regular season. Smith felt the Crusaders let that one get away and was determined not to let it happen again.
Her RBI double in the second inning put the first LC run on the board and she brought home two more with a seventh inning double. The senior also ripped a leadoff triple in the fifth inning and helped turn one of LC’s two double plays in the third inning.
“Delaney was just awesome today, absolutely outstanding,” LC coach Paul Suder said. “She told me before the game, ‘Mr. Suder, I’m ready. I’m pumped, I’m excited, I’m really ready to play.’ When you get that type of play out of your shortstop, that’s really big.”
Suder joked he was going to ask Smith what she did leading up to the game Wednesday and then have her replicate it on Friday.
“Her hitting was ridiculous, every year she’s just gotten so much better,” LC senior Lauren Crim. “I’m so excited for her.”
Smith certainly still had the intensity flowing postgame as mentioned looking forward to the challenge of facing Ryan and ace pitcher Dana Bell but also of overcoming a Pandas team that had beaten the Crusaders earlier this year.
“We wanted this game so bad, it was one we had marked off since we lost,” Smith said. “We wanted to play Bonner again in the playoffs and thankfully, we came out on top.”
HIT PARADE
Smith wasn’t the only Crusader pinging the ball around the yard on Wednesday.
Cleanup hitter Julia Marozzi continued her recent tear with three hits and a walk, catcher Rebecca Tiley hit three singles and scored three runs, Crim had two hits and Casey Meenan smacked a two-run single. LC senior Rachael Harryn also had a solid day, lacing two hits, driving in a pair of runs on a sixth-inning single and scoring four times.
Harryn felt the energy of her teammates and noted there were plenty of chances for LC hitters to do some damage.
“We really kept it rolling, we were hitting one after another and if one person got out, we picked each other back up,” Harryn said. “That’s really important with a team like this.”
Crim led off the game by ripping Meghan Sullivan’s first pitch up the middle, and felt LC had some of its best success swinging at the first pitch. While the outfielder is inclined to swing at the first pitch because, as the leadoff hitter, it’s usually a strike, Crim felt her teammates could follow suit.
“Once one person hits, it’s a pattern, every starts hitting,” Crim said. “I said look at her first pitch. She’s got a good changeup, she’s got good drops so you don’t want to let her throw that.”
LC ended up with 15 hits and drew four walks. After Crim’s hit, Sullivan got the last two outs on looking third strikes that had the LC hitters a bit rattled.
After Tiley and Harryn led off the second with back-to-back singles, Smith ripped her first double of the game to plate a run and the Crusaders showed they had found their zone.
“I think we played a little uptight in the first inning, then we realized we needed to relax at the plate and we started hitting,” Smith said.
“I had so much confidence in each of our hitters,” Harryn said. “I knew we were going to get the job done.”
Once the hits started coming, the noise followed. LC’s dugout was full of players trying to cheer over each other, the crescendo rising as the Crusaders kept putting the ball in play and batters on the bases.
“We were loud the entire game and we were confident in each other,” Crim said. “If we can do that, we can beat anyone.”
BURNS IN COMMAND
Meghan Burns spun the game ball in her right hand as she talked about her own impressive performance on Wednesday.
One of few Crusaders to not have much luck at the plate, the sophomore righty made sure the Pandas didn’t have much either with five really good innings of work after a bit of a tough opening frame. Burns gave up 12 hits Wednesday, with three coming in the first and five in the seventh with the score quite lopsided.
“Whenever we get ahead and hit and score runs, you tell yourself your defense has got you your offense is getting your back,” Burns said. “You tell yourself your teammates are behind you. It’s never one person’s game, it’s never me, it’s everybody combined and I keep telling myself ‘they have my back.’”
Burns has thrown every pitch of LC’s two PCL playoff games so far and her workhorse mentality has been a boost for the Crusaders. The sophomore pointed to the team’s ability to take a big moment in a game and minimize it down to something they can overcome.
For Burns, that was the first inning. After giving up hits to three of the first four batters, she got two pop-ups to end the frame and carried it through the rest of the game with her teammates giving plenty of support.
“We didn’t have that great bond in the beginning but through practicing and talking to each other, we found what clicked,” Burns said. “That’s what gets the team together, gets us going and had us making that progress.
PLAYING FOR MORE
Between soccer, basketball and now softball, Crim’s had a long year of sports at LC.
Still, the senior outfielder was pretty excited to hear Suder tell the team it had practice on Thursday afternoon. A four-year starter for softball and basketball, Crim is still seeking her first PCL title at LC, one of the few things missing from her standout athletic resume.
“I was ecstatic to hear that because I don’t want this to be over yet,” Crim said. “Let me tell you, LC needs a PCL championship. We are due one and this is the team to do it.”
All season, there were signs this LC team had something special but they came more in flashes. The lineup shifted quite a few times, the pitching staff swapped roles and the defense made strides. Even grabbing the No. 3 seed in the PCL, LC still had to prove itself in the postseason.
A gritty win over Conwell-Egan in the quarterfinals last Wednesday showed the Crusaders’ resolve. Wednesday’s win showed their ability.
“We have seniors that start, freshmen that start and everyone in between so I think it took some time and bonding,” Crim said. “We’re at the point where we all have confidence in each other and all cheer for each other and once you have that, it’s hard to stop.”
“It’s a really good feeling,” Harryn said. “We just have to keep that energy up, come out and play hard.”
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 15, BONNER & PRENDERGAST 4
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 032 105 4 – 15 15 2
BONNER & PRENDERGAST 200 000 2 – 4 12 4
3B: LC – Delaney Smith. 2B: LC – Smith 2, Julia Marozzi. Multiple hits: LC – Smith 3-5, Marozzi 3-4, Rebecca Tiley 3-5, Lauren Crim 2-4, Rachael Harryn 2-4; BP – Allison Martin 2-4, Hayley Rugh 2-4, Kaitlyn Martin 2-4, Meghan Sullivan 2-4, Mia Falcone 2-4.
