BUCKINGHAM, PA — Revenge isn't something that Hatboro-Horsham High's varsity softball team has to use for motivation very frequently, but retribution was on the minds of the Lady Hatters on Tuesday afternoon at Central Bucks East in the opening game of the Suburban One League/Continental Conference season.
Playing the team that ended the HHHS hopes of advancing to the Pennsylvania 4-A softball tournament and knocked it out of District One play as well, it turned out to be a newcomer that struck the key blow in a 7-4 victory.
South Carolina transfer Megan Hallock drilled a three-run, two-out, inside-the-park homer in the fourth inning that lifted the Lady Hatters to a 5-1 lead that CB East couldn't overcome.
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The senior shortstop ripped a shot over the head of the CB East left fielder to score Jamie Mroz and Deanna Moyer, who had singled earlier. After tearing around the bases at breath-neck speed, Hallock (2-for-4) slid head-first and got her hand on home plate ahead of a tag to finish a four-run uprising.
Pitchers Lexie Campbell and Kaeli Simmons and some tremendous defense made the lead hold up for a victory that told the rest of the league that Hatboro-Horsham (2-0) is serious about defending its conference crown.
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Campbell mixed a variety of pitches to keep the Patriots (0-2) off-balance for four innings and strong defense limited the damage in CB East's three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth.
Simmons came on in the sixth and retired all six batters she faced to earn an important save.
Defense also play a crucial role as well on a day when everything fell in place to show how good the latest edition of the Lady Hatters might be.
No play was better than the running, backhanded catch that center fielder Jen Cader made to save a pair of run in the bottom of the third. Getting a tremendous jump on a smash by Brady Tillotson, Cader raced to the ball and made a catch look far easier than it really was with her smooth, graceful movements.
Second baseman Jaynie Black stretched as far as she could with a dive up the middle to turn what looked like a base hit in the fifth into a force play at second with a flip throw from the ground to Hallock.
And third baseman Daria Edwards backhanded a hot, one-hop shot from Virginia Tech-bound Carolyn Schoenewald with the bases loaded in the fifth to prevent disaster.
Frustrated at the plate for most of the game against CB East starter Theresa Haug, Edwards finally stroked a one-out triple in the seventh and scored on Black's two-out single through the hole at short for an important insurance run.
Black was 2-for-4 with a run, scoring on an RBI single from Jamie Mroz (3-for-3 with a double) in the second to give Hatboro-Horsham a 2-1 lead. The Mroz single came right after Jackie Locke (2-for-4) had smacked a base hit to center to score Cader with the tying run.
Cader began the inning with a four-pitch walk.
Schoenwald gave CB East the lead in the bottom of the first with a two-out smash through the hole at short, but the Patriots couldn't keep up with the depth of the Hatboro-Horsham batting order on a day when the Lady Hatters pounded out 12 hits.
If the weather allows, Hatboro-Horsham will be back in action on Thursday at home against Souderton in the always-tough Continental Conference.
In junior varsity play, HHHS picked up its first win with a five-inning, 14-1 victory over Central Bucks East.
