Pennwood Softball Finishes Phenomenal Year

In a game earlier this season against Snyder of Bensalem, Pennwood’s eighth grade pitcher Alyssa Civil threw a perfect game, except no one really noticed it. She struck out 15 of the 18 batters.

Coach Joseph Lelinski knew she had a no-hitter, but was unsure if she had a perfect game going.

“When the last batter popped up to the first baseman, I was saying to myself squeeze the ball don’t let it pop out. I didn’t want to see her lose the no-hitter on something cheap. And then that’s when it hit me, was that a perfect game. So we looked really carefully and we didn’t see anything,” Lelinski said. 

“I don’t think the girls were aware with it. Some of the girls play travel softball, so they’re more aware of baseball terminology. There were even girls that I kind of had to explain what a perfect game was. To them a perfect game meant that she did pretty good.”

Catcher Dani Litwin will always be synonomous with Alyssa Civil’s perfect game.

“Usually I call the pitches, but for the perfect game, she called the pitches,” Lelinski said. She’s been my catcher for two years. The game before (perfect game) I let her call some of the pitches at the end. This game I said you call the pitches unless you get into a tough situation. It was a perfect game so she obviously had no need to look at me. That was special to her, not only to catch the game, but to call the pitches,” Lelinski said.

Lelinski called Litwin the team leader. She hit .565 during the regular season.

In yet another ritual of most perfect games or no hitters, there’s always a defensive play that keeps the feat alive.

In Civil’s perfect game, shortstop Chrissi Hart made a sensational diving catch that kept everything in tact.

After a 6-2 win against Charles Boehm on May 31, Pennwood finished the season undefeated (9-0) for the third time in the last four years.

Civil recorded all nine wins.

“We’re blessed with good talent, we work very hard, and I’m fortunate to have a couple of volunteer coaches,” Lelinski said.

Val Buehler, who's now a sophomore standout pitcher for the Pennsbury softball team, pitched for Lelinski in two of those undefeated seasons.

Jess Greenwald was one of his primary hitters.

Pennwood has four coaches on the staff, head coach Lelinski, assistant coach Brian Helverson and volunteers Terri Lelinski (Joseph’s daughter) and Maria Polyak.

“With four coaches we can really break the girls down into small groups and they don’t have to wait their turn for almost anything. We get a lot done practice,” Lelinski said.

In their nine wins, Pennwood outscored their opponents 82-21.

For more information on Pennwood Softball go to www.softball.lelinski.net.