In the Inter-Ac League softball game at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy on April 28, the outcome was essentially decided once the host Blue Devils scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning.

SCH added one run in the fifth inning and three in the sixth before the visiting Penn Charter Quakers finally broke up the shutout in the top of the seventh frame.

The resulting 8-1 victory boosted the Blue Devils’ record to 5-3 overall and to 4-1 within the Inter-Ac, where they occupy second place behind undefeated league leader Episcopal Academy. Penn Charter’s record was 3-5, 2-4, leaving the Quakers positioned fourth in the league behind Germantown Academy and ahead of the Academy of Notre Dame.

Junior pitcher Sami Snyder went the distance for the SCH win, striking out 10 batters while giving up six hits with no bases on balls. The Quakers’ starter, freshman Logan Goodheart (0K, 3BB, 4H) retired in the bottom of the second after walking the first two Blue Devil batters.

Eighth-grader Drew Hatty (2K, 3BB, 6H) finished out the game. Hatty’s sister Ryan also played softball for Penn Charter, graduating last spring and going on to play at Niagara University.

SCH head coach Stephanie Mill is back for her 23rd season at the helm (there was no 2020 season due to the COVID lockdowns). First-year Quakers skipper Lisa D’Orazio has a long resumé, including a role as Penn Charter assistant coach last spring. One of this year’s assistants is well known to PC softball fans; Donald “Doc” Mittica was the founding head coach of the softball program at the school and led his teams to multiple Inter-Ac championships.

The game began with a fly-out and a ground-out by the first two Penn Charter batters; then SCH freshman first baseman Maya Taglieber leaned over the sideline fence to grab a foul pop-up.

In the bottom half, the Blue Devils started out with singles by senior Sadie Friedman and sophomore Emma Canton. Friedman is the only SCH senior who plans to play softball in college; she’ll be attending Ursinus College. Friedman scored and Canton went to third base when Snyder hit a long ball that rolled under the fence in left centerfield for a ground-rule double.

After Taglieber walked to load the bases, senior Sarah Scally put a ground ball in play. PC threw to senior catcher Maddie Wray, who appeared to get the force-out at home before throwing to first base to nail Scally. However, the plate umpire ruled that the run had scored because Wray had not actually stepped on the plate for the force-out, so only the out at first counted and SCH now led 2-0.

Junior Ella Thomson then doubled to the fence in left center, scoring both baserunners. PC retired the side with a fly ball and a ground-out, but the Blue Devils, up 4-0, already had all the runs they would need for the victory.

SCH left baserunners on first and third in the bottom of the second thanks to a pair of strike-outs by the PC reliever, Hatty.

After a Blue Devils error helped put Quakers senior Nora Prasad on base at the top of the third, senior Maddie Bergmann produced the first hit of the game for the visitors, but both were left on base.

Bergman, who’ll move on to play at St. Joseph’s University, is the younger sister of Macie Bergmann, a 2024 PC grad who’s now a highly regarded catcher for Drexel University. The Quakers’ current catcher, Wray, will join the team at Siena University.

SCH pitcher Snyder has made a verbal commitment to play at Drexel.

The game proceeded into the fifth frame with the 4-0 tally still stuck on the scoreboard. PC senior Jordan Simon doubled down the first base line to start off the inning, but three straight outs followed.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Scally drew a walk and then went to second base when Thomson singled through the left side of the infield. Junior Emma Mellor laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the baserunners to second and third. Consecutive walks to sophomore Finley Paul and junior Libby Welch pushed in a run to make it 5-0 before Charter retired the side.

At the top of the sixth, the Quakers got hits from Bergmann and junior Elaina Niccolucci, but ultimately runners were stranded on second and third base. SCH sophomore Emma Canton led off the bottom half with a bloop single over second base, and then reached third as Snyder doubled to the base of the fence in centerfield.

Bergmann, the PC shortstop, leapt to her left to stop a drive by Taglieber, and she threw home to have Wray make a tag at the plate. After Scally was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Thomson sent a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring a run and getting the other runners to second and third. Mellor whacked a two-run double to centerfield, and the Blue Devils went into the bottom of the seventh with an 8-0 lead.

With one out, Prasad singled to shallow center, but she was forced out at second after junior Regan Bailey put a ground ball in play. Sophomore Nora Kugelmass singled up the middle, and then Bergmann doubled to right field to score the Quakers’ lone run of the game. The next batter grounded out to Snyder to put an 8-1 Springside win in the books.