Horsham Wins Back-to-Back Suburban Travel Softball League Titles

Horsham Heat’s 12U travel softball team put together a championship run this past Sunday in the Suburban Travel Softball League playoffs. Seeded No. 1 in the tournament bracket thanks to a 10-0 regular season record, Horsham received a bye in the opening round of playoffs earlier in the weekend.

On Sunday, with scorching temperatures, the Heat opened up semifinal play against the Montgomery Twisters, a team they had defeated twice previously in regular season (15-2 and 18-1). Kennedy Conn took the start on the mound for Horsham with Sydney Cassel behind the plate at catcher. Conn started the Heat off hot with three strikeouts. From there, Horsham jumped out with singles from Madelyn Lorenzo, Cara Neeld, Kennedy Conn and Ryleigh White. Cassel managed to keep things going with two outs by outrunning a dropped third strike to snag first base. She then managed to come around and find home thanks to singles by Lorenzo and Neeld, which capped off a 7-0 lead.

Sydney Cassel catching behind the plate. (Jessica Cassel)

From there, Molly Harrington was put in as a relief pitcher and made short work of the second inning, keeping the Twisters scoreless. Horsham picked up where they left off at the plate with Conn, Taylor Leuzzi and Dakota Slye all hitting consecutive singles to load up the bases. Harrington then smacked a two-strike, three-run triple to right center field. Harrington ultimately scored on an RBI by Lorenzo after a few stolen bases. This extended the Heat’s lead to 11-0 to close out the second inning.

In the third, Horsham once again closed out the inning quickly with two strikeouts and a groundout to Leuzzi at second base. Horsham put together one run in the third inning thanks to some heads-up base-running by Madison Duggan who stole home.

Kennedy Conn throwing heat. (Matt Ciciarelli)

Leading 12-0, Horsham put together another three quick consecutive outs in the fourth, thanks to another groundout to Leuzzi and two more Harrington strikeouts to maintain the shutout. The exclamation was then put on the scoreboard as White blasted a two-out, two-strike, two-run homerun that also brought Neeld home. That activated the mercy rule to end the game.

Next, the Heat faced the No. 2 seed Lower Southampton, the tournament host team, in the championship game. These two teams faced off in the 2020 Suburban Travel Softball Championship where Horsham put together an impressive 20-16 comeback victory.

Ryleigh White rounding third. (Jessica Cassel)

Kennedy Conn pitched a quick first inning with three strikeouts on four batters. Once again Horsham jumped out to a quick lead with a walk to Lorenzo, single by Neeld and a left field triple blast by White to take the 3-0 lead.

The second inning mirrored the first for the Heat, with three strikeouts and a single on four batters, keeping Lower Southampton scoreless. The Heat saw their first scoreless inning of the day in the second with the scoreboard frozen at 3-0.

Madelyn Lorenzo slides in safe. (Jessica Cassel)

From there, the third inning saw the Horsham bats come alive again with singles from White, Conn and Harrington as Duggan was hit by a pitch and Slye was walked. The Heat managed to extend its lead with three runs to 6-0.

In the fourth inning, Lower Southampton managed to find a run after their lead off hitter was hit by a pitch and managed to grab a pair of stolen bases. After a groundout and strikeout, Lorenzo managed to close out the inning at 6-1 with a tagout at second.

Lorenzo opened up the fourth offensively for Horsham with a single strike that hit the gap to left field. She was driven home on a single by Leuzzi which bumped the Heat lead to 7-1.

In the fifth, Lower Southampton was shutdown with another quick inning. Lorenzo and Neeld each got on base with singles as White worked her magic again with a two-run triple before the inning wrapped up, extending Horsham’s lead to 9-1.

Madison Duggan (3rd), Ryleigh White (1st) and Molly Harrington (pitcher). (Matt Ciciarelli)

Lower Southampton managed to find home plate three times in the sixth inning thanks to two walks and a hit by pitch advancement. This moved the score to 9-4. From there, the Heat had a quick inning of their own at the plate, but maintained a five run advantage heading into the final seventh inning.

In the seventh, Lower Southampton saw their leadoff hitter get to first. Lorenzo managed to make another masterful tagout on the next batter at second for the first out. Conn then struck out the third batter. Then the fourth hitter got on first on an in-field blooper which allowed Lower Southampton to score. Conn then struck out the fifth batter to close out the game with the 9-5 victory.

Dakota Slye running the bases. (Jessica Cassel)

This marks back-to-back Suburban Travel Softball League championships for Horsham. The Heat boasted the most prolific defense in the league this season, sacrificing a mere nine runs in nine games during the regular season and 14 total runs when including the playoffs. Overall the Heat outscored opponents 129 to 14 en route to a 12-0 undefeated championship season.

2021 Horsham Heat 12U Team
Marisa Bennett (10)
Grace Bergan (88)
Sydney Cassel (13)
Faith Ciciarelli (34)
Kennedy Conn (17)
Annabelle Deacon (29)
Madison Duggan (25)
Molly Harrington (55)
Taylor Leuzzi (3)
Madelyn Lorenzo (8)
Cara Neeld (77)
Lily Peterson (44)
Dakota Slye (11)
Chloe Szewczak (21)
Caroline Ward (5)
Ryleigh White (7)

Manager: Todd Conn
Coaches: Pat Leuzzi, Jim White, Mark Harrington