Horsham Wins Suburban Travel Softball League Championship

It's been a year that has tossed a series curve balls at sports across the nation, from the professional to youth ranks. Such is the case with the Horsham's 12U Heat travel softball squad which, aside from adopting a series of COVID-related procedures for their practices and games, also saw the season shift from the traditional spring period to the summer months, from July to September. In the end, the Heat overcame both the adversity, as well as the adjustments that 2020 has dictated, and ended up winning the Suburban Travel Softball League Championship this past weekend.

Horsham opened up playoff action on Saturday against Warrington-Warwick, a team the Heat had defeated twice during the regular season. The game proved to be a challenging affair for the Heat as they trailed through most the contest. In the final seventh inning, Horsham trailed 10-8, but the team managed to score the critical three runs needed to pull ahead for the late 11-10 victory. The win punched a ticket to the league championship game on Sunday.

In the title game, Horsham faced the No. 1 seed Lower Southampton (LS), a team that not only defeated the Heat twice in the regular season, but also had home-field advantage as the host of the playoffs. In fact, Lower Southampton was undefeated during the regular season heading into the championship contest.

According to Horsham Heat Manager Todd Conn, "We knew going into this title game that we were going up against a very tough team that had already beat us handily twice this year. The game was back and forth with a lot of ups and downs but our girls kept battling and never gave up."

Horsham opened up the scoring thanks to a single-run in-field homerun blast by Ryleigh White. Madison Duggan managed to steal home as well in the first inning, putting Horsham up 2-0. From there, starting pitcher Kennedy Conn opened up Horsham's defensive effort with some strong pitching for the Heat as Lower Southampton put together a three-run opening inning effort for the 3-2 lead heading into the second.

With a series of walks, Dakota Slye and Sydney Cassel each managed to find their way home for Horsham, thanks in part to a right field single RBI by Madelyn Lorenzo. This gave the Heat a slim 4-3 advantage. However, Lower Southampton put together a one-run inning to tie up the scoreboard 4-4 heading into the third.

From here, Horsham saw a scoreless third inning, which set up an opportunity for Lower Southampton's top of their lineup to take control of the score. They managed a three-run third inning, giving LS a 7-4 advantage on the scoreboard.

Despite the adversity, the Heat ladies refused to quit. The fourth inning saw Horsham regain control as Molly Harrington, Chloe Szewczak, Grace Bergan and Madelyn Lorenzo each managed to round the bases and find home to give Horsham a slim 8-7 advantage.

Lower Southampton refused to go away though and in the bottom of the fourth inning put together a six run performance. This moved the score to 13-8 in favor of LS. From here, things did not improve in the fifth inning for the Heat as they went scoreless. However, Horsham's defense answered the call, holding LS to a three-consecutive out scoreless fifth as well, which translated into a significant momentum shift towards the Heat heading into tail end of the game.

In the sixth, Horsham put together one of its best offensive innings of the season which saw nine different Heat players cross home plate. This included Lily Peterson, Madelyn Lorenzo, Ryleigh White, Madison Duggan, Kennedy Conn, Taylor Leuzzi, Sydney Cassel, Molly Harrington and Chloe Szewczak.

This put the advantage back in Horsham's favor with a 17-13 score. At this point, Horsham's defense really started to lock-down, making three outs on the first four batters thanks to two ground-outs to first baseman Ryleigh White and some solid pitching by reliever Molly Harrington. This ended up adding only one run to LS's score in sixth making the score a 17-14.

In the final seventh inning, Horsham extended its lead with a series of walks and steals that resulted in Cara Neeld, Kennedy Conn and Dakota Slye scoring thanks to base advancement at-bats by Molly Harrington, Caroline Ward and Lily Peterson to give the Heat a 20-14 advantage. Horsham's final defensive stand saw shortstop Madelyn Lorenzo toss out two of the first three batters. From there, LS managed to get a pair base-runners on and advanced to pick up a pair of runs. However, Harrington tossed a 1-2-3 strikeout for the final out to seal the 20-16 championship victory.

As Heat Manager Conn said about the victory, "It was exciting to be able to end the season with a championship after the year we've had with the pandemic. I've coached most of these girls since they were 7 and 8 years old, so it's great to see how far they have come. I could not be more proud of everything they have accomplished and I can't wait until next season."

This is the Heat's second championship in as many years, as the team also went undefeated to win the 2019 USSSA Pennsbury Memorial Madness Tournament.

2020 Horsham Heat 12U Team

Grace Bergan (88)
Sydney Cassel (13)
Kennedy Conn (17)
Brooklyn Diener (10)
Madison Duggan (25)
Molly Harrington (55)
Taylor Leuzzi (3)
Madelyn Lorenzo (8)
Cara Neld (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