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SPRINGFIELD – Ava Shaner doesn’t seem to mind being in the middle of Springfield’s walk-off celebrations.
For the second time this season, the senior delivered the winning hit at home. Shaner’s line drive single to center field on Monday scored freshman pitcher Payton Feeney and lifted Springfield to a 5-4 victory over Haverford.
“The pressure was on, but my head was in the game and I was ready to hit that ball,” Shaner said.
Monday’s game winner was almost a carbon copy of Shaner’s hit that gave her team a 5-4 win over Marple Newtown in March. As was the case in that game, which was the first at the new baseball and softball complex on Springfield Road, the Cougars had fallen behind 4-0 early and had to fight all the way back.
“We always try to keep our heads up and keep playing hard,” Shaner said. “We know we will get them next time and we will never give up. We just keep going and going.”
That was Shaner’s mentality when, moments earlier, she saw Ryleigh Frye get thrown out at home on a perfect relay throw by Haverford’s Shannon Gavigan. Feeney hit a laser to the fence in left-center field. With one out, Frye, who walked to begin the rally, took off from second base and got the call from coach Todd Odgers to go home. It was a bang-bang play, but catcher Morgan Barrett got the tag in before Frye’s foot crossed the dish.
“The ball came right off the fence, and I thought I cannot not send her here,” Odgers said. “I knew it would take two good throws and a tag. Ryleigh’s trying to go wide and that kid (Barrett) did a great job of grabbing the ball and then catching a piece of her the other way around. It was a great tag.”
Odgers exhaled and pumped his first in the air when with one out Shaner delivered and Feeney was able to trot home from third. The loss by the Fords snapped their eight-game winning streak.
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Springfield’s Ava Shaner celebrates after singling in the winning run as the Cougars clawed their way back to defeat Haverford 5-4 Monday. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)
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