Hatboro-Horsham, Pennsbury to meet for district title

Hatboro-Horsham has come close but never won a District 1 Class AAAA softball championship. Pennsbury won eight straight district titles from 2000-2007 but hasn't won one since.

The two teams will be center stage Thursday at North Penn when they face off to see who will succeed Central Bucks South as the district champion. The game is set for 4 p.m.

Also on Thursday, games to determine the champions in Classes AAA, AA, and A will be contested.

Eighth-seeded Pottsgrove, which already has ousted top seed Nazareth Academy and No. 4 Radnor, will play Pope John Paul II, the 10th seed, at 3:30 p.m. at Spring-Ford in the AAA final.

In AA, it will be top seed Christopher Dock against Springfield (Montco), the No. 2 seed, at 3 p.m. at Upper Dublin. Top Class A seed Bristol will meet No. 2 Delaware County Christian at 4 p.m. at William Tennent.

Top seed Pennsbury and second seed Hatboro-Horsham will enter their matchup with 20-2 records. The Hatters shut out No. 14 Spring-Ford, 3-0, Tuesday in the semifinals. The Falcons rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat No. 4 Neshaminy, 5-2, in their semifinal.

Don't expect either coach, Frank McSherry of Pennsbury or Joe DiFilippo of Hatboro-Horsham, to make any changes for the game.

"We'll just have to give 110 percent and see what happens," said DiFilippo, who is in his first year as coach. "I know Pennsbury's very good, but I haven't seen them this year. I know some of the kids because of travel ball."

The pitching matchup will feature Falcons sophomore Val Buehler against Hatboro junior Maggie Shaffer. They have figured in all of their teams' decisions.

The Hatters will have an edge in experience. McSherry has started five or six sophomores much of the season. Two of them, McKenzie Obert and Christine Bascara, hit .345 and .339, respectively, during the regular season.

Susanne Swanicke, Kelsey Bunda, and D'Anna Devine hit between .386 and .500.

Hatboro-Horsham will counter with a very solid lineup from top to bottom. Julie Wambold, who was moved from shortstop to catcher just before the district playoffs, is hitting better than .550 with eight homers. Cleanup hitter Danielle DiFilippo, daughter of the coach, and leadoff hitter Melisa Spinosa are the next best hitters. DiFilippo has 26 RBIs and bats in the cleanup slot.

Both teams will advance to the PIAA state playoffs, which will begin next week.