SOFTBALL: Sharkey’s spectacular running catch backs Strechay’s dominant effort in Perk Valley’s 1-0 win at Spring-Ford

ROYERSFORD — No matter how many times she steps in the pitching circle to square off against Spring-Ford, the occasion never gets old for Maci Strechay. Now that she’s a senior with a finite amount of games left in her softball career, showdowns between the Rams and Strechay’s Perkiomen Valley Vikings just mean a little bit more.

Olivia Sharkey made sure that her veteran PV teammate would not go home unhappy in Strechay’s final regular season battle against the team’s biggest rival.

Strechay struck out nine over seven shutout innings and Sharkey, in addition to scoring the game’s only run in the fourth inning, made a spectacular running catch in center field with one out in the seventh to help preserve her starting pitcher’s win in a 1-0 PV victory on Friday night at Spring-Ford. The win was PV’s sixth straight and 13th in 15 games overall this season as the Vikings continue jockeying for playoff positioning with the Rams and the rest of the uber-talented PAC Liberty Division. The result also gave Perk Valley some payback for an earlier-season 5-2 defeat courtesy of the Rams.

“I definitely look forward to it – everyone’s kind of at a different level when we play them,” Strechay said. “Last year we won the PAC and I still said my favorite games were playing against Spring-Ford. We were looking forward to it in school all day, so it’s kind of not just another game. It’s a big day for everyone.”

Even with the bases empty – as they had been most of the night with Strechay and Spring-Ford senior staff ace Jess Fliszar both locked in and dealing – in the seventh inning, the game’s biggest moment belonged to Sharkey. Spring-Ford right fielder Ally Burgess hit the hardest ball of the night on a line to deep center with one out; Sharkey initially broke in before course-correcting and racing back toward the fence. She stuck her left arm up right before she collided with the wall and somehow held on for a snow-cone catch despite the force of her body hitting the fence, almost dislodging the ball. Strechay then struck out Mia Fanaro to end the game without a runner in scoring position to worry about.

“It’s the bottom of the seventh and we’re up, so I want to win at that point,” Sharkey said. “Just a lot of energy. I came in first (for the ball) so I was scared, then when I came back I was like, ‘OK, I think I have it.’ It’s extremely exciting. Like Maci said, all day there was so much energy and build up. When we win like that, it creates a sense of happiness. It was a very good win for us.”

The day before the game, Perk Valley (13-2, 7-2 PAC, 4-2 Liberty) gathered for a team pasta party. Instead of going home when it was over, Sharkey went out to the PV field with her dad and practiced her outfield drills – specifically making catches at the fence.

“After that party she goes up to the field – not for hitting, but specifically outfield drills,” PV head coach Mickey Marsilio said. “She works on her catching at the fence and it paid off tonight.”

Sharkey was also responsible for starting Perk Valley’s only offensive push when she reached on a fielding error to start the fourth inning. Lily Petaccio flew out to center before Nina Marsilio reached on an infield single to put runners at first and second. Mia Corropolese came to the plate in hopes of bunting the runners into scoring position, but Corropolese and the throw to first arrived at the same time, and a collision at the bag with Rams second baseman Sam Lycosky sent both players and the ball to the infield dirt, allowing Sharkey additional time to scamper home.

In a pitchers duel like this one, sometimes scoring by accident is all it takes. For Strechay and the Vikings, it was more than enough.

“Runs are runs, and I love runs,” said Strechay, who threw 81 of her 126 pitches for strikes while issuing two walks. “Whenever we score it’s a bit of an ego boost because I’m more excited to go out there and shut them down. We couldn’t take our foot off the gas and we stayed locked in on defense. It was exciting after we got our first run, but nothing changed in our mentality. My job is to do what I can on the mound while trusting my offense to get some runs.”

Only it was run and not runs thanks to an equally dominant Fliszar, who surrendered just three hits and the one unearned run while walking one and striking out six. She worked around a Jacqueline Miceli leadoff triple in the third inning by sandwiching two weak grounders around a strikeout. After the Vikings scored in the fifth, Fliszar stranded two runners in scoring position with one out by getting a strikeout and fly out to center field.

The PAC Liberty Division is especially rugged this season, so every win is critical in terms of qualifying for the PAC playoffs in a couple of weeks (the top four teams qualify, each division winner and two wils cards). Perk Valley and Spring-Ford (9-6, 7-2, 4-2) have played excellent softball all season and yet both still trail Methacton, who recently had a 13-game win streak snapped by OJR, which sits only a game behind the Vikings and Rams. Boyertown also boasts a winning PAC and overall record, and as Mickey Marsilio pointed out after the game, those five teams are ranked in the top 13 in the District 1-6A rankings with PV, OJR and Methacton occupying the top 3 slots. Spring-Ford sits at 11.

“It’s crazy,” Marsilio said. “It’s like a playoff game every night.”

During PV’s six-game win streak, the team has won pitcher showcases against Spring-Ford and PJP while also posting 16 runs or more in the other four triumphs. Whether they are scoring a ton of runs or just a few, the common denominator is usually Strechay, who has started five of those six wins and given up three runs or less in all of them. Whenever the reigning Mercury All-Area Softball Player of the Year is in the pitching circle, the Vikings like their chances against anybody — especially when considering their sure-handed defense behind her.

“As we get deeper into the season I feel like everyone’s a little more locked in,” Strechay said. “It’s more of a chemistry thing – it’s a team sport, and we have to work together if we want to keep going.”

“We all enjoy being here and we all enjoy softball,” Sharkey concluded. “There’s a lot of joy in all of us because we’ve been playing since we were so young and are all trying our hardest to win. It’s a really good feeling knowing all of our hard work and practice is paying off.”

Perkiomen Valley 1, Spring-Ford 0

Perk Valley 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  – 1 3 0

Spring-Ford 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  – 0 4 2

WP: Maci Strechay 7IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 9K

LP: Jess Fliszar 7IP 3H, 1R (0ER), BB, 6K

3B: PV- Jacqueline Miceli

SB: PV- Mia Corropolese