Pa. Girls: No. 16 seed Owen J. Roberts pulls off a softball stunner

It's not every day a No. 16 seed beats a No. 1, but that's just what happened Wednesday in the second round of the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA softball tournament.

Owen J. Roberts, the No. 16 seed, rallied for two runs in the sixth inning to tie, and scored three in the seventh inning to knock off host Neshaminy, 5-2.

"I think our seed wasn't indicative of how good we are," Owen J. Roberts' coach Kevin Kirby said. "We finished tied at the top of our league standings in the regular season and are 18-5, so we thought we were better than that."

La Salle University-bound Megan Hodgson had a big day, scoring the go-ahead run by using her speed to beat out a fielder's choice in the seventh.

Hodgson finished 2 for 4 with her 100th and 101st career hits.

Other key hits for the Wildcats in the sixth were a two-out, RBI-double by Megan Moore and Lindsay Gieseler's RBI-single. Moore added an RBI-double in the seventh.

In other games:

No. 19 Coatesville won at No. 3 Pennsbury, 4-1, behind Kelly Goslin's four innings of scoreless relief.

Caroline Raymond was dominating on the mound again for fifth-seeded Downingtown West in a 2-0 win over visiting Haverford High, the No. 21 seed.

Raymond allowed just one hit over seven innings, striking out 16 and walking one for her ninth shutout of the season, all while missing the first half of the season with an injury.

The win enabled the Whippets to advance to the quarterfinal round at No. 4 Hatboro-Horsham on Friday.

Haverford High made the second round by virtue of a 5-2 upset win over Council Rock North in the first round.

Garnet Valley scored all 10 runs in a 20-minute bottom of the fifth to beat visiting Conestoga, 10-7.

The Jaguars (19-1), the No. 6 seed and champions of the Central League, host Coatesville on Friday afternoon at a yet-to-be-determined time.

The 10-run inning started with two outs and was keyed by two-run singles from Kristyn Mills and Lindsay Mishler.

Sophomore righthanded pitcher Kate Poppe allowed just two hits in Bishop Shanahan's 5-0 win over visiting Boyertown. Krista Schauder pitched well for the Bears, giving up just one earned run in seven innings.

Tenth-seeded North Penn went on the road and earned a 5-0 win at No. 7 Norristown, getting a three-hit shutout from Kellianna Bradstreet, her third of the season. Bradstreet struck out five and walked one in the complete-game gem. Freshman left-fielder Michelle Holweger's two-run double produced all the runs she would need in a three-run third inning.

North Penn had to earn its way into the second round by beating Academy Park, 14-4, while Norristown had a first-round bye.

Central Bucks South, behind Fran Carrullo's strong effort on the mound, beat visiting Spring-Ford, 3-1.

The second-seeded Titans survived a strong challenge from the No. 15 Rams, who won the Pioneer Athletic Conference playoff championship after finishing in a four-way tie for first place.

District 1 Class AAA. In a first-round game, Molly Ferguson's three-hit pitching allowed ninth-seeded Phoenixville to pull off a mild upset at No. 8 West Chester Henderson, 3-1. Ferguson also had two of the Phantoms' six hits.

The win earned Phoenixville a trip to top-seeded Nazareth Academy on Friday afternoon.

Freshman pitcher Marissa Kineer allowed just four hits in going the distance in 11th-seeded Pottsgrove's 5-1 win at No. 6 Oxford. Kineer struck out eight and walked one for the Falcons, who will now travel to Radnor on Friday afternoon (4 p.m.).

Pottsgrove took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, thanks to RBI-singles from Jess Kurtz and Maddi O'Brien. Brandi Dickinson's double in the fifth extended the lead to 3-1.

District 1 Class A. Casey Hollopeter made a triumphant return to the Morrisville lineup after being out with an injury for nearly two months, hitting a grand slam in the third that gave the Bullodgs an eight-run lead in a 13-3 quarterfinal playoff win at Phil-Mont Christian. Hollopeter went 3 for 4 with six RBIs.

Rachel Hampton's first goal of the season came at the most opportune time for Masterman in the District 12 Class AA title game on Wednesday.

Hampton scored in the final 15 minutes of the game off a corner by Leah Alminana gave Masterman a 1-0 win over Philadelphia Academy Charter in the championship game, which was played at Frankford.

The Blue Dragons (7-7-1) earned the district's lone berth in the state tournament this season and finished unbeaten (1-0-1) in three games against the Chargers this season.

They won the first, 1-0, then tied, before winning the title game.

Masterman goalie Lindsay Fisher had 11 saves and got terrific support in front by stopper Kyri Bennett and sweeper Mackenzie Warren.