By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
@tortreports on Instagram
WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP —What once seemed inevitable in years past, Ava Snyder knows may not be so anymore.
The days of the Kingsway Regional High softball team bombing multiple home runs and having several short, mercy-rule games may be over. After all, that’s to be expected when a team graduates four players who are currently playing NCAA Division I softball.
But that sure doesn’t mean the Dragons are an easy out in the state playoffs, by any stretch of the imagination.
Top-seeded Kingsway scored nine unanswered runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to bounce No. 8 Cherry Hill East, 9-1, in the South Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.
“When you’re blowing out all these teams, sometimes it’s just not fun,” said Snyder, a senior and University of Massachusetts-Lowell commit said. “And I feel like this just brings everyone together and makes us so much closer.”
Evelyn Stover knocked in Phoebe DiPaolo in the top of the fifth as Cherry Hill East (15-6, 7-3 Olympic American) broke a scoreless tie. Facing a 1-0 deficit in the sixth inning, Snyder notched two key hits — a double with no outs to put runners on second and third, and a two-RBI double in her second at-bat of the frame that give the Dragons (18-5, 8-0 Tri-County Royal) a seven-run advantage. Sandwiched in between was Sydney Schiavone’s RBI single, Snyder stealing home, an Olivia Kelly two-RBI double and a Karen Taylor RBI single.
“I knew it was now or never,” Snyder said. “We just calmed ourselves down and realized that this is the time. Hitting is contagious. Us being loud and causing chaos also helps. We like to have high energy, it helps us so much.”
It was the second straight game this postseason in which the Dragons had to make some late-game magic happen. In the opening round against No. 16 Atlantic Tech, Kingsway rallied with three runs in the seventh to overcome a 4-2 deficit and win, 5-4.
“They’re competitors, and that is fun to watch,” first-year coach Diane Nelson said. “I’d rather be ahead the whole game and in control. I see it from all of them. Great senior leadership is showing them how it’s done and getting them ready for the moment. They’re doing a great job.”
Kingsway now turns its attention to either fourth-seeded Southern or No. 5 Rancocas Valley in the semifinal round. Those teams square off Friday at 2 p.m. in Ocean County.
In the meantime, it’s just survive-and-advance for the Dragons.
“This kind of reminds me of my freshman year when we were a much younger team, and we would fight for every out and every at-bat,” Snyder added. “I just think it brings everyone together.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Kingsway hosts either Southern Regional or Rancocas Valley in the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals on Tuesday, time TBD. Cherry Hill East’s season is complete.
