Martin's home run lifts Panthers to district title.
By: Brian Fees | Towanda Daily Review | June 1, 2012 | Photo courtesy Brian Fees
2012 NTL and District 4 News
WILLIAMSPORT - Each time she came to the plate, Northeast Bradford's Calla Martin noticed something with the Southern Columbia defense.
Martin is the NTL East coaches' player of the year, who led the Panthers with six home runs this year, but Southern Columbia consistently played their outfielders in against her, staying just a few steps into the outfield grass.
Though Martin singled in each of her first two at bats, Southern played her in, and the sophomore could hear the other team talking about her.
"I could hear them saying to sit her down," Martin said.
Each time she saw the outfield come in, Martin knew that it was an opportunity for her to take advantage of and in the fifth inning that's exactly what she did, launching a shot well over 200 feet sailing over the right fielder's head for a two-run inside the park home run to give the Panthers a 2-1 victory in the District 4, Class A final.
"I noticed it the first time up and I tried to take advantage of it," Martin said.
Northeast Bradford coach Gary Hennip couldn't figure out why the Tigers were playing Martin so shallow.
"I noticed it that first time up they were playing it like she's a slap hitter," Hennip said. "You never know what goes through the minds of the other teams. She hits leadoff, so maybe they think she's more of a slap hitter. She can slap hit, but she has a lot of power and she rocketed that."
Martin's teammates all knew that eventually she would take advantage of the drawn in outfield.
"They kept moving in, I knew she'd hit one out there," Haylie Phillips said.
Hennip also thinks the talk from the other team motivated Martin.
"I think that motivated her that last time up," Hennip said. "Maybe there was some talk, maybe they didn't respect her power, she was definitely motivated."
For the Panthers, this was their fifth straight time in the district final, but the previous three they had lost.
"It was a long time coming," said Phillips, a senior who had never won a district title. "I am so proud of my team."
For the seniors, this was a very special day as they won their first district title and then graduated in the evening.
"It's a great day, a day I will never forget," Phillips said.
Hennip knows how bad his seniors wanted this victory.
"These seniors, they are not just great ballplayers, they are great kids," Hennip said. "They really deserved this championship."
While the Panthers seniors got their first title, it was the sophomores Martin and pitcher Chelsie Souto, who really stood out on this day.
Souto struck out 14 in the game and after allowing a run in the third inning, she allowed just one walk the next four innings.
"We started out a little rough defensively, but then we settled in and picked up the win," Souto said.
Souto could have gotten rattled when she was called for an illegal pitch in the middle of the game, instead it just helped her to bear down and the sophomore struck out the final five batters of the game.
"I was a little worried when the illegal pitch was called, but it just motivated me," she said.
Hennip has been impressed with his pitcher throughout the playoffs.
"She was dynamite today and she was dynamite yesterday," he said. "Between her and Calla, they were great today. And, you can't take anything away from Maddy (Johnson), she really got things started for us."
The freshman number nine hitter, who hit a two-run triple to help beat Wyalusing on Wednesday, started the scoring rally in the fifth, getting a two-out infield single and scoring on Martin's home run.
"Maddy got on and as soon as I hit the ball, I got the feeling," Martin said.
For the Panthers just getting a couple of runs was something they needed. The past three years they had not only lost in district finals, they hadn't scored runs in any of them.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, they started to worry this game might turn out like those previous ones.
"1-0 in the fifth and I was thinking, 'are we going to go through this again?'" Hennip said. "But they battled and they came through when they needed to."
The players knew they just had to keep their composure.
"I'm so proud of everyone, we never gave up," Phillips said.
Southern Columbia pitcher Mallory Tomaschik was doing a good job of slowing down the Panthers offense, holding them to two singles by Martin, the one by Johnson and two by Phillips in the game.
"Her (Phillips) bat has been coming along the past couple of games," Hennip said. "I think going forward, you will see her really hitting the ball well."
For the younger players on the team one of the nice things was being able to help the seniors win their first district title. However, they also really wanted this for themselves.
"They said from day one that they really wanted this," Martin said. "We really wanted to win this for the seniors, but we also wanted to win it for us."
"Hopefully we can continue to do this in the future," Souto said.
In the early going the Panthers got in some trouble on Thursday.
Kirstin Blass and Tomaschik each reached on errors in the first inning and after a ground out put runners on second and third, Taylor Hoffman hit a ground ball to third. MaKaylah Holbert faked the throw to third, but held the ball to make sure the runner didn't go home, loading the bases.
However, Souto struck out the next two batters to end the threat and she struck out the side in the second inning.
In the third inning Tomaschik led off with a single and a one-out double by Hoffman made it 1-0 Southern Columbia.
The Panthers started the game with a leadoff single by Martin, but the next eight batters in a row were retired, before Martin singled and stole second with two outs in the third.
In the fourth Phillips singled, but was stranded, before the Panthers finally broke through in the fifth inning.
"It was a lot nicer to pitch from ahead," Souto said.
As the district champions the Panthers will play a game at a site in District 4, taking on Claysburg-Kimmell at 2 p.m. on Monday at Bloomsburg.
"It's very nice when you can in essence have a game we can call a home game," Hennip said. "It sounds like Bloomsburg has got a great field. We are really excited to play at Bloomsburg."
After three years in a row being the district runner up and travelling to take on a district champion, the Northeast Bradford players are happy to be the district's top seed in state play.
"It's a great feeling, now hopefully we won't slack off and we can play well," Martin said. "Being a first seed definitely makes us feel a lot better."
Souto allowed just two hits in the game, both in the third inning, one earned run and she walked one, while striking out the 14.
Tomaschik struck out five, walking none and allowing five hits and two earned runs.
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