NTL SOFTBALL: NEB CONTINUES STRONG PLAY IN 2021 (2021-06-18)

Northern Tier Sports Report
It may have been a new coaching staff for NEB softball, and plenty of new players, but the program never looked stronger as the Panthers continued their NTL dominance in 2021.

Northeast Bradford went undefeated in the NTL, claiming another Division-II title, made it all the way to the District IV final, and a state berth.

“We had an exciting regular season going 14-0,” said first year coach Tilden Franklin. “We had some exciting victories as we beat all the small and big schools. Our sophomore pitcher Thailey (Franklin) did great in the circle, and our line-up had eight girls batting over .300.”

They opened the season with a 6-4 win over NP-Liberty, and cruised until their fourth game of the season, when they traveled to Wyalusing. In a biting cold the Panthers were able to eke out a 6-5 win on the road, then turned around and beat Wellsboro at home 9-7.

After that the Panthers rallied past Towanda, mercy ruled Athens, and held down CV to set up their closest game of the season.

Down a couple starters due to Covid-19 precautions, they would pull out a 7-6 walk-off win over Troy to keep their perfect season intact. They then ended the regular season with a couple division wins.

In the playoffs they beat Canton for the third time of the season, before suffering their first loss, a 2-0 defeat to Montgomery in the District IV, Class A title game.

Two days later they traveled three hours to play Halifax in the first round of the state playoffs, and, despite a furious rally, they fell 7-5 to end their season.

“I’m still trying to swallow that loss to Halifax in the state playoffs,” said Franklin. “It’s one of those things, if we would’ve played them again, we would be the team moving on. We had early game jitters, but just couldn’t overcome that. We were down 7-1. They had two solid hits, but those shouldn’t have happened because we should have been out of the inning. They capitalized on us giving them 4-5 outs an inning; Thailey only had one earned run. It would have been a different ball game if we would have eliminated the errors.”

Franklin believes they could have made a run to the state semifinals. Halifax beat Meyersdale 1-0 in the next round of the playoffs to make it to the state final four.

“My plan was to have a rematch with Montgomery, in the PIAA state playoffs you never know,” he said. 

Montgomery ultimately lost to Tri-Valley before the state semifinals.

“We will make preparations for the big show again,” said Franklin. “Our team is built for the playoffs with pitching, defense, and a great blend of speed and power in our line-up. We will work hard to be back even stronger next season. That loss left me hungry, and I know the girls now realized that these district championship teams are beatable in the big picture.”

In her first year of varsity action, Thailey had a 1.145 ERA with 153 strikeouts to just 13 walks. She finished 15-2 on the season.

She was also strong at the plate, hitting .377 with a .507 on base percentage. She had four doubles, five triples, and 15 runs scored.

Emily Susanj had the big bat, hitting .500 with no strikeouts on the year. She finished with 21-RBIs, five doubles, and a home run.

Kayleigh Thoman hit .460 with a team leading 22 runs scored, while Maisie Neuber had a .389 average with 21-RBI, 17 runs scored, six doubles, and three home runs.

Ciana Frisbee (.339), Julianna Susanj (.319), Melanie Shumway (.318) and Mikayla Post (.300) all hit .300 or more at the plate.

After a lot of change from the 2019 to 2021 season, there should be more continuity in 2022. 

“I will be losing one senior next year,” said Franklin. “We will have four seniors next season, plus 8-10 upcoming freshmen. This is a great problem to have. It’s nice to see this softball program getting great participation.”