Bishop Shanahan

Bishop Shanahan came alive in Southern Chester County League softball play this week. After losing three nonleague games and two league contests, the Eagles bounced back with a pair of SCCL wins and battled West Chester Henderson to a 6-6 deadlock Friday in a game shortened to six innings by rain. Unionville stayed atop the SCCL standings with a win over Avon Grove Tuesday. Avon Grove also lost a league game Thursday. The Indians are 5-0 in league play. Octorara won a pair of league games to remain in second place with a record of 4-1. Kennett lost its lone league game of the week.

Last year, the Bishop Shanahan soccer team did not win a single game. None. Zero. Zip. It had a few ties, and even broke into the W column once - but that was by forfeit. What a difference a little experience can make. This year, the Eagles have essentially the same personnel as last year's squad, but they have become the most improved team in the area. After Monday's 1-1 tie with Kennett (4-1-2), the Eagles were holding fourth place in the Southern Chester County League with a 4-3-1 record.

Today's baseball game at Hoopes Park between Kennett and host Bishop Shanahan really doesn't mean anything in the Southern Chester County League. Shanahan wrapped up the title the week before with a win at Oxford, and at 9-2 in the circuit, the Eagles have an insurmountable two-game lead over second-place Unionville (7-5). Even with a win, Kennett (6-5) can only tie the Indians for second place. Both Shanahan and Kennett are in the PIAA District 1 Class AA playoffs. Shanahan, the defending champion, is the top seed with an 11-7 overall record.

There was a point last week when Bishop Shanahan's field hockey team appeared to hit rock bottom, with little light in sight for the rest of the season. Going into last week, Shanahan was a team without a win at 0-8. In a game the previous week, the Eagles had lost key striker Moiya Thompson, who went down with strained knee ligaments. Five minutes into their match with Coatesville on Tuesday, the Eagles reached a new nadir when starting forward Maureen Dalton sprained her ankle and appeared lost for the season.

It is a rite of spring as predictable as April showers. The Bishop Shanahan baseball team, under coach George Hadfield, starts out slowly, then begins to roar as the weather warms up. It has happened again this season. The Eagles started 1-7 and lost two of their first three Southern Chester County League games. They seemed buried. Since then, Shanahan has won nine straight games. The Eagles posted their biggest win of the season on Monday, knocking off league-leading Avon Grove, 2-1. Shanahan (10-7 overall, 10-2 league)

Bishop Shanahan's first-year swimming coach, Troy Bowers, believed that his boys' team had a good shot at finishing around the .500 level when the season began. But when the Eagles, who were winless last season, lost their first three matches, he was concerned that his swimmers might become discouraged. He needn't have worried. The Eagles split a pair of Tri-County League meets last week, bowing Tuesday to West Chester East, 112-69, but rebounding Friday to score a 92-83 win over Harriton.

The first chapter of the Bishop Shanahan boys cross-country team's success story this season was written two years ago at the Southern Chester County League championship meet. Garnet Valley went into the meet undefeated in league competition and the overwhelming favorite to clinch the league title with another victory, which it eventually got. Shanahan went in as almost an afterthought with a .500 record. But the Eagles shocked everyone - including themselves - and finished second, just two points behind Garnet Valley.

While the idea of playing football had crossed Chris Panichelli's mind before, the lacrosse standout did not embrace it until watching Bishop Shanahan play West Chester Henderson, his old school, on Oct. 1. "While I was sitting and watching the game with friends, I thought to myself, 'I have four more years to play lacrosse, but this could be my last chance to play football,' " he said. A few days later, Panichelli approached Shanahan coach Paul Meyers during lunch period about joining the squad.

It was a typical season for Bishop Shanahan. The Eagles started out slowly, opening the season with two losses in their first three Southern Chester County League games. But after knocking off Devon Prep 12-0 on Tuesday, Shanahan finished at 11-3 in the circuit, which guaranteed the Eagles at least a piece of their sixth SCCL crown since 1989. Avon Grove (10-3) could have earned a tie with a win over Garnet Valley yesterday. "We're playing real well right now," Eagles coach George Hadfield said.

Pitcher Kate Poppe survived a pressure-packed seventh inning Monday to get Bishop Shanahan's softball team into the PIAA state finals with a 5-4 thriller over Canon-McMillan in the Class AAAA semifinals at Carlisle. After giving up a run that cut the Eagles' lead to 5-4, Poppe faced a situation with runners on first and second base with one out. After a groundout, Olivia Lorusso lined two hard foul balls down the third-base line before Poppe struck her out. "It took a lot of guts for her to get that last batter," Shanahan coach Ron Savastio said.

Seventy-nine-year-old Bishop Shanahan coach Ron Savastio likes to tell stories about his star pitcher, Kate Poppe. There's the one in which the boys at the Downingtown baseball and softball clinic saw Poppe pitch and wondered, "How could anyone ever hit her?" Or the time after a game against Unionville when the opposing catcher approached Savastio and told him, "That's the greatest pitcher I've ever faced. " Thursday at Spring-Ford, he told another Poppe story after she pitched the Eagles to the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals with a 4-1 win over Hatboro-Horsham.

Baseball STATE CLASS AAAA TOURNAMENT Playoff Quarterfinals At Parkland: Hatboro-Horsham vs. Wyoming Valley West, 12 At Spring-Ford: Coatesville vs. Council Rock South, 1 At Muhlenberg: Central Dauphin vs. La Salle, 6:30 At Somerset: Altoona vs. Mount Lebanon, 4 STATE CLASS AAA TOURNAMENT Playoff Quarterfinals At Walter...

North Penn, seeded 10th in the 24-team District 1 Class AAAA softball tournament, will get a chance to play for the district championship after knocking off Central Bucks South, 4-3, Tuesday in the semifinals at William Tennent. Meghan Curley's run-scoring single with one out in the top of the sixth inning provided a 4-2 lead and proved to be the winning run against the sixth-seeded Titans. Jackie Bilotti earned the pitching win, and Jess Mower and Vicky Tumasz contributed two hits each.

Stephen Vasturia helped St. Joseph's Prep come alive in the second half as the Hawks rallied for their first District 12 Class AAAA basketball championship with a 63-56 win over Bartram in the title game at Lincoln. Vasturia poured in 28 second-half points, making five of his six three-pointers after intermission, and rallied Prep from a 26-21 halftime deficit. Vasturia finished with 35 points and teammate Gene Williams added 14 points. Bartram, which took a 44-42 lead into the final period, got 17 points from Tarrieck Williams.

Stephen Vasturia helped St. Joseph's Prep come alive in the second half as the Hawks rallied for their first District 12 Class AAAA basketball championship with a 63-56 win over Bartram in the title game at Lincoln. Vasturia poured in 28 second-half points, making five of his six three-pointers after intermission, and rallied Prep from a 26-21 halftime deficit. Vasturia finished with 35 points and teammate Gene Williams added 14 points. Bartram, which took a 44-42 lead into the final period, got 17 points from Tarrieck Williams.