School: Spring-Ford High School
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Athlete: Jules Scogna
Sport: Softball
School: Spring-Ford
The week that was: Scogna continued her dominance in the circle with a pair of shutouts as the unbeaten Rams captured the District 1-6A championship with wins over Quakertown and Neshaminy.
Tuesday in the district semifinals at Spring-Ford’s Ram Park, the junior right-hander pitched her second shutout in three postseason starts, limiting No. 8 seed Quakertown to four hits while walking none and hitting one batter against seven strikeouts in a narrow 2-0 decision over the Panthers.
For an encore, Jules carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning Thursday in the district championship game at Ram Park before settling for a two-hitter in the title-clinching 5-0 blanking of (11) Neshaminy. She finished that gem with four strikeouts and no walks, needing just 79 pitches to dispatch the Redskins, tossing first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 25 hitters she faced and pitching to contact, a sound strategy considering the airtight defense behind her.
Jules is now 16-0 on the season with a microscopic ERA of 0.375 and a jaw-dropping strikeout-to-walk ratio of 141-5 following another shutout Monday – her fourth in five postseason starts – as Spring-Ford topped (11-2) Whitehall 10-0 in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs. Only five earned runs have crossed the plate on her watch all season.
Photo provided by Megan Wescott.
Spring-Ford has outscored the opposition 199-12 in building the 21-0 record, an average victory margin of close to nine runs per game (9.5-0.57) and Scogna's masterful pitching has been a major linchpin to that run.
“I couldn’t ask for more from her,” said veteran Spring-Ford coach Tim Hughes, whose 21-0 club faces (1-3) Haverford Thursday morning at Boyertown in the state quarterfinals. “Jules takes on her responsibilities as well as anyone on our team. She is having a wonderful year yet her only concern is how well “WE” do. She is about the most consistent pitcher I’ve have the privilege to coach.”
Jules has also proven she can handle the aluminum, posting a .333 BA with two home runs and three doubles among her 13 hits.
Editor's note: Spring-Ford suffered its only loss of the season Thursday, June 10, in the state quarterfinals, falling to District 1 No. 3 seed Haverford 5-3 in an elimination game at Boyertown. Scogna pitched a complete game but was victimized by three bunt singles that triggered a four-run flurry in the fifth inning that carried the Fords to the upset win.
