Julia Shearer tosses another shutout as North Penn defeats Hempfield Area 1-0 to claim PIAA softball Class 6A state title

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania – Julia Shearer threw her glove and mask to the ground and ran over to give shortstop Annabelle Smink a huge hug. 

That was the pitcher’s way of letting go of 368 days of pent-up frustration as North Penn finished off a 1-0 win over Hempfield Area in Thursday’s PIAA Class 6A softball state championship game.

After losing in the state semifinals last season, North Penn’s left-handed pitcher made sure she wasn’t finishing the season with a loss this year.

“We felt that loss all through the summer,” Shearer said. “High school ball is about having fun, but when you come off something like that where it's like big news that North Penn lost, we really took it personal. We weren't going to have an off game like that again.”

Head coach Rick Torresani knew that loss was weighing on the team, so before the season’s first workout, he put “28-0” on the scoreboard as the team’s goal for the year, one they accomplished with Thursday’s victory. But it wasn’t until recently that the team really thought that goal was attainable.

“None of us thought it was possible,” Shearer said. “We thought it was kind of annoying, and we would laugh at it. But as the season went on, I feel like we started thinking that goal was more and more possible, especially in states (because) you can't lose in states, or you're done. So we were really pushing the last few days.”

North Penn’s offense scored the only run of the game in the fourth inning of the championship game, as second baseman Gianna Cimino hit a two-out double and then third baseman Sophia Orth followed with an RBI double to score Cimino.

“At that point we were struggling a little bit,” Cimino said. “I was just trying to make any type of contact to get it going.”

Both doubles were opposite field hits to right center.

“I knew she was going to pitch me outside,” Orth said. “We've been seeing outside (pitches) the whole game, so I was looking for the outside pitch and I went with it.”

That was all Shearer and the Knights’ defense needed.

In the next inning, the Spartans had runners on second and third with one out, but Shearer induced a soft liner to Cimino at second base and then a groundout to Orth at third to end the threat and keep the game 1-0.

And then with a runner on second and one out in the sixth inning, Shearer took care of the second out herself with a strikeout and then got the final out on a fly ball to center fielder Cailin Halfpenny.

Shearer then went out and struck out all three hitters in the seventh inning to end the game. 

“My adrenaline was through the roof (in the seventh inning),” Shearer said. “We were so close. I was just ready to get to celebrating with my teammates.”

She finished the game by giving up just four hits and one walk while striking out nine, bringing her season totals to 14 walks and 355 strikeouts in 1666 innings pitched. The University of Maryland signee finished her senior season 28-0 with just five earned runs allowed for an ERA of 0.21 and  Thursday’s shutout was the 23rd of the season for the two-time Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year.

“I've never had a kid in 30 years or seen a kid in 30 years do what she's done for this program,”  Torresani said. “She's the best player that I've ever seen in the state and maybe nationally.”