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Montgomery defeats Millville as Faith Persing throws a no-hitter

By Jon Gerardi 5 min read

Montgomery coach Chris Glenn vividly remembers sitting in the stands in 2010 when Jersey Shore lost in the PIAA Class AAA championship game watching his daughter and step daughter play. Brooke Koch was an outstanding pitcher for the Bulldogs, but Jersey Shore lost when Bellefonte started putting some balls into play.

How does that relate to the Red Raiders in 2021? Glenn said he learned a lesson that game even though he wasn't coaching.

"I keep on my team about 'hey, every pitch, that next pitch is going to be hit to you and you have to know what to do with it.' And it's paid big dividends," Glenn said.

That's precisely how things played out Tuesday afternoon at Elm Park. Faith Persing struck out 13 batters, but any time Millville put a ball into play, Montgomery's defense was all over it. The Red Raiders prevented the Quakers from building any momentum at all en route to a 7-0 win in the District 4 Class A semifinals.

Montgomery will advance to play Northeast Bradford at Elm Park on Thursday at a time to be determined.

"In that state playoff game in seventh inning, they put a couple balls in play and they kind of fell apart and made some mistakes," Glenn said of that 2010 team. "I learned a lesson."

Montgomery's defense backed up Persing the entire game. Persing nearly threw a perfect game, with only a hit batter in the top of the sixth inning preventing it. She ended with 13 strikeouts and a no-hitter.

"The defense played well behind us. They made plays. I can't ask for more," Glenn said. "You can't ask for more out of a defense than that. Faith pitched well. We're happy with the performance."

"We know that we have that confidence going into a game. Our defense is really strong and dominant, so we always know we have that to back her up," Taylor McRae said.

The two teams remained scoreless through four innings before Montgomery finally got the spark it was looking for. McRae led the inning off with a huge triple into right-center field and scored two batters later when Jenna Waring had a hard hit to Millville's shortstop to give the Red Raiders a 1-0 lead.

"I've been preaching all year about not being too up or too down and we hit some balls and made some plays," Glenn said. "I give them credit, they made some nice plays, some nice catches int he outfield. They did their job and we just stayed focus and came back and put us in a good position."

Montgomery then erupted in the fifth inning for six runs to blow the game open. Montgomery loaded the bases and added a second run when Persing was walked to bring in Morgen Tupper. Kaitlyn Raemsch came through with a huge single into left field to drive in Shelby McRae, Sammy Ulrich and Persing and put the Red Raiders up, 5-0.

"It keeps feeding off each other. One person gets a hit and the next person gets one," Persing said. "So it definitely sparked us and got us going."

Raemsch stole third base and Taylor McRae then reached on an error. Brynn McRae had a hard hit toward Millville pitcher Livvie Savage for the first out, but it brought in Raemsch. Taylor McRae then scored on a wild pitch for the seventh run of the game.

With Persing in the circle and a seven-run lead, the Red Raiders closed the game out with consecutive three up, three down innings to seal the win.

Millville had just one inning where four batters reached the plate. Persing also had nine strikeouts through four innings and needed just 10 pitches in the second inning to retire the side. Whatever Persing was throwing at Millville, the Quakers weren't able to hit it.

"I get a lot of people to go on (my rise ball). Some teams get smart after the first inning and decide to lay off of it, and then I can come in with my curveball," Persing said.

Millville's pitcher did give Montgomery some problems early on. Savage had a lower pitch and offspeed that kept the Red Raiders off balance for a few innings.

"We knew we had to adjust but until we saw her, we couldn't do much about it," Persing said.

The fact Montgomery was able to adjust and start putting the ball in play and scoring runs is what Glenn was happy to see in the end.

"That's the difference between being a good team and a mediocre team is being able to make the adjustments in game and they did that," Glenn said. "I'm happy with that."

Montgomery is looking to win its first district title since 2010, the same year Glenn was watching his daughter and step daughter play for Jersey Shore. The Red Raiders face Northeast Bradford in the district championship game, and after not having a season last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Montgomery's players are excited to have the chance to win the program's second title.

"It's something we've been working toward especially since we didn't have a season (last year)," Taylor McRae said. "We've all been working toward this and playing toward this because we didn't have that season and couldn't achieve this."

Millville 000 000 0 -- 0 0 3

Montgomery 000 160 x -- 7 3 0

Morgan DiFebo and Ashley Stevens. Faith Persing and Shelby McRae. W--Persing. L--DiFebo.

Top Montgomery hitters: Taylor McRae 1-3, 3B, SB, 2 runs; Kaitlyn Raemsch, 1B, 3 RBIs, SB, run; Sammy Ulrich 1-2, run; Faith Persing 2 BB, run.

Next game: Montgomery vs. Northeast Bradford in District 4 Class A championship at Elm Park, Thursday, TBA.

Starting at /week.