{"id":51430,"date":"2026-05-21T22:52:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/?p=51430"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:48:27","slug":"battavio-and-connolly-lead-knights-to-win-over-perkiomen-valley-in-districts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/sports\/2026\/05\/21\/battavio-and-connolly-lead-knights-to-win-over-perkiomen-valley-in-districts\/","title":{"rendered":"Battavio and Connolly lead Knights to win over Perkiomen Valley in Districts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TOWAMENCIN &#8211; It was a tale of two halves, and in this case, two days, plus a whole lot of rain as North Penn took their second round matchup by storm on day two.<\/p>\n<p>The Knights (20-1, 10-0) hosted the visiting Perkiomen Valley Vikings (12-12, 8-6) in the District one second round on both Wednesday and Thursday this week, as after three innings on Wednesday heavy rain and winds rolled in and caused the game to be continued on Thursday. Once the clouds had lifted it was North Penn on top with an 11-3 win.<\/p>\n<p>Perk Valley got on the board first, as the Vikings manufactured a run after reaching on a leadoff error before a steal and two passed balls allowed the first run of the game to score. Knights senior Felicia Connolly settled in the circle, retiring the next three batters via strikeout.<\/p>\n<p>Gabby Bridigi and Gabby Battavio both drew walks and both scored when sophomore Alana Battavio knocked a two-out single through the right side to put North Penn up 2-1. Connolly grounded out to end the inning.<\/p>\n<p>Connolly bounced right back into her groove, striking out three in the second inning, with the only Perk Valley threat coming from Mia Corropolese\u2019s bunt single and steals of second and third.<\/p>\n<p>The Knights went up 3-1 in the bottom of the inning after senior Brandi Groarke walked, advanced on a Gianna Howard sac bunt, and scored on a E7 off the bat of fellow senior Cailin Halfpenny.<\/p>\n<p>Perk Valley answered right back as the sky continued to darken; as Mae Dodson reached and advanced to second on an error before being bunted to third and scoring on another rare North Penn error. The Vikings held runners on first and third with only one out, but Connolly took control, striking out the next two batters swinging.<\/p>\n<p>As North Penn went to hit in the bottom of the third, lightning was detected in the vicinity and the game was resumed Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe difference [between the two days] was we were playing as a team and not as individuals,\u201d Alana Battavio said.<\/p>\n<p>They came out with renewed fire after the break, with back to back walks from Smink and Gabby Battavio before sister Alana Battavio smoked a three-run shot over the centerfield fence to give North Penn a 6-2 lead.<\/p>\n<aside>\n    <div class='pullquote sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 sno-animate pullquote-shadow'>\n                <div class=\"quotebody\">\n                        <div class='largequote'>&ldquo;<\/div>\n                                    <p class='pullquotetext'>After I hit the home run and the way my team hyped me up I knew we were going to win this game because the hit brought us together. I was just looking for any pitch I could drive because I was down in the count.<\/p>\n                            <p class='quotespeaker'>&mdash; Sophomore Alana Battavio<\/p>\n                        <div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<style>\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 {\n    display: flex;\n    float: right;\n    margin: 30px 0 30px 30px;\n    width: 50%;\n    border-color: #67c0fc;\n    border-top-width: 5px;\n    border-right-width: 5px;\n    border-bottom-width: 5px;\n    border-left-width: 5px;\n    background-color: #0a1c42;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 p.pullquotetext,\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 p.quotespeaker {\n    color: #ffffff !important;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 .pullquotepic {\n    width: 33%;\n    margin-left: 25px;\n}\n.sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 p.pullquotetext {\n    font-size: 22px;\n    line-height: 1.4em;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 .quotebar {\n    background: #67c0fc;\n    flex: 0 0 90px;\n    margin-top: -15px;\n    margin-left: -15px;\n    padding-left: 15px;\n    padding-top: 15px;\n    margin-right: 15px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 .largequote {\n\tcolor: #67c0fc;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4ea03df1d47 .quotebody {\n    width: unset;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<p>\u201cAfter I hit the home run and the way my team hyped me up I knew we were going to win this game because the hit brought us together,\u201d Battavio said. \u201cI was just looking for any pitch I could drive because I was down in the count.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Knights weren&#8217;t done there, plating another after junior Alana Drummond tripled and scored on a Groarke RBI groundout. Howard singled before being thrown out at second to end the inning.<\/p>\n<p>PV went 1-2-3 in the fourth, two of the outs being backwards K\u2019s. To this point, 11 of the 12 Viking outs had been strikeouts.<\/p>\n<p>North Penn added on in their half; Halfpenny singled to right center and Smink tallied another walk and both runners advanced on a passed ball. Gabby Battavio scored Halfpenny on an RBI groundout to third, and Smink scored on a double off the red-hot bat of Alana Battavio. Another passed ball moved Battavio to third, where she then scored on a Connolly RBI reach on error. Connolly\u2019s courtesy runner, freshman Samantha Richmond, was thrown out stealing to end the inning.<\/p>\n<p>The Vikings continued to fight in the fifth, started by a leadoff single down the left field line from Nina Marsilio. Ava Spear came in to pinch run and stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and then after a Peyton Mears walk PV executed a first and third play to allow Spear to score their third run of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Another walk and a sac bunt had runners on second and third for Perk Valley, but a big time strikeout from Connolly got North Penn out of the jam with minimal harm.<\/p>\n<p>Howard\u2019s single up the middle was the lone hit of the Knight\u2019s half of the inning. Perk Valley went easily in the sixth, with a bunt popout and two more strikeouts for Connolly.<\/p>\n<p>In the bottom of the sixth, Brigidi reached on a slap single and advanced to second on a throwing error, tagged up to third on a Smink flyout and scored on Gabby Battavio\u2019s RBI groundout to score North Penn\u2019s 11th and final run of the game. Alana Battavio was hit by a pitch and Connolly walked before a pickoff ended the inning.<\/p>\n<p>PV had little left to give in the top of the last, going popout, strikeout, strikeout to finish up the game.<\/p>\n<p>North Penn will host #9 Plymouth Whitemarsh tomorrow at 4 PM in the District One quarterfinals. PW beat #24 Central Bucks East 12-2 in the opening round and beat #8 Council Rock North 4-3 today in extra innings. A win will guarantee the winner a spot in the 6A state tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just need to keep playing for each other and know that any game can be the last,\u201d Battavio concluded.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Connolly: 7.0 IP, 3H, 3R, 1ER, 2BB, 17K<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A. Battavio (3-for-3, HR, 2B, 5 RBI, 2R), A. Drummond (1-for-3, 3B, 1R), G. Howard (2-for-2, 2 1B), G. Battavio (2 BB, 2 RBI, 2R), T. Smink (2BB, 2R)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Perk Valley:\u00a0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 &#8211; 3-3-3<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>North Penn: 2 1 4 3 0 1 X &#8211; 11-9-3<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TOWAMENCIN &#8211; It was a tale of two halves, and in this case, two days, plus a whole lot of rain as North Penn took their second round matchup by storm on day two. The Knights (20-1, 10-0) hosted the visiting Perkiomen Valley Vikings (12-12, 8-6) in the District one second round on both Wednesday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,6,11],"tags":[],"staff_name":[1433],"class_list":["post-51430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-softball","category-sports","category-top-stories","staff_name-kyle-bonner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51430"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51443,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51430\/revisions\/51443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51430"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=51430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}