Young Kennard-Dale softball team surges to division title in breakout season

Nicole McCleary-Patterson jokes that the Kennard-Dale softball program has become a family business.

The Rams’ second-year head coach starred for the Rams from 2013-16 before playing at Shippensburg. Her grandfather, Dale McCleary, coached K-D to its first PIAA District 3 title in 1990. Her father, Brian, was an assistant under Gregg Coulton for the Rams’ other district championship in 2017. Her cousin, Alexis Hurley, was a freshman on that squad.

Now, with McCleary-Patterson in charge and a talented young core, Kennard-Dale could be entering another era to remember.

The Rams clinched the York-Adams Division III crown in walk-off fashion Monday, beating Eastern York 3-2 in nine innings on Liliana Fleming’s RBI single. Kennard-Dale (14-2, 13-0) has won 12 straight games since dropping two in a row on April 8 and 9.

“I about had a heart attack,” McCleary-Patterson said with a laugh about Monday’s battle, “but it was awesome to do it in that fashion.”

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K-D has burst onto the scene this spring after going just 8-11 (8-6) a year ago. The Rams are an incredibly young team, as their starting lineup includes five sophomores, two freshmen, a junior and a senior. But with that youth comes a fearlessness that was apparent early on.

“I could even say from the start of winter workouts … this year was just different,” McCleary-Patterson said. “They just got along so well, and they all have that same mindset of being able to get the job done but have a great time doing it. They work so well together.”

Freshman Taryn Ashenfelter has been the headliner, quickly blossoming into one of the league’s best all-around players. She’s 10-1 with a 2.42 ERA in the circle, striking out 86 hitters in 66.2 innings pitched. And from the No. 3 spot in the batting order, she’s posted a .510 batting average, .615 on-base percentage and .775 slugging percentage with eight extra-base hits in 16 games.

McCleary-Patterson first heard of Ashenfelter through 2023 graduate Carly Vaughan, who now plays at Millersville. But the coach didn’t truly know what she had until she stood in the batter’s box to get a look at the freshman before the season.

“I saw some of what she was throwing,” McCleary-Patterson said, “and it was like, ‘OK, we’re gonna have a good time this year.’”

Ashenfelter and fellow freshmen Taylor Rinaudo and Dakotah D’Arrigo have combined to pitch all but five innings for the Rams this spring. Sophomores Maddie and Addie Argiro hit first and second in the order, with the sophomore Fleming behind Ashenfelter. Senior Kara Golden and junior Hailey Serruto, the team’s co-captains alongside catcher Addie Argiro, hit fifth and sixth. It’s all come together, as K-D’s nine leaders in plate appearances are all hitting well above .300.

The wins haven’t all come easily. Monday’s walk-off was the Rams’ third one-run victory in eight days, joining the 7-6 win over West York on April 29 and the following day’s 6-5 triumph over Littlestown (they also beat Eastern 14-5 last week). K-D will visit Littlestown on Wednesday with a perfect D-III record on the line but the title not in doubt. The Rams will then host Lancaster Catholic on Thursday and Octorara on Friday.

Next week’s York-Adams League tournament will pit K-D against Division I champion South Western, which improved to 18-0 on Monday, in the semifinals. After counties conclude May 16, the Rams will turn their focus to the District 3 Class 4A playoffs, where they’re expected to open at home on May 23. As this young team chases history, its coach believes the experience gained from all those close games will pay significant dividends.

“I have gone into every single game thinking it’s gonna be a dogfight,” McCleary-Patterson said, “and I’ve told the girls, ‘It’s going to be about the team that has more grit.’ … There’s a surface-level want, but there’s a want that’s deep within that you’ve got to have to come through with it.”

Kennard-Dale has demonstrated that grit in spades, and the Rams won’t go away easily as the month rolls on.

SUPER SHOWDOWNS

The Red Lion and South Western baseball teams will finally meet for the first time Wednesday afternoon in Hanover. Both squads are 16-1 overall and 12-1 in York-Adams Division I. They’ll officially decide the D-I title on Friday when the Mustangs visit the Lions for the rematch (Friday’s game was initially scheduled for April 15.)

South Western was the York-Adams League’s last unbeaten baseball team before suffering a 4-0 defeat at Northeastern on Monday. The Lions’ lone loss came April 30 at Central York. The Mustangs have outscored opponents 149-45 this season to Red Lion’s 124-33 scoring margin.

Expect the Lions to send both of their co-aces to the mound against the Mustangs, with senior AJ Lipscomb (3-1, 1.25 ERA) pitching Wednesday and junior Connor Lawrence (6-0, 0.61) to follow on Friday (Lawrence pitched five shutout innings Monday vs. Dallastown). South Western ace Carlos Caraballo (3-1, 1.46) started Monday’s loss to Northeastern and will likely oppose Lawrence on Friday after fellow senior Amanjeet Turka (3-0, 4.26) throws Wednesday.

Seeking revenge: Bermudian Springs entered Tuesday narrowly ahead of West York in the D-III baseball standings, but the Bulldogs (13-5, 12-1) have long circled Wednesday’s home game against the Eagles (14-2, 11-0) on the calendar. An 11-run fifth inning lifted Bermudian to a 13-4 home win on April 23, and Jeff Carpenter’s team will clinch the outright title if the Eagles beat Littlestown on Tuesday and West York on Wednesday.

The Division IV baseball race is a dead heat between Delone Catholic (11-6, 7-5) and Biglerville (9-7, 7-5). The Squires beat the Canners 7-0 on April 29 but will hit the road for next Monday’s rematch. In softball, meanwhile, Biglerville (13-2, 9-2) and Delone (11-5, 9-3) will meet for the first time this Friday before playing again Monday.

CLOSING TIME

Kennard-Dale softball was one of two Y-A teams to clinch a division title Monday. Susquehannock actually secured the D-II baseball crown without playing a game, as Spring Grove’s 13-11 loss to New Oxford moved the Rockets two games behind the Warriors in the standings with only one divisional contest to play. Susquehannock won the 2022 and 2023 YAIAA baseball tournaments but is 9-10 overall with a young team this season.

South Western softball, the league’s last unbeaten team on the diamonds, clinched the D-I title last week.

While four of the five undecided division races will feature head-to-head matchups, D-II softball leaders New Oxford (13-4-1, 10-3) and Northeastern (10-6, 8-3) will sprint separately to the finish. The Bobcats beat the Colonials 11-3 on Monday to pull even in the loss column and give themselves the tiebreaker with a series sweep. Northeastern visits York Suburban on Wednesday, hosts Dover on Friday and travels to Susquehannock on Monday. New Oxford visits Susky on Friday.

The Y-A tournaments were initially slated to begin next Monday, May 13, but a slew of rainouts pushed the date back two days. Although another batch of postponements could wipe out the tournaments altogether, it looks like the regular season will finish in time. The District 3 baseball tournaments begin May 17, with softball following on May 20.