Larson's triple lifts Delran

Bill Iezzi

May 2, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Delran's Kate Larson hasn't had much varsity experience this season.

In fact, Larson didn't start playing varsity softball until last month.

However, the freshman showed that she's ready for prime time yesterday in a Burlington County League interdivisional game with visiting Rancocas Valley.

Larson snapped a 1-1 deadlock in the bottom of the ninth inning with a two-run triple to win the game, 3-1.

"It feels good," Larson said after telling her teammates, "I'm new at this" interview business. "I was swinging to get my teammates around. I hit a fast ball."

Larson's swing sent home Aubrey Paris, who got on first base on a fielder's choice, and Colleen Hughes, who stroked a single off Rancocas Valley's Kim Wolfe.

The sophomores were ecstatic, along with the rest of the team, when Larson delivered for the second time in the game.

The ninth grader tied the game, 1-1, in the seventh inning when she stroked a single that scored junior Chelsie Biluck.

"I hit a fast ball," Larson said. "I like fast balls better than slow."

Delran hurler Jackie Korang, who recently returned to the lineup after sitting out with a concussion she suffered in a collision at practice on April 16, expressed delight about Larson's heroics.

"I was about to cry when she got that [game-winning] hit," said Korang, who earned her seventh win of the season. "I was so happy."

Korang, a junior, unintentionally hit four batters between the second and ninth innings. But that didn't concern Delran coach Nancy Fanelli.

"Wow. She had a concussion and came back against New Egypt [on April 27], and today she kept her composure," Fanelli said. "She blew my socks off."

Korang went 0 for 3 at the plate. But from the circle, her screwball kept Rancocas Valley, ranked fifth in The Inquirer's Top 10, off balance throughout the game.

The Red Devils (10-4 overall, 5-1 Liberty Division), threatened to score with two on and two out in the first inning. However, Korang got freshman Alyssa Martin to hit a line drive to Larson in right field for the final out.

RV sophomore shortstop Lauren Gaskill scored the first run in the top of the sixth inning on a one-out single by senior Amy Gentile. But Korang got the next two batters out on a liner to senior second baseman Paige Mollineaux and on a three-pitch strikeout of sophomore Laura Malinoski.

RV threatened once more in the eighth, and again it was Gaskill who started a rally, with a single and a steal. But Delran's defense snuffed it out.

"We've had a rough week," RV coach Erin Mattio said after losing her second game in two days. "We didn't execute today."

Delran improved to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the Patriot Division, prompting Fanelli to say: "If you can beat a quality club like this, you can beat the best."

Fanelli added that a lot of the game is about confidence that is built on experience.

Rancocas Valley 000 001 000 -- 1 7 0

Delran 000 000 102 -- 3 9 0

WP: Jackie Korang. LP: Kim Eolfe.

3B: D- Kate Larson. 2B: D- Danielle McNeill.

Contact staff writer Bill Iezzi

at 856-779-3826 or biezzi@phillynews.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0160-34604563