The Lady Cards struggled to hit the ball out of the infield Friday morning in the District XI Class 3A softball championship game. But in the end, they didn’t need to in order to advance to the PIAA tournament starting Monday.
Pine Grove Area manufactured a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Palisades, 2-1, to capture District XI gold. The Lady Cards will play at 5 p.m. Monday, June 2, at home, against Trinity in the first round of the PIAA tournament.
For six innings Friday against Palisades, the Lady Cards managed just a single base hit – a bloop single in the fourth inning – against Palisades pitcher Karlye Teman. However, they did use walks and some aggressive baserunning to threaten to score in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
But the breakthrough didn’t come until the bottom of the seventh, when that aggressive strategy on the basepaths would finally pay dividends.
After Lily Flynn popped out to start the frame, Meadow Umbenhauer was awarded first base on a Teman balk.
Umbenhauer stole second and then scored after a series of Palisades fielding errors to tie the game at 1-1.
Callee Leffler then reached on an error at second base. She then stole second and eventually got to third following consecutive intentional walks granted by Palisades to load the bases in order to induce a force out at any base.
Addison Zimmerman spoiled that plan when she dropped a perfect bunt between home and the pitcher’s circle. Leffler timed her break toward the plate and a throw home to force her out was too late and propelled Pine Grove Area to the state tournament.
The Lady Cards were kept in the game all day by some stellar pitching from Jamie Dinger. Dinger struck out 13 and scattered four hits on the day. The only run allowed was unearned in the first inning following a Pine Grove Area fielding error.
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