H.S. SOFTBALL: Pine Grove, Williams Valley, and Schuylkill Haven advance in District 11 playoffs
ORWIGSBURG — It was a jam-packed day worth of action in Orwigsburg on Friday evening with three District 11 playoff matchups taking place at Blue Mountain’s Patton Field. Once the dust settled, Pine Grove, Williams Valley, and Schuylkill Haven all advanced to their respective classifications’ championship games next week. Pine Grove overcomes slow start to beat Palisades 13-3 The Colonial League’s Palisades Pirates made much of Friday afternoon’s matinee a competitive matchup, leading the defending Class 3A champions twice, including 3-1 after three innings.
Palisades struck first in the second inning as senior Fiona Kelleher blasted a lead-off home run to put the Pirates ahead 1-0, a rare home run allowed by Jamie Dinger. Dinger finished the game with three innings pitched, allowing one run on three hits. Chelcy Clark came in to relieve Dinger in the fourth, striking out three over three innings.
Pine Grove tied the game in the bottom of the second, but the Pirates struck right back, scoring a pair of runs in the third on two hits and capitalizing on a Pine Grove fielding error. The Cardinals cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth on an RBI double from Khloe Jessman, who continued her phenomenal postseason performance. The talented freshman was 4-for-4 in the win with two RBI.
“She’s going to be a great player,” Pine Grove coach Ryan Leffler said. “I’m happy to have her for three more years…She’s been locked in. Just proud of her.
” In the fifth inning, the Cardinals’ offense broke out with nine runs, thanks in part to back-to-back home runs from Lily Flynn and Khloe Jessman before Callee Leffler tacked on a two-run home run of her own later in the inning. The home run was Leffler’s fourth home run in as many games and her 15th overall of the season. “The girls didn’t panic,” Leffler said about his team’s win.
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