Northampton holds on to beat Parkland 2-1, advances to Dist. 11 4A final for first time since 2008

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Marly Laubach pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts and escaped a major jam in the seventh inning as Northampton held on for a 2-1 win over Parkland Wednesday night in the District 11 4A softball semifinals at Pates Park.

The No. 2-seeded K-Kids (21-2) will play either Pleasant Valley or Liberty at 7 p.m. Thursday back at Pates.

This is the first time Northampton is in the finals since it lost to Bangor in the 2008 4A championship.

Northampton had defeated Parkland (16-6) by 8-0 and 7-0 scores during the regular season, and the second game was a no-hitter, but the Trojans battled Laubach and Co. much tougher this time.

The K-Kids didn't have a hit until Tori Gollie doubled to left to score Taylor Kerbacher, who had reached on an erorr, with two out in the fourth. Brianna Dalton then followed with a run-scoring single to center to score to make it 2-0.

Parkland got a run back in the fifth when Sam Pickar got a hit and reached second on an error before scoring on Morgan Rentzhiemer's single. Rentzheimer reached second on the throw, but was left stranded.

Parkland went 1-2-3 in the sixth, but threatened in a big way in the seventh.

Lexi Oakley led off with a walk and pinch-runner Alex Geiger advanced all the way to third when Abby Fritzinger put down a sacrifice bunt and was safe at first on an error.

Kelly Gruber then followed with a bunt, but it was turned into a double play as first baseman Kendra Makovsky fielded the ball, threw to second baseman Megan Tiwold, who then pivoted and fired home to catcher Hannah Peters who tagged out Geiger for a double play. Fritzinger reached third, but Pickar then grounded to first to end the game.

"We've been practicing on plays like that double play all week in practice," Laubach said. "All of these games are going to come down to close plays and we need to execute. Our hard work paid off and we're very proud of that."

Northampton was disappointed in losing to Emmaus in 10 innings in the LVC semis, but now has its chance in a championship game.

"We made it to the semis in my sophomore year and lost to Pleasant Valley and then lost to Emmaus in the semis last year, so I was really tired of losing in the semis," Laubach said. "I wasn't OK with that. This was definitely our year to go."

"This was a great game on both sides," Northampton coach Sally Whittaker-Kahan said. "A lot of the plays that happened on the field we practiced for a week or two. It's the little things that matter and it's the hard work you put in that makes the difference. Our kids stayed confident and when you have that, you can get the plays done."

Parkland      000 010 0 -- 1 3 1

Northampton 000 200 x -- 2 3 2

Rentzheimer and Augustus; Laubach and Peters.