St. Basil comes up short against Holy Redeemer

ALLENTOWN - Sometimes, you can give it your all and still come up short.

Because of some untimely miscues, that was the case for St. Basil in a 4-2 loss to Holy Redeemer in the PIAA Class AA softball semifinals at Patriots Park.

"You never want to go out in the semifinals," head coach Steve Sonneborn said. "You always want that one more win to get to the championship, but I'm so proud of this team. They battled to the end."

The Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third on RBIs from catcher Amanda Clark and pitcher Nichole Eberhard.

Holy Redeemer (22-1) tied it at 2 on back-to-back errors in the fourth.

"We just told them that we had to battle back," Sonneborn said. "I thought we could put some pressure on them, and continue to play small ball and run because that's what got us here. We had the opportunity. We just came up a little short."

Holy Redeemer added a run in the top of the fifth to make it 3-2. Then St. Basil got a chance to do some damage in the bottom of the sixth.

A leadoff single from Carly Jensen was followed by a Lindsay Joyce double to right field. After a ground out, Marissa Browne then bunted and beat the throw to first, loading the bases for the Panthers with only one down.

St. Basil (14-7) would not get another baserunner.

The next batter flew out to right, and the inning ended with a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch.

"I'm just really proud of the way they played all year," Sonneborn said. "We had a little up-and-down in the beginning of the season, but we strung stuff together, and we started believing in ourselves. That was the key. We played our best and just came up a little short."

The trip to the state semifinals was the the team's first in school history.

Holy Redeemer 000 210 1 - 4 5 1

St. Basil 002 000 0 - 2 6 3

WP: Kristen Caffay. LP: Nichole Eberhard. 2B: SB-Amanda Clark, Lindsay Joyce; HR-Jennifer Kingschef. 3B: SB-Abby Carter.