District 11 Softball: North Schuylkill falls to NW Lehigh in Class 4A final

Monica Selgrade, North Schuylkill softball. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

OREFIELD — Tuesday just wasn’t North Schuylkill’s day.

The Spartans couldn’t hold down the powerful Northwestern Lehigh lineup and fell to the Tigers 11-1 in six innings in the District 11 Class 4A championship game at Parkland High School.

Both North Schuylkill and Northwestern Lehigh will advance to the PIAA Tournament.

Monica Selgrade went 2-for-3 with a run scored to spark the Spartans’ offense. Brigid Flynn added a single and an RBI.

Northwestern Lehigh, though, compiled 13 hits to steadily pull away. Catcher Abby Dunstan went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and an RBI. Shelby Mitman added three hits and two runs scored for the Tigers. Ainsley Behler doubled twice and drove in three runs.

Winning pitcher Emma Freeman went the distance in the circle, scattering five hits while striking out two and walking two.

“This was a tough loss for our girls,” North Schuylkill coach Jack Flynn said. “I don’t think we’ve had a team hit the ball that hard against us all year. No matter what pitches we mixed in, Northwestern Lehigh just kept hitting it hard.

“Offensively, we couldn’t get into a groove,” Jack Flynn added. “We couldn’t string hits together to help score some runs. We were on top of the ball; their pitcher forced us into a lot of groundouts.

“We are now going to refocus and work hard this week and give it our best shot in the state tournament starting Monday. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get another shot at Northwestern Lehigh.”

Game Summary

District 11 Class 4A Championship

At Parkland

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (1) — Selgrade cf 3 1 2 0, Holmes lf 1 0 0 0, Flynn p 3 0 1 1, Brouse c 2 0 0 0, Miscannon cr 0 0 0 0, Frie 1b 3 0 0 0, Jones 2b 3 0 0 0, Croker 3b 3 0 1 0, K. Nahodil 3b 0 0 0 0, Capone ss 3 0 1 0, Meskunas rf 0 0 0 0. Totals 23 1 5 1.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH (11) — McGinley cf 4 2 2 1, Freeman p 3 1 0 0, Dunstan c 4 3 3 1, Conner ss 3 1 1 2, Mitman 1b 4 2 3 0, Behler lf 4 1 2 3, Boyer 3b 4 0 1 2, Bressi rf 2 0 0 0, Reichard pr 0 1 0 0, Diehl 2b 2 0 1 0. Totals 30 11 13 10.

NS (17-5)                000      010 — 1

NWL (24-2)          103      403 — 11

E — North Schuylkill 3, NW Lehigh 2

LOB — North Schuylkill 7, NW Lehigh 6

2B — Dunstan, Behler 2, Conner, Boyer

3B — Dunstan, McGinley

SB — Bressi, Boyer

SAC — Holmes, Freeman, Diehl

North Schuylkill

                                       IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Flynn L,10-4            3.1      7       8        6        2       2

Jones                         2        6       3       3       0        1

NW Lehigh

                  IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Freeman W            6       5       1         0       2       2