North Schuylkill's Mallorie Croker pictured at Schuylkill League Softball Media Day (Staff Photo).

FAIRLESS HILLS — Mallorie Croker hit two home runs — a grand slam and a solo shot — to power North Schuylkill past Conwell-Egan Catholic 16-13 on Monday in a PIAA Class 4A round of 16 softball game at Conwell-Egan High School.

The Spartans led 8-0 after three and a half innings before Conwell-Egan answered with three in the fourth and a nine-run fifth to lead 12-9.

Back came North Schuylkill, tying the game 12-12 with three runs in the sixth inning, then adding four runs in the seventh to put the game away.

“Today’s win is a great win for our girls, for our program!” North Schuylkill coach Jack Flynn said. “Today’s game was game of extreme highs and lows. We had a nice, comfortable lead early, then later in the game once they started to hit the ball and we then had some errors, we found ourselves down a few runs after five innings.

“The greatest thing our girls did today was they never gave up,” Jack Flynn added. “They were completely behind their teammates whenever someone made a mistake. They refused to lose today. That’s what makes us a great team.”

Olivia Jones allowed three hits and one unearned run in 2.2 innings of relief to earn the win in the circle.

North Schuylkill scored in every inning but the first and finished with 18 hits.

“Hitting was a big part of why we are having a great season, and it didn’t let us down today,” Jack Flynn said.

Jordanna Frie went 4-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs for the Spartans. Croker finished 3-for-4 with two homers, a double, two runs and five RBIs.

Gianna Capone also had a big day, going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Brigid Flynn homered, drove in two runs and scored twice, while Jones went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Lyza Holmes added a 2-for-5 day with two runs and one RBI as nine different Spartans collected at least one hit.

District 11 champion North Schuylkill (18-5) advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals to take on District 2 champion Valley View (21-2-1) at a site and time to be announced. Valley View nipped Northern Lebanon 1-0 in Monday’s first round.

“These girls are extremely excited to move on to the next round of the playoffs,” Jack Flynn said. “I couldn’t be more proud of what they accomplished so far this year.”

Game Summary

PIAA Softball

Class 4A Round of 16

At Conwell-Egan HS

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (16) — Selgrade cf 5 1 1 0, Holmes lf 5 2 2 1, Flynn p 4 2 1 2, Brouse c 4 0 1 1, Frie 1b 5 2 4 2, Capone ss 4 2 3 2, Croker 3b 4 2 3 5, K. Nahodil pr 0 1 0 0, Jones 2b-p 3 0 2 1, Meskunas 2b 3 0 1 0, Monahan rf 0 2 0 0, Miscannon cr 0 1 0 0. Totals 37 16 18 14.

CONWELL-EGAN CATHOLIC (13) — A. Kenworthy cf 5 2 3 1, Pandolfi 2b 5 2 2 1, McBeth ss 5 2 2 3, McKnight 1b 4 0 1 0, Milewski p 4 0 0 0, Bilardo lf 3 2 1 1, Naphy 3b 3 1 0 0, Berard p 4 2 2 3, Lascala c 4 1 2 0, P. Kenworthy rf 0 1 0 0. Totals 37 13 13 9.

NS (18-5)                  034      113    4 — 16

CEC (13-5)            000      390   1 — 13

E — North Schuylkill 5, Conwell-Egan Catholic 4

LOB — North Schuylkill 5, Conwell-Egan Catholic 5

2B — Capone, Croker, Frie

3B — Berard

HR — Flynn, Capone, Croker 2, McBeth

SB — Capone, A. Kenworthy 2

CS — Jones

SAC — Jones

North Schuylkill

                                       IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Flynn                          4.1     10     12       9       1       2

Jones W,7-1            2.2       3      1        0       1       1

Conwell-Egan

                  IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Berard                 2.1     9       7         7       0       1

Milewski L           4.2     9       9        9       4       2

Holy Cross 3, Tri-Valley 2

SCRANTON — Ava Schmidt hit a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift District 2 champion Holy Cross over District 11 champion Tri-Valley in a PIAA Class A round of 16 game at the University of Scranton.

Tri-Valley took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Liv Witmer hit an RBI single to drive in Alina Leonard, who had a triple. Holy Cross tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on Peyton Graboske’s solo home run.

The Bulldogs went back on top 2-1 in the sixth when Witmer slugged a solo home run. Again, the Crusaders answered in the bottom of the inning, tying the game on Claire Helring’s sacrifice fly.

Schmidt got the win in the circle, pitching a complete game, allowing nine hits and two runs while striking out seven and walking none.

Kora Rodichok took the loss. The gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out eight and walking one.

Cassi Snyder, Witmer, Lydia Rodichok and Ellie Dunkelberger had two hits apiece for Tri-Valley.

Holy Cross (22-1) advances to play District 6 champion Claysburg-Kimmel (26-0) in Thursday’s quarterfinals at a site and time to be announced. Claysburg routed Bucktail 10-0 in five innings Monday.

Game Summary

PIAA Softball

Class A Round of 16

At University of Scranton

TRI-VALLEY (2) — C. Snyder cf 4 0 2 0, Leonard ss 3 1 1 0, Ma. Schwalm 2b 3 0 0 0, Witmer 3b 3 1 2 2, My. Schwalm 1b 3 0 0 0, Stiely lf 3 0 0 0, L. Rodichok c 3 0 2 0, A. Snyder cr 0 0 0 0, K. Rodichok p 3 0 0 0, Stehr cr 0 0 0 0, Dunkelberger dp 3 0 2 0, Tobin rf 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 2 9 2.

HOLY CROSS (3) — Schmidt p 3 1 2 1, Kolcha 2b 3 0 0 0, M. Galella 1b 3 0 0 0, Graboske c 3 2 2 1, J. Galella ss 3 0 1 0, Hassaj 3b 2 0 0 0, Helring lf 2 0 2 1, Rogers dp 3 0 0 0, Mendi rf 3 0 0 0. Totals 25 3 7 3.

TV (18-7)                000      101   0 — 2

HC (22-1)              000      101   1 — 3

One out when winning run scored.

E — Tri-Valley 0, Holy Cross 0

DP — Holy Cross 1

LOB — Tri-Valley 5, Holy Cross 6

2B — Graboske, Schmidt

3B — Leonard

HR — Witmer, Graboske, Schmidt

SB — Helring

CS — Stehr

SF — Helring

Tri-Valley

                                       IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

K.Rodichok L,10-4  6.1    7       3         3        1      8

Holy Cross

                  IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Schmidt W              7       9       2         2       0       7

HBP — by K. Rodichok (A. Schmidt). WP — K. Rodichok 2.