Pine Grove Area celebrates after defeating Blue Mountain 5-1 in the Schuylkill League softball championship game May 14, 2026, at Patton Field. (Photo by Eli Doyle)

Umbenhauer, Leffler homer

as Cardinals top Blue Mountain 5-1

ORWIGSBURG — A bloop and a blast.

Actually, two blasts.

That’s what it took for Pine Grove Area to defeat Blue Mountain 5-1 in the Schuylkill League softball championship game on a chilly Thursday night at Patton Field.

Meadow Umbenhauer crushed a two-run home run in the sixth inning, and Callee Leffler launched a two-run homer in the seventh to power the Cardinals (21-2) to their second straight league title. Pine Grove Area defeated Tri-Valley 4-0 in last year’s final.

Overall, since the Schuylkill League playoffs resumed in 2009, Pine Grove Area has captured seven league championships. The others: 2010, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2025.

“These kids work hard, and they rewarded themselves today,” Pine Grove Area coach Ryan Leffler said. “I’m just so proud of them. I’m thankful for this team, I really am.”

The first five innings evolved into a pressure-packed pitchers’ duel between Pine Grove Area’s Jamie Dinger and Blue Mountain’s Emily Leonard. The teams went to the sixth inning tied 1-1 as both right-handers shut down the potent offenses in the opposite dugout.

The Cardinals jumped on top 1-0 with a run in the top of the first inning. Callee Leffler led off with a walk and stole second base. She took third on a groundout and scored on Dinger’s RBI single.

Blue Mountain (20-2) answered in the second inning. Hailey Place (2-for-3) led off with a single and stole second base. Karley Koch followed with an RBI double to tie the game 1-1. Emmerson Frie then singled, but the runner rounded third base too far, and the Cardinals recorded a big out on the rundown.

After Dinger’s single in the first inning, Leonard settled in and retired 10 batters in a row. Leonard kept forcing the Cardinals to hit ground balls, and the Eagles’ defense kept rising to the occasion behind their pitcher. Several of those plays at first base were bang-bang. Leonard recorded 14 ground-ball outs in the game.

Blue Mountain threatened to take the lead in the fifth inning, but more great defense prevented a run from scoring. Avery Hudock got hit by a pitch but stayed in the game and stole second base. After a popout and a strikeout, Addyson Fishburn laced a single to center field. Callee Leffler charged the ball, came up throwing and whipped a strike to catcher Tailyn Bohr, who tagged out Hudock at the plate to keep the score 1-1.

Leonard recorded the first two outs in the top of the sixth inning and seemed to be cruising along holding the Cardinals to two hits.

That changed in a hurry. Freshman Khloe Jessman (2-for-4) kept the inning alive by dumping a single into shallow right field. Umbenhauer followed by smashing a tape-measure home run — her fifth of the season — over the 200-foot temporary fence and over the 240-plus-foot men’s softball fence. The ball landed in a lawn chair smartly vacated by a fan sitting on a hill behind the left-field fences.

In an instant, Pine Grove Area had a 3-1 lead.

“Meadow Umbenhauer came up big for us,” Ryan Leffler said.

In the seventh, the Cardinals went back to work looking for an insurance run. They ended up with two.

Freshman Mallory Schneck led off with a single to center field. Callee Leffler then hit a towering fly ball to center field. Fishburn tracked the ball but ran out of room as the ball cleared the fence for a two-run home run and a 5-1 lead. Callee Leffler now has 14 home runs and 43 RBIs this season.

“Callee did Callee’s thing,” Ryan Leffler said of his daughter. “I’m just trying to treasure every moment with her. She’s special, and this team is special.”

Umbenhauer and Callee Leffler crushed it during the three-game run in the Schuylkill League playoffs. Umbenhauer went 6-for-11 (.545) with a double, two home runs, 10 RBIs, six runs scored and four stolen bases for the Cardinals. Callee Leffler finished 4-for-6 (.667) with three home runs, five RBIs, five walks, eight runs scored and four stolen bases.

Dinger finished off a complete-game six-hitter by notching a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh. She finished with five strikeouts and no walks in a 103-pitch effort (74 strikes).

With the Schuylkill League playoffs in the books, both teams turn their attention to the District 11 playoffs. Pine Grove Area will be the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A field. Blue Mountain likely will be No. 2 in Class 4A because Northwestern Lehigh routed Palmerton 10-0 in six innings in the Colonial League championship game at Patriots Park. As a result, the Tigers receive a preferential seed and will replace Blue Mountain at the top of the bracket. Those pairings are expected to be released Friday.

“These kids, they love the game,” Ryan Leffler said. “They love being out there. Practice this week was awesome. We challenged them. We know what Blue Mountain has so we challenged them with the first half hour, 45 minutes of practice on defense, the pressure. They came through today.

“We get to cross off one of our goals,” the coach added.

Game Summary

Schuylkill League Championship

At Patton Field

PINE GROVE AREA (5) — Leffler cf 3 2 1 2, Aungst ss 4 0 0 0, Dinger p 4 0 1 1, Morgan cr 0 0 0 0, Flynn 2b 4 0 1 0, Jessman rf 4 1 2 0, Umbenhauer 3b 3 1 1 2, Bohr c 3 0 1 0, Clark dp 3 0 0 0, Schneck lf 3 1 1 0, Behrent 1b 0 0 0 0. Totals 31 5 8 5.

BLUE MOUNTAIN (1) — Fishburn cf 3 0 1 0, Reilly 3b 3 0 0 0, Borden 1b 3 0 0 0, Place ss 3 1 2 0, Koch rf 3 0 1 1, Frie c 3 0 1 0, Manbeck cr 0 0 0 0, Av. Hudock 2b 2 0 0 0, Vincent lf 3 0 1 0, Leonard p 3 0 0 0. Totals 26 1 6 1.

E — Pine Grove Area 1, Blue Mountain 1

DP — None

LOB — Pine Grove Area 6, Blue Mountain 5

2B — Jessman, Koch

HR — Umbenhauer, Leffler

SB — Leffler, Umbenhauer, Behrent, Place, Manbeck, Av. Hudock, Vincent

Pine Grove Area

Blue Mountain 

HBP — by Dinger (Av. Hudock). T — 1:41.