HS Softball: Pine Grove captures Schuylkill League championship
Pine Grove celebrates its 4-0 victory over Tri-Valley on Friday in the Schuylkill League softball championship game at North Schuylkill's Dot Seidel Field. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Schuylkill League softball championships are special.
And rare.
This one, a 4-0 victory for Pine Grove over Tri-Valley on Friday at North Schuylkill’s Dot Seidel Field, will hold a special place in the heart of head softball coach Ryan Leffler.
He’s led the Cardinals to the Schuylkill League summit before, three times in fact (2017, 2018, 2019). The program has six league crowns overall since the playoffs resumed in 2009.
But for six long seasons since 2019, Pine Grove had come up short of reaching its first main goal of every season. In addition to breaking the drought, Leffler had the pleasure of draping a gold medal around the neck of Callee Leffler, his daughter and the Cardinals’ leader, for the first time as a varsity player. More than that, seniors Madison Shiffer and Addison Zimmerman played key roles in becoming Schuylkill League champions for the first time in their careers.
And the icing on top is that the victory vaults Pine Grove (21-2) back to the No. 1 seed for the upcoming District 11 Class 3A playoffs. Palisades had taken the top spot briefly after defeating Northwestern Lehigh 2-1 in the Colonial League final on Thursday night. Pine Grove’s win gives it the top spot again due to a higher rating. In Thursday’s district semifinals, Pine Grove will take on No. 4 Northern Lehigh (11-10) while No. 2 Palisades (19-3) will meet No. 3 Pen Argyl (16-6).
“We accomplished something today,” Ryan Leffler said. ” We’re a big believer in hard work, and the hard work paid off for us today. … The seniors stepped up. Madison Shiffer and Addison Zimmerman are going out on top.”
Pine Grove had plenty of stars in its victory over Tri-Valley (16-6).
At the top of the list is Jamie Dinger. The sophomore right-hander dominated in the circle, hurling a three-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and no walks. Dinger mixed speeds, spins and locations brilliantly and retired the leadoff Bulldog batter in each and every inning.
“She’s been commanding her pitches, doing a good job with her offspeed, and the key is she’s not walking many,” Ryan Leffler said. “Today she did a great job keeping them off-balance, and we played great defense behind her.”
As the game wore on, Dinger started throwing her changeup for called strikes or weak swings and misses. It’s a deceptive delivery and comes before or after some heat in on the hands up up in the zone.
“It feels really good to do that,” Dinger said with a laugh about those nasty changeups.
Meanwhile, Pine Grove played its second straight error-free game of the playoffs. Shortstop Hannah Aungst made some tough plays, throwing out Tri-Valley runners often by a half-step. She and second baseman Lily Flynn handled four chances apiece flawlessly, and first baseman Shiffer had six putouts.
“My defense, even when I’m down, they pick me up so much,” Dinger said.
While the pitching and defense kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard, Pine Grove still had to generate some runs.
The Cardinals got right to work with that in the first inning. Callee Leffler reached on an error, advanced on Aungst’s sacrifice bunt and scored when Zimmerman rapped a two-out single to center field.
Clinging to that 1-0 lead in the third inning, Callee Leffler doubled the lead when she launched her second home run in as many games, a towering, majestic drive well over the center field fence. The home run was Leffler’s sixth of the season and the 18th of the junior’s career.
In the fifth inning, Pine Grove tacked on two more insurance runs. Callee Leffler led off by being intentionally walked. Leffler promptly swiped second base for her 30th stolen base of the season. Shiffer cashed in with an RBI double to make it 3-0, and Zimmerman followed with an RBI single to set the 4-0 final.
By then, Dinger was on cruise control. She retired the final 10 batters she faced to wrap up a long-awaited Schuylkill League championship for the Cardinals.
