PIAA Softball: Pine Grove captures Class 3A championship in 13-inning thriller

Pine Grove celebrates its PIAA Class 3A softball championship Friday at Penn State's Nittany Lion Softball Park. The Cardinals defeated Bald Eagle Area 4-3 in 13 innings. (Photo courtesy of Pine Grove Athletics)

STATE COLLEGE — For 13 stomach-churning innings over more than 3 hours, Pine Grove and Bald Eagle Area traded great play after great play, missed opportunity after missed opportunity, incredible focus and fortitude matched by incredible focus and fortitude.

All of that settled nothing.

Finally, in the bottom of the 13th inning, winning pitcher Jamie Dinger lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Meadow Umbenhauer with the game-winning run as Pine Grove outlasted Bald Eagle Area 4-3 in the PIAA Class 3A championship game Friday at Penn State’s Nittany Lion Softball Park.

“They believed,” Pine Grove head coach Ryan Leffler said. “They fought to the end. They didn’t quit all year, and they weren’t going to quit today. It was everybody contributing in one way or another.”

Making their third trip to the state finals under Leffler, the Cardinals (27-2) captured their second PIAA crown. They fell short in 2017, defeated Bald Eagle Area 7-3 in 2019 and edged BEA again Friday. Pine Grove’s victory makes the Schuylkill League 19-5 overall (.792) in state softball finals (Minersville 10-1, Williams Valley 3-2, Blue Mountain 2-0, Tri-Valley 2-0, Pine Grove 2-1, Nativity 0-1).

“The Schuylkill League is one of the best softball leagues in the state,” Ryan Leffler said. “It gets you prepared for these games, this atmosphere.

“We have a lot of support behind us, and we really appreciate that,” the coach added. “All over Schuylkill County reached out to us and the kids. It’s just special, really special.”

“Special” doesn’t begin to do justice to the roller-coaster ride of a drama Pine Grove and Bald Eagle Area (22-4) put on for the 1,200-plus fans who packed the sunken bowl at Beard Field.

The afternoon started normally enough, with both teams taking infield practice after Union Area defeated Northeast Bradford 12-2 in six innings in the Class A final, the first game of a tripleheader at Penn State. Suddenly, the Penn State grounds crew appeared and dragged the white tarp across the entire dirt surface. That stoppage began at 1:40 p.m., 10 minutes after the scheduled starting time; the rain came quickly and lasted for a half-hour.

Starting the game at last at 2:25 p.m., District 6 champion Bald Eagle Area threatened early and broke through in the third inning when Addisyn Burns roped a two-run double to left-center for a 2-0 lead.

Pine Grove answered with a run in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs and nobody on, Callee Leffler hit a towering triple to the fence in right-center field. When BEA’s relay throw went awry, Leffler scampered home to make it 2-1.

In the fourth, the Cardinals bunched two hits and a walk to take their first lead of the game. Addison Zimmerman worked a four-pitch walk, and Dinger followed with a booming RBI double to left-center field. Tailyn Bohr then lined a single to left field to drive in courtesy runner Kendra Umbenhauer to put Pine Grove on top 3-2.

The Cardinals clung to that lead until the Eagles rallied in the seventh inning. Losing pitcher Sierra Albright led off with a double to right-center. Maelee Yoder bunted courtesy runner Gabrielle Perry to third base, and Taylor Habovick hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game 3-3.

From there, with the help of her defense, Dinger worked six consecutive shutout innings to keep the game tied until Pine Grove finally found a way to scratch out the winning run. Dinger went all 13 innings in the circle, allowing 13 hits and three runs while striking out 10 and walking three (two of them intentional). She threw 151 pitches, 120 for strikes.

Bald Eagle Area threatened in almost every inning. The Eagles left 15 runners on base, 12 of them in scoring position. Ryan Leffler acknowledged that he was thinking of making a pitching change at different points in the game, but each time Dinger got the next out to work out of trouble.

Eckert went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two intentional walks and a run scored, while Kendall Gavlock went 3-for-5 for BEA.

In the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th innings, the international tiebreaker came into play. The batter who made the last out of the previous inning starts the next inning on second base, and the game plays out normally from there. Dinger stranded that “ghost runner” in all four tiebreaker innings.

Dinger’s defense came up big for her, especially in extra innings. Bohr, the catcher, snagged a popped-up bunt in the 10th and threw out a runner trying to steal third in the 12th. She also cut down a runner trying to steal second in the fourth inning. First baseman Madison Shiffer caught a popped-up bunt in the 11th; third baseman Meadow Umbenhauer and second baseman Lily Flynn handled the three sacrifice bunts BEA did get down; and Callee Leffler, the center fielder, made several great plays, including a running catch of a shallow popup to end the 10th inning and prevent a run from scoring.

“You’ve just got to keep your head up,” Dinger said. “I just kept going, kept pushing, giving everything I had on that mound. I gave literally everything.”

So did BEA pitcher Albright. She went 12.2 innings, allowing six hits and four runs (two earned). She struck out 12 and walked four (one intentional). A senior right-hander headed for Morgan State University, Albright threw 165 pitches, 118 for strikes.

Pine Grove had all kinds of chances to win the game before the 13th inning. In the eighth inning, Shiffer just missed a game-winning two-run home run when her drive over the right field fence curved foul by a few feet. In the ninth, BEA third baseman Raelee Repasky snagged a wicked line drive off the bat of Hannah Aungst to strand runners at second and third. In the 10th and 12th, the Cardinals had runners thrown out at the plate on suicide-squeeze bunts, and in the 11th, the ghost runner got called out for leaving second base too early.

After Dinger got a flyout and two strikeouts to end the top of the 13th inning in the circle, Pine Grove went to work finally ending the marathon.

Meadow Umbenhauer started on second base, and BEA head coach Don Lucas decided to walk Callee Leffler, who had three walks and a triple in six plate appearances. After Albright notched strikeout No. 12 for out No. 1, Zimmerman hit a hard ground ball to the third baseman. In her haste to get the forceout at third base, she bobbled and dropped the ball — to load the bases.

On the next pitch, Dinger hit a fly ball to medium center field. Umbenhauer tagged immediately and scored without a play when BEA cut off the throw from the outfield. Umbenhauer would have been safe even if the ball wasn’t cut off.

“I’m proud of how she battled,” Ryan Leffler said of Dinger. “She wanted it. She wanted that moment. She wanted to go out there and win the game.”

Added Dinger: “That last at-bat was just amazing. I knew in that moment we had it. I just had a big ol’ smile on my face. I had to get it out of the infield.”

Pine Grove players streamed out of the dugout and formed a huge dogpile at home plate as their fans gave them a standing ovation.

It was over. It was finally over.

Pine Grove won the PIAA Class 3A softball championship!

“We couldn’t have done a better job playing for each other and just keeping the energy up,” Callee Leffler said. “We’re super excited. We worked really hard. This is what all the practices since the fall have been for, just for this moment right here. So I’m really proud of us today.”

For the second time in his career, Ryan Leffler completed the softball triple crown — Schuylkill League, District 11 and PIAA gold. The Cardinals also did it in 2019 during their undefeated season, and the 2025 season and Friday’s victory will stack up favorably against anything that all-time great Pine Grove team did.

“They’re going out on top,” Ryan Leffler said. “I’m just so proud of them for the hard work, their dedication to Pine Grove softball. … With their hard work, they rewarded themselves with a state championship.”

Game Summary

PIAA Class 3A Championship

At Penn State University

Beard Field

Nittany Lion Softball Park

BALD EAGLE AREA (3) — Eckert c 4 1 3 0, Burns ss 5 0 2 2, Baney rf 6 0 0 0, Thompson lf 6 0 1 0, Repasky 3b 6 0 1 0, Albright p 5 0 2 0, Perry cr 0 1 0 0, Yoder 2b 4 0 1 0, Habovick cf 5 0 0 1, Gavlock 1b 5 0 3 0, Angellotti pr 0 1 0 0. Totals 46 3 13 3.

PINE GROVE (4) — Leffler cf 3 1 1 0, Shiffer 1b 6 0 1 0, Zimmerman rf 3 1 1 0, Dinger p 5 0 2 2, K. Umbenhauer cr 0 1 0 0, Bohr c 5 0 1 1, Clark dp 5 0 0 0, Aungst ss 4 0 0 0, Flynn 2b 4 0 0 0, M. Umbenhauer 3b 5 1 0 0, Morgan lf 0 0 0 0. Totals 40 4 6 3.

BEA (22-4)              002      000   100    000  0 — 3

PG (27-2)              001      200   000     000  1 — 4

Two outs when winning run scored.

E — Bald Eagle Area 5, Pine Grove 2

DP — Bald Eagle Area 2

LOB — Bald Eagle Area 15, Pine Grove 9

2B — Eckert 2, Burns, Albright, Gavlock, Dinger

3B — Leffler

SB — Eckert

CS — Yoder, Habovick, Shiffer

SAC — Yoder 2, Burns, Zimmerman, Flynn, Aungst

SF — Habovick, Dinger

Bald Eagle Area

                                       IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Albright L,22-4       12.2    6      4         2        4      12

Pine Grove

                  IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Dinger W,13-1        13     13     3         3        3      10

HBP — by Albright (Zimmerman). WP — Dinger, Albright. T — 2:50.