Salisbury pulls away from Bombers

SALISBURY — Palmerton saw its softball season come to an end at the hands of Salisbury Wednesday night in a 15-5 loss in the District 11 Class 3A quarterfinals.

The Bombers finished the season 14-9. Salisbury moves on to play Pine Grove in the semifinals.

“We had a great season. We knew we could compete with every team out there, and we proved that by beating some of the top teams. It was a great year, and we introduced some young talent here,” said Palmerton coach Bob Hock. “We graduate six and we’ll miss them, but I like what I see coming for next year, so we’ll move on. It was definitely a successful year, and I think that they learned what they’re capable of doing.”

Things started well for Palmerton when Paige Shupp led off the game with a basehit up the middle, and Paige Frantz executed a perfect sacrifice bunt. One out later, Amanda Lalik came through with an RBI single to right to give Palmerton a 1-0 lead.

But Salisbury came ready to hit and knocked pitcher Lexi Merkel off the mound with two outs in the first inning when they bunched three hits and used a couple of walks and an error to put three runs on the board. Down 3-1, Palmerton went right back to work to chip away at the lead and used a double from Baylee Guedes and two Salisbury errors to cut the lead to 3-2.

Things started to fall apart for Palmerton in the bottom of the second when Salisbury started to figure out Shupp. The first seven hitters in the inning reached base and when the dust settled, the Falcons had put six runs on the board to break open the game. Even down 9-2, the Bombers weren’t going to go quietly.

With one out in the third, Lalik picked up her second single of the game and Kailah Altemose followed with a high, arching flyball to left that carried out of the park for a two-run homer that cut the lead to 9-4. One out later, Madison Finley reached on a well-placed bunt and Sadie Heiney followed with an infield hit as Palmerton looked to extend the inning. But Salisbury was able to get a fielder’s choice ground ball to end the inning.

Salisbury would later lock up the game in the bottom of the sixth when it scored five runs to make it a 15-5 deficit.

“There’s games where you’re just going to be beaten, but these guys were determined to keep that from being the reality,” said Hock. “They just kept battling back and looking to catch up, but when you see the innings running out, it gets tougher and tougher.”

Palmerton was thwarted by big defensive plays by Salisbury at key parts of the game. Shortstop Anna Bishop and centerfielder Lilia Crouthamel seemed to be able to get to every ball hit anywhere near them, cutting short Palmerton’s opportunities.

“To their credit, they kept the pressure on and we had opportunities, and they made some nice plays, and they didn’t quit,” said Hock of the Falcons.

SAYING GOODBYE ... The end of the season brings to a close the high school careers of the Bombers’ Bryanna Driscoll, Paige Frantz, Sadie Heiney, Avery Neipert, Lindsey Shimko and Madison Wenig.

Palmerton 112 001 - 5 9 2

Salisbury 361 005 - 15 17 4

Merkel, Shupp (1), Merkel (3), Serfass (6) and Frantz; Silberman and Lamana. W - Silberman. L - Merkel.