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Northern Lebanon will play for a district softball championship for the second straight season.<\/p>\n
The Vikings jumped to a five-run lead, then held on to beat Big Spring 5-4 in a District 3 Class 4A softball semifinal game on Thursday at The Keystone Complex in Carlisle.<\/p>\n
Third-seeded Northern Lebanon (20-3) will face either top-seeded Kennard-Dale (19-0) or fourth-seeded Fleetwood (17-3) in the championship game on Tuesday at Millersville University at a time to be announced. The Rams and Tigers are scheduled to play their semifinal at Fawn Grove at 1 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n
Last season, the Vikings lost to Kennard-Dale 4-1 in the final. Now, they\u2019ve given themselves another chance to capture district gold. They also clinched a PIAA playoff berth.<\/p>\n
Northern Lebanon took control with four runs in the second inning on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Sophia Roye singled with one out. Following the second out, Makenzie West and Keira Palski each singled to load the bases.<\/p>\n
Ryleigh Hughes followed with an infield single to make it 1-0. Stephanie Palkovic\u2019s two-run double made it 3-0. The fourth run scored on an error on Addison Hollenbach\u2019s grounder.<\/p>\n
Big Spring (19-3) loaded the bases with two outs in the third, but Hollenbach got Izzy Fry to fly out to right to end the threat.<\/p>\n
Northern Lebanon made it 5-0 in the fourth when West, who had walked, scored on a wild pitch.<\/p>\n
Zoey Zimmerman led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, but Hollenbach stranded her there on a strikeout, a pop out and another strikeout.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs broke through in the fifth when Hannah Darhower led off with a home run. Fry had a two-out RBI triple later in the inning, but Hollenbach got Zimmerman to pop out to third to end the inning.<\/p>\n
Northern Lebanon loaded the bases with one out in sixth, but Zimmerman, who earlier had come on in relief, got consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.<\/p>\n
An RBI single by Darhower cut it to 5-3 in the sixth and put runners on first and third with one out. Hollenbach got out of that inning with a strikeout and a pop out.<\/p>\n
In the bottom seventh, Kennedy Klein\u2019s leadoff homer cut the Vikings\u2019 lead to 5-4.<\/p>\n
Following a strikeout, Zimmerman lined a hit to center, but center fielder Hopkins threw to shortstop Roye, who relayed to Addison Kubica at third to nail Zimmerman for the second out.<\/p>\n
Hollenbach then got her 10th strikeout of the game to end it.<\/p>\n
Hopkins finished 2-for-3 and Palski 2-for-2. Hollenbach allowed three earned runs on eight hits and one walk.<\/p>\n