ORWIGSBURG — It felt like deja vu for North Schuylkill.
A lead in the district semifinals with a berth in the championship seemingly in hand.
Then everything changes.
Notre Dame-Green Pond used a six-run fifth inning to erase the Spartans’ four-run lead and pull away for a 10-4 victory Tuesday at Patton Field in the District 11 Class AA semifinals.
Eighth-seeded Notre Dame (14-9) plays No. 2 Palmerton in the district championship Thursday. The Blue Bombers (16-7) beat Pen Argyl 5-3 in the other semifinal.
The loss resembled the Spartans’ exit last year in the district semifinals at Parkland. North Schuylkill led top-ranked Pen Argyl 1-0 and had the Green Knights down to their final out before three errors in the seventh and eighth innings handed the Spartans a 2-1 loss.
“We get stuck in this position every year and we never get over it,” North Schuylkill
coach Dominick Grasso said. “But I give the girls credit. It was a weird year. They went through a lot.”
No. 4 North Schuylkill (14-8) jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings and appeared in control.
Tiffany Lapotsky led off the first with a single to shallow left field and went from first to third on a sacrifice bunt by Kelly Damiter, scoring on a throwing error to third.
Rachel Bell reached on an error to lead off the third and Eliza Schally followed with a single to set up Damiter’s squeeze bunt and Rachel Gricoski’s two-run double down the left-field line.
Spartans pitcher Haley Burd sailed through the first three innings, striking out four and retiring all nine Crusaders batters in order.
Notre Dame broke through in the fourth after Megan Crimi led of with a single and scored on Kelsey Simpkins’ RBI single. But Burd got out of the inning by inducing an infield popup two batters later.
“When it was 4-1 there, I thought we had it in the bag,” Grasso said.
Crusaders pitcher Samantha Curcio had other plans. Curcio allowed just one hit and one walk in the final four innings after giving up four runs on three hits in the first three frames.
“She gets stronger as she goes on,” Notre Dame-Green Pond coach Jerry Lewis said of Curcio, noting a similar performance from the pitcher in a 3-2, 11-inning win over Tamaqua in the quarterfinals. “In the 11th inning, you would’ve thought it was the first inning. She’s been focused. She’s really throwing well.”
Facing Curcio was only half the battle for North Schuylkill.
The Spartans’ 4-1 lead came crashing down in the fifth, when four Notre Dame hits and three North Schuylkill errors spotted the Crusaders a 7-4 lead after batting around the order.
“I thought we got over (mistakes) in the beginning of the year,” Grasso said. “It haunted us a little bit, people out of position. But it’s not just that. They hit the ball very well. (Curcio) came through, had a lot of strikeouts. They deserved to win.”
Megan Knarr and Simpkins put the game out of reach in the sixth with back-to-back singles that drove in three runs. Knarr finished with two hits, two runs and two RBIs, while Simpkins went 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
Lapotsky led North Schuylkill with two hits, a run scored and two stolen bases.
“The bats came alive, but it took us a while,” Lewis said. “(Burd) was a good pitcher out there. She was throwing very well. It took us a while to get her timing.
“We tell the girls when one girl starts hitting, it’s contagious,” Lewis added. “It’s like a flu. It’s going to keep going right through the whole team. We’re hitting the ball well and peaking at the right time.”
The lead was more than enough cushion for Curcio, who finished with 12 strikeouts and just two walks. She struck out the side twice and none of the runs she allowed were earned.
“We scored four runs. Then after that, she shut us down,” Grasso said. “It seemed like a couple times she was hitting the corners. ... She had us off guard. They did a great job and we didn’t do what we should’ve done.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class AA Semifinal
At Patton Field, Orwigsburg
NOTRE DAME-GREEN POND (10) — Crimi 1b 3 3 1 0, Carson cf 2 1 0 1, Knarr lf 4 2 2 2, Simpkins c 4 0 3 4, Culichia cr 0 1 0 0, Murphy 2b 3 0 0 0, Curcio p 4 0 1 1, Fabey cr 0 0 0 0, O’Hare 3b 4 1 1 0, Petrik rf 4 0 0 0, Frederick ss 1 2 0 0. Totals 29 10 8 8.
NORTH SCHUYLKILL (4) — Lapotsky ss 4 1 2 0, Damiter cf 2 1 0 1, Gricoski 3b 2 0 1 2, Stokes 1b 2 0 0 0, Burd p 3 0 0 0, Morgan dp 3 0 0 0, Amato lf 3 0 0 0, Williams lf 0 0 0 0, Bell rf 2 1 0 0, Nestor ph 1 0 0 0, Schally 2b 3 1 1 0, Peleschak c 0 0 0 0. Totals 25 4 4 3.
NDGP (14-9) 000 163 0 — 10
NS (14-8) 103 000 0 — 4
E — Notre Dame-Green Pond 1, North Schuylkill 3. DP — None. LOB — Notre Dame-Green Pond 4, North Schuylkill 4. 2B — Gricoski. SB — Culichia, Lapotsky 2. S — Carson, Damiter 2.
NDGP IP H R ER BB K
Curcio W 7 4 4 0 2 12
North Sch. IP H R ER BB K
Burd L,10-5 7 8 10 6 3 9
HBP — by Burd (Murphy, Frederick). T — 1:56.