RECAP >> Earlier this season, when Emmaus traveled to Nazareth the Hornets had their way with the Blue Eagles rolling to a 13-2 mercy-rule win.
At the time, Emmaus had been mired in a four-game losing streak and was looking for a signature win to turn their season around.
Well they did just that, playing arguably their best game of the season and it started a long winning streak. In fact, the Hornets were playing the best of any team in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference as they ran off nine straight wins.
But since then, it’s been a struggle for second year head coach Rich Giering’s team as they went just 3-4 down the stretch and had to play short-handed in all three of its post-season games.
On Tuesday afternoon at Pates Park in Allentown, a season that had so much promise and anticipation came to a disappointing end for Emmaus as Nazareth got payback for that 11-run loss back on April 6 as they rolled to a 9-2 win over the Hornets in the District XI Class 6A semifinals.
The victory advances the top-seeded Blue Eagles (19-6) to Thursday’s 1 p.m. championship game back at Pates Park where they’ll face sixth-seeded Easton, which knocked off seventh-seeded Stroudsburg 6-5 in the other semifinal. Nazareth will look to add another trophy after its improbable run to last week’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship.
For Emmaus, which has not win a District XI title since 2007, their season ends at 15-8 overall.
In today’s loss, the Hornets managed just four hits off of Nazareth’s two outstanding freshmen pitchers, starter Kylie Grover and reliever Avery Kauffman.
Sophomore third baseman Sadie Haefeli went 2-for-3 at the plate, while a pair of seniors – left fielder Alexis Schoonover and second baseman Daria Krout each had one hit.
In the circle, junior Autumn Held, who was coming off of complete-game effort in her team’s opening-round 11-3 win over Liberty last week, suffered the loss as she dropped to 5-3 on the season. Held gave up a ton of hits while walking three and striking out two. Defensively, the Hornets committed four errors.
For Nazareth, which is seeking its first district title since 2006, the contributions throughout their lineup were plentiful.
Sophomore shortstop Alina Weaver drove in three runs on a pair of hits, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning that gave the Blue Eagles a 2-1 lead. Another sophomore, second baseman Emma Infantino had a game-high three hits, while classmate center fielder Natalie Chloros, freshman left fielder Lily Moretti and senior right fielder Sydney Harper all added two hits.
Today’s game marked the final one in the high school careers of Emmaus’ 10 seniors — Daria Krout, Alexis Schoonover, Taylor Hiestand, Mason Roselli, Rachel Sherman, Kamryn Tokar, Ashlyn Sherwood, Shayla Morgan, Avaeha Schwab and Danika Barthol.
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Nazareth 9, Emmaus 2
Em – 100 100 0 – 2-4-4
Naz – 240 030 x -9-14-0
Autumn Held and Mason Roselli; Kylie Grover, Avery Kauffman (5) and Shauna McNamee. WP – Grover. HR – Naz: Weaver (1st, one on).