FREDERICKSBURG – The original blueprint called for a complete and total rebuild. But the on-site contractors had a different idea, so they drew up their own plans.
On a pleasant Thursday afternoon at Northern Lebanon High School, an inexperienced Viking softball crew stayed red hot, with a dramatic 5-4 walk-off victory over Elco. Brooke Beamesderfer’s ringing single scored Viking teammate Kiera Anspach with the decisive run, with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Northern Lebanon had entered the frame facing a 4-3 deficit, before lead-off hitter Autumn Bohr singled and stole second. Anspach’s single drove A. Bohr home with the tying run, and an outfield error allowed Anspach to reach third base.
After the next two Vikings were intentionally walked to load the bases, Beamesderfer came through in the clutch.
“It’s going well,” said John Mertz, who was filling in for Northern Lebanon head coach Ed Spittle. “We’re a really young team. We’ve got a senior and two juniors, and the rest are underclassmen. Coming into the season, we thought it was a rebuilding year, but they’re (his players) really starting to mature as a team.
“We didn’t get to play last year because of COVID-19,” added Mertz. “And we lost a lot of good players. Basically, we were starting from scratch.”
“I think we’re doing really well,” said Elco head coach Kelsey Thorley. “We always talk about making improvements each day, and they (her players) continue to do that. Obviously, you don’t like to lose on a walk-off. But it’s refreshing to be in games and to be competitive.
“We talk about blow-up innings, and that hasn’t happened for us in the last two games,” Thorley added. “We’re doing a great job of taking them away.”
The outcome kept Northern Lebanon unbeaten and pushed the Vikings to 4-0 overall and 4-0 in Section Three of the Lancaster-Lebanon League. With the setback, Elco fell to 0-5 on the spring and 0-4 in the section.
“They were a little flat,” said Mertz of his charges. “We had to come back yesterday (a 6-5 home win over Donegal on Wednesday), and I think that took a lot out of them. Brooke also drove in the winning run last night. She’s clutch, and that’s why we wanted her up there.”
“We knew it was going to be tough,” said Thorley, of the bottom of the seventh. “They had the top of their lineup coming up, and they had been productive all game. We talk about playing to win, and not playing to lose.”
The Raiders tallied a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning to snap a 2-2 tie. Kam Hine singled and Allie Nolt walked, ahead of another Elco single and a Viking error.
But Northern Lebanon scored a single run off Raider hurler Cate Liskey in the bottom of the fifth to pull to within 4-3 of the lead. Beamesderfer knocked in S. Bohr, who had launched a one-out double.
“They were jumping at the ball a little bit,” said Mertz of the Vikings’ approach at the plate. “They weren’t letting it get to them. They’re used to faster pitching. They had a hard time adjusting their swings.”
“I thought Cate was phenomenal,” said Thorley. “She’s working her tail off. She’s making adjustments on the mound. She continues to make better decisions out there.”
Elco touched Northern Lebanon starter Hope Ritchie for a pair of first-inning runs. Anya Kissinger singled, Liskey doubled her home and then later scored herself on a Viking miscue.
In the home half of the opening inning, A. Bohr singled, stole second and then came around to score on an Elco error to make it 2-1. The Vikings tied it in the bottom of the third, courtesy of S. Bohr’s two-out, RBI-double.
“She (Ritchie) needs to work on throwing strikes,” said Mertz. “She gets in trouble with walks.
“We left them (the Raiders) hang around too long,” added Mertz. “If we had played like we did in our first three games, it wouldn’t have been a one-run game.”
“We talk about discipline at the plate, as far as what pitches to swing at and what pitches not to swing at,” said Thorley. “Hope (Ritchie) worked the plate well. She had a nice rise-ball. They’re (the Vikings) a good team all-around. It was a good Northern Lebanon-Elco rivalry game.”
In the final tally, Northern Lebanon out hit Elco 9-6.
“The goals are always the same – win the section and move on,” said Mertz. “It doesn’t matter how young or old the team is. We’ve been telling them from Day One that they’re good enough to do that. They are young, which means they’ve just got to believe in themselves more.”
“We want to be competitive. That’s our goal,” said Thorley. “Our past three games have been good and competitive. We’re going to win. It’s going to come. Good changes are coming for this team.”
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 3/16 4:15 pm | Bishop McDevitt at Elco | Nonleague | |
| 3/26 4:15 pm | Donegal at Elco | 19 8 | League |
| 3/29 4:00 pm | Elco at Conrad Weiser | 3 9 | Nonleague |
| 4/05 4:15 pm | Manheim Central at Elco | 8 3 | League |
| 4/07 4:15 pm | Elco at Garden Spot | 3 4 | League |
| 4/09 4:15 pm | Octorara at Elco | League | |
| 4/12 4:15 pm | Elco at Cocalico | League | |
| 4/14 4:15 pm | Lancaster Catholic at Elco | Nonleague | |
| 4/16 4:15 pm | Elco at Pequea Valley | Nonleague | |
| 4/19 4:15 pm | Columbia at Elco | Nonleague | |
| 4/21 4:15 pm | Elco at Lancaster Mennonite | Nonleague | |
| 4/26 4:15 pm | Elco at Donegal | League | |
| 4/27 4:30 pm | Elco at Schuylkill Valley | Nonleague | |
| 4/30 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Elco | League | |
| 5/03 4:15 pm | Elco at Manheim Central | League | |
| 5/05 4:15 pm | Garden Spot at Elco | League | |
| 5/07 4:00 pm | Elco at Octorara | League | |
| 5/08 1:00 pm | Tulpehocken at Elco | Nonleague | |
| 5/10 4:15 pm | Cocalico at Elco | League | |
| 5/11 4:15 pm | Lebanon at Elco | Nonleague |
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 3/19 4:15 pm | Lower Dauphin at Northern Lebanon | Nonleague | |
| 3/29 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Octorara | 16 6 | League |
| 4/01 4:15 pm | Hamburg at Northern Lebanon | Postponed Nonleague | |
| 4/05 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Cocalico | 13 3 | League |
| 4/07 4:15 pm | Donegal at Northern Lebanon | 5 6 | Boxscore League |
| 4/09 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Manheim Central | League | |
| 4/12 4:15 pm | Garden Spot at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 4/14 4:15 pm | Pequea Valley at Northern Lebanon | Nonleague | |
| 4/16 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Columbia | Nonleague | |
| 4/19 4:15 pm | Lancaster Mennonite at Northern Lebanon | Nonleague | |
| 4/23 4:15 pm | Annville-Cleona at Northern Lebanon | Nonleague | |
| 4/28 4:15 pm | Octorara at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 4/30 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Elco | League | |
| 5/03 4:15 pm | Cocalico at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 5/05 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Donegal | League | |
| 5/07 4:15 pm | Manheim Central at Northern Lebanon | League | |
| 5/10 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Garden Spot | League | |
| 5/12 4:15 pm | Northern Lebanon at Lebanon | Nonleague |
| League | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | RS | RA | |
| Manheim Central | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 40 | 8 |
| Northern Lebanon | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 43 | 22 |
| Donegal | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 | 38 | 8 |
| Garden Spot | 3 | 2 | 0.600 | 3 | 3 | 0.500 | 38 | 24 |
| Cocalico | 1 | 3 | 0.250 | 1 | 3 | 0.250 | 33 | 24 |
| Octorara | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 11 | 42 |
| Elco | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 0 | 5 | 0.000 | 23 | 35 |
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