The current group of Lady Falcon softball players have never experienced postseason play at the varsity level.

In fact, Salisbury softball's playoff drought goes back to the 2005-06 season, the last time the Lady Falcons qualified for the District 11 tournament.

It came to an end on Monday.

The Lady Falcons (11-6 overall; 8-5 in Colonial League), who defeated Saucon Valley by a final score of 12-6 on Monday evening, earned a spot in the district playoffs with the victory. It ends their seven-year absence in postseason play.

"It's quite exciting, and I'm so proud of the team achieving that goal for themselves," head coach Ken Choquette said. "When I came in, I really wanted to try to change the entire softball philosophy and culture."

Perhaps being on the cusp of the postseason for the first time in their careers had given the Lady Falcons some drive to open the game on a high note.

And that's surely what they did. The Lady Falcons scored seven runs in the first inning, setting the momentum for the rest of the game.

"You can see the team is maintaining its hunger for the season, knowing that different goals are in reach that it can achieve that ithasn't been able to achieve in a while," Choquette said. "I think there is a real fire in these players to continue to produce.

"It's the first time we've done that in a long time," Choquette said of the seven-run first inning. "They seem to be a lot more comfortable with who they are and the way they're playing right now."

Thalya Creswell went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run and Meghan Williams finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Nine different Lady Falcons scored runs against the Panthers.

The season took a turn for the best on April 16. After alternating wins and losses over their first eight games, the Lady Falcons went on a streak that has propelled them to this point.

A hard-fought 3-2 victory over Palmerton in mid-April started a streak of six wins in seven games for the Lady Falcons. And since the start of last week, the Lady Falcons have reeled off four straight wins.

"The philosophy that I have them trying to focus on in the batter's box is a relaxed confidence," Choquette said. "When they are able to relax to the point of knowing they have the ability to do with the pitch whatever they want to do with the pitch, they have confidence in their swing and their ability to hit the ball, that's when they really are able to produce at the top of their potential."

Another goal the Falcons are looking to reach by season's end is a spot in the Colonial League playoffs. They are one game behind fourth-place Southern Lehigh in the loss column.

The Lady Falcons have three league games remaining at Notre Dame (Green Pond) on Wednesday and against Wilson and Southern Lehigh next week. That league playoff berth could very well come down to the season finale on May 7 at Southern Lehigh.

"It's exciting just to know that we have the potential to be there," Choquette said. "They are achieving things that I think they deserve based on their talent level, their motivation and gelling as a team."