There was plenty of drama and excitement during the first two matchups between Northwestern and Salisbury.

Neither team got on the scoreboard until the seventh inning in the first game back on April 13, one in which Salisbury got a walkoff 1-0 win. Northwestern got revenge with a walkoff victory last Monday in their second regular-season meeting.

There wouldn’t be any of that drama in the all-important third meeting. Northwestern jumped ahead 3-0 during Saturday’s Colonial League quarterfinal game at Pates Park and picked up the 5-2 victory.

While the loss ended the Falcons’ run in the Colonial League playoffs, Saturday marked the first time in over a decade Salisbury was playing in this tournament. And much like their previous games this season, the Lady Falcons were very much alive.

“We’re in every game,” Salisbury head coach Jeff Appleman said. “It just comes down to a couple of plays. They battled right to the end. There was two outs with nobody on, and we put runners on.”

With two quick outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and trailing by three runs, Salisbury could have packed it in and shifted its focus forward to the district tournament. Instead, Lil Crouthamel blasted a triple to right field and Brooke Rogers walked, but the Tigers got out of the jam to earn a spot in Tuesday’s semifinal against top-seeded Bangor.

“I don’t think we had an error on the field; we were very clean,” Appleman said. “You know these games come down to a couple of plays, and we just didn’t get that hit today. There were a lot of opportunities.”

Northwestern had its fair share of opportunities that it was able to take advantage of. It started in the first inning when Ellen Smith doubled to left field to bring home two Lady Tigers for a 2-0 lead.

The offense continued in the second. Lydia Danner, who also pitched a complete game, five-hitter, singled into right field and scored Alyssa Rodda. That gave Northwestern a 3-0 lead it would never relinquish.

“There’s a few things I’d like to clean up, but other than that they are coming along and playing well,” Appleman said. “We’ll be fine.”

One of those areas Appleman would like Salisbury to work on is producing timely hits in crucial moments. The Lady Falcons battled back with two runs in the fifth, highlighted by an Emily Batman RBi-single that scored Peyton Stauffer.

Northwestern responded with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth on a Brook Wehr homerun, but Salisbury still had its chances. Anna Bishop led off the sixth with a double to position a runner in scoring position with no outs. But the Lady Falcons ended the frame with two pop outs and a strikeout to keep it a 5-2 deficit.

“If you hit the ball on the ground, we get her to third base,” Appleman said. “It’s situational stuff like that we just didn’t do. If you get that run in then it’s 5-3 and you put more pressure on them.”

Regardless of the outcome, Salisbury’s season is still alive with the district tournament set for next week. It’s a position that many of these Lady Falcons missed out on last season, and they’re looking to rewrite recent history in that tournament.