It may be something hard to prove, but it just seems like Cara Bonshak is genetically wired to battle her opponent with everything she has no matter what sport she’s playing.

In this case it was softball and the setting was Pates Park in Allentown for the semifinals of the District XI 4A Softball Championship. The score was tied in the top of the eighth and Jill Rex was standing on third base. In the top of the sixth, Bonshak scored when Freedom’s Shayla Peterson uncorked a wild pitch, tying the score at 3-3. Rex, who beat out an infield hit to start the eighth, was at third courtesy of two wild pitches.

With Peterson erratic but still capable of punching out a batter, Bonshak stood in the box looking for something she could hit. The junior fouled off pitch after pitch until she got one she liked and delivered the game-winning RBI for the Zephyrs.

That 10-pitch at bat was indicative of Bonshak’s determination, and her hit down the right field line proved to be the game-winner as the Zephyr’s advanced with a 5-3 win over the Patriots. They’ll now meet Parkland in Thursday’s finals.

“I was mainly waiting on my zone, what my pitch was, and I knew that anything close, and if I could get a piece on it, and even if I was hitting a ground ball, that runner was going to score,” said Bonshak. “I was trying to get the ball in play.”

It was the first time the Zephyrs faced Freedom this season, and Bonshak said they didn’t know what to expect.

“I think we had a good game plan and we just showed what we were made of,” said Bonshak.

Head coach Alexis Berg-Townsend knows exactly how valuable Bonshak is to the team.

“She battled; she got us going and she got it started,” said Berg-Townsend. “You can’t ask anything more than for her to battle in her at-bat like that.”

Berg-Townsend said that all that battling enabled her to believe something positive would happen. She also said that Bonshak is adept at knowing her pitch and will foul off pitches until she gets one in her zone.

“She’s one of the best on our team as far as fouling them off until she gets what she likes,” said Berg-Townsend.

Battling is something the entire team did the whole game. Berg-Townsend said they could have easily been down after an errant throw in the bottom of the fifth led to two runs for the Patriots. That gave the Pates the 3-2 lead. Instead, they got the equalizer in the next inning when Bonshak reached second on a hit and error. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Rachel Arner put Bonshak on third who later scored on Peterson’s wild pitch.

“It’s very easy for a team to come down on that type of error, possibly giving the game away, but the team rallied around her [Arner], and she came up big as far as getting that hit, and you can’t ask for anything more than for a team to come together and get behind their teammate’s back like that,” said Berg-Townsend.

Arner’s hit in the top of the eighth opened the door for Julia Solderitch’s double to give the Zephs an insurance run, sending them into their fourth meeting against the Trojans.

In the circle, Kay Solderitch allowed just five hits while striking out 11 en route to the complete-game victory. She got into a late groove, striking out five of those 11 in her final three innings of work.

After the opening game of the doubleheader at Pates Park, and before their opponent was decided, Bonshak said that no matter who they’ll play, they need to come out hard.

“We know we want this,” said Bonshak. “We know the other team will want this, too. We know we have to come out strong and fast and play the whole seven innings.”