Five Salisbury softball seniors were honored before last week’s game against Northwestern. But it was a junior that got the Falcons’ offense rolling.

Junior outfielder Peyton Stauffer connected on a two-run single in the fifth inning that sparked the Falcons. Salisbury (12-3 in Colonial League) scored four runs in that fifth inning to retake the lead, and the Falcons staved off a Northwestern (10-7) rally for a 5-4 victory at Patriots Park on Friday night.

“It’s one of our most competitive games, and we love when we come out on top,” Stauffer said. “It was really a team win. We all played our part. We played excellent defense. Everyone had a lot of hits. It was overall a really good team win.”

The five seniors honored were Lil Crouthamel, Anna Bishop, Vivian Rogers, Tatiana Richardson and Skylar Slough.

Salisbury jumped in front early 1-0 when Rogers, a pinch runner, scored on a Northwestern throwing error in the bottom of the first inning. That score held until the fifth when the Tigers started to find a rhythm offensively.

Kayla Mitman’s sacrifice fly scored McKayla Wildrick to tie the game at 1-1. Then, Northwestern took its first lead of the night when Natalie Smith scored on a wild pitch.

But the lead wouldn’t last long, as four runs in the bottom half of the fifth put Salisbury in front for good. Stauffer’s drive to right field brought home Hannah Lipkin and Gretchen Helsel. Crouthamel then scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat to push the Falcons’ lead to 4-2, and Emily Silberman’s RBI-single scored Stauffer to end the frame.

“I was just hoping to make contact and hopefully hit some runs in,” Stauffer said of her approach at the plate. “It was just one of those games you want to win. It’s the little things. You want to make contact and hit the ball.

“We had a lot of momentum with it being senior night. We all really wanted to win. I think we continued to use that until the end of the game.”

Northwestern pushed Salisbury’s back against the wall with two runs in the seventh inning. RBI-doubles from Mitman and Ashley Sisco made it a one-run deficit for Northwestern with the tying run in scoring position.

But Salisbury’s defense closed out the seventh inning with the stellar defense it had all game long, particularly from Bishop, Sara Lamana and Katherine Lovelidge, who has been filling in for the injured Hannah Lipkin at second base.

“It was one of our better defensive games,” Stauffer said. “I don’t think we had any errors. We made some really great plays, and I think it just came down to we wanted to win and it showed.”

The Falcons head into their final game against Southern Lehigh as a Colonial League playoff team, but after Monday’s loss to Northern Lehigh, Salisbury is unlikely to get a first-round bye in the league playoffs, set to begin Friday at Pates Park.