Lehigh Valley advanced to the semifinal of the Carpenter Cup Softball Classic but lost to Mid-Penn, 11-8, last Thursday at FDR Park in Philadelphia.

“Sometimes you get in a slugfest,” said Lehigh Valley head coach Blake Morgan. “I think Mid-Penn was able to match our scoring, and they had the last at bat. Their pitching was a little deeper than other teams we faced, but we did a good job offensively.”

Lehigh Valley led 6-3 after three innings with triples delivered by Northwestern Lehigh’s Marissa Christman and Northampton’s Devyn Demchak.

In the sixth inning, Christman’s hit tied the game 8-8, but Mid-Penn came back to win.

“I don’t think I saw Marissa stop smiling,” said Morgan. “They were all great. They just relaxed and enjoyed each other.”

While there was no question about the talent Lehigh Valley carried, one never knows what the chemistry will be on a team that’s never played as one unit.

“We were rewarded because this group was awesome and seemed to enjoy themselves. Even after they gave up some runs, they would be talking, and laughing, and cheering,” Morgan said.

Although the world’s COVID days are dwindling, they’re not gone, and creating a team wasn’t as easy as it may have seemed; for example, Morgan found himself without a catcher until Easton’s Rozalee Negron stepped up.

“Roz had a phenomenal series,” said Morgan, “and it was nice to have Allen represented on the team (by Nora Zekkaria).”

Lehigh Valley reached the semifinal after defeating Mercer County, 10-3, also last Thursday.