It’s been a few years since Bethlehem Catholic’s softball team has qualified for the East Penn Conference Tournament, which has the Golden Hawks on a heightened level of excitement after knocking out their first opponent Stroudsburg, 2-0, in their EPC quarterfinal contest last Thursday at Becahi.

“I feel like we’re thriving in it this year and up for the challenge,” said winning pitcher Emma Bond, who threw eight strikeouts on Thursday.

Becahi and Stroudsburg last met on April 23 when the Mounties prevailed, 6-5, on Shiloh Wilson’s walk-off single.

“We basically told ourselves not to go in, thinking about what happened in that game, and make sure we win this one,” said Becahi second baseman Hailey Pyle, whose two-run double provided the only scoring in the game. “I just wanted to rip something. I was looking for something down and in my zone, something I knew I could crush.”

With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Jordan Merklin reached first base on a dropped fly ball. Leah Chladny singled, putting Merklin in scoring position for Pyle’s hit.

Stroudsburg had runners on first and third with no outs in the top of the fourth inning, but Bond got the Mounties on a pop-up, a strikeout, and a grounder.

“It was kind of scary, and I’m pretty sure their four batter was up and she hit a really far foul ball, so it got everybody a little tense, but we got her to pop out, and I think that got an energy switch for us,” Bond said. “Curveball was working really good, getting a lot of people outside.”

Becahi coach Dave King, filling in for head coach Rich Mazza who’s recuperating from a car accident last month, called Bond’s performance in the circle awesome.

“It’s just nice to keep playing,” King added. “We’ve gotten into that habit now of close games where, earlier in the season we were putting up 10, 12, 14 runs a game. Now we’re down to two, three, four, but these are the games you have to win to keep going. The pitching’s just getting better.”

Bond faced just three batters in the fifth inning, and Angelina Iovino’s catch in left field ended the game.

Becahi will have taken on Northampton in an EPC semifinal/revenge contest on Tuesday after Press deadlines.

The last time the Hawks and Konkrete Kids met was April 22 when Northampton came back from a four-run deficit to win, 8-7.

“We owe them something,” King laughed. “I don’t know what, but we owe them something.”

In another quarterfinal game, Parkland blanked Freedom 10-0 at home.

The Trojans struck quick with four runs in the first, and the score remained that way until Parkland scored three in the fifth and three more in the sixth.

Leadoff hitter Jenna Piatkiewicz was 4-for-5 with three RBIs while Evelyn Montone was 3-for-4 with two RBIs for PHS. Freedom’s Madison Glick had two of the Pates three hits.