High school softball has a rule that states if a team is leading by 15 or more runs after four innings, the game ends. On Tuesday, Lehighton’s backs were up against that rule as they trailed 12-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Lady Tigers had the bases loaded and Izzy Akelaitis, who had homered twice already in the game and lost a third because of a spectacular catch, was stepping to the plate with Colonial League all-star Morgan Farthing waiting on deck.

Lehighton coach JC Dietz made an interesting move. He walked Akelaitis intentionally, forcing in a run and making it a 13-0 game with Farthing coming to the plate and no outs. The strategy backfired when Farthing lined a ball through the middle of the infield and into center field to bring in those two runs and give Northwestern (17-4) a 15-0 win over Lehighton in the District 11 4A quarterfinals.

While Akelaitis had a big day, she was not alone in the spotlight. Senior pitcher Brynn Balliet threw a four-inning perfect game, finishing with eight strikeouts, all of which came in a dominating string of hitters from the first inning through the third.

Akelaitis put Northwestern up 2-0 in the first inning with her first home run of the day. Her second stretched the lead to 8-0, but in between the two was a long fly ball just to the left of center field that Lehighton’s Anna Laible ran after and made a highlight reel catch of the ball as she tumbled through the temporary fencing at Northwestern Lehigh High School. The catch took away a home run and what would have been two more RBIs for Akelaitis, who finished with two homers and five RBIs on the day.

“I wasn’t surprised (by the intentional walk),” said the sophomore second baseman. “I almost had three home runs and you want to strategize and give your team the best opportunity, so if I were the coach, I would do what he just did.”

Following the game, Balliet was happy with how her team responded against Lehighton but was unimpressed by what she had accomplished.

“Coming in, I just wanted to focus on hitting my spots,” said Balliet. “It didn’t cross my mind at all. The coaches will say something without fully saying exactly what is going on, but I try not to think about it while I’m out there.”

Balliet contributed offensively with a first-inning double that drove in Olivia Stofflet and gave Northwestern Lehigh a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Two Lehighton errors contributed to a four-run second inning for the Tigers, as did a bunt single by Rylee McGinley and an RBI double from Marissa Christman. Another defensive miscue led to an RBI double from pinch-hitter Josephine Wehr just ahead of Akelaitis’ second home run of the day. After Farthing singled and stole second, Christman picked up her second RBI with a single to left and after three innings, Northwestern led 11-0.

The Lady Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth and Sage Toman singled to right to make it 12-0, leading to the bases loaded walk to Akelaitis and Farthing’s game ending single that sends Northwestern Lehigh to the semifinals.

Even with all the accomplishments in the game, the most notable may have been how the team bounced back from a disappointing loss to Bangor in the Colonial League finals last week.

“I was thinking coming in today that it could go one of two ways,” said Tiger head coach Josh Zimmerman. “After yesterday’s practice the girls were up in spirit, and it translated over to today and they were a little bit different than what we have been doing all year. We jumped up in the game a little earlier than we usually do, and they came to hit today. The score speaks for itself.”

The table is set for Northwestern Lehigh and Bethlehem Catholic to meet in the district final for the second straight year and for the Lady Tigers to play for the championship in a third straight season. With a win over Blue Mountain in the semis and a Beca win over Tamaqua in their semifinal game, the two teams would play a rematch of last year’s final won by the Golden Hawks 11-4. It would also mark the third straight district final that featured Northwestern Lehigh and give them revenge over Blue Mountain, who beat Northwestern Lehigh in the finals in 2019.

If you are wondering just how rare it is to walk a batter with the bases loaded. In major league baseball, it has happened just three times since 1950. Prior to this season, Barry Bonds and Josh Hamilton were both walked with the bases loaded and about a month ago, Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers was intentionally walked with the bases loaded. Hamilton was also a member of the Rangers and the opposing manager in both situations was Hazelton native Joe Maddon, who is known for unconventional moves as a manager.