Whether it was complacency from leading 6-1 or looking ahead to a big showdown later in the week, the Northampton softball team found themselves needing to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure a 9-7 win against Stroudsburg Tuesday afternoon.

Senior Sam Barber hit her first varsity home run with one out in the seventh to tie the game at 7. “I knew we were down and I was confident in myself. I haven’t hit the best this year. I haven’t been in the lineup every game, so I really wanted to prove myself to my team,” said Barber. “It feels amazing. I can’t believe it even happened to be honest.”

Hannah Makovsky followed with a double and Ava Cascario hit a bloop single to short center field that forced Makovsky hold second. The runners executed a successful double steal on the first pitch of Hannah Duerr’s at bat and two pitches later the freshman third baseman drilled a shot to left field that one-hopped the fence and ended the game.

Through three innings, it looked like the game was heading to Mercy Rule territory. In the second inning, Stroudsburg scored the first run of the game, but dashed their chances to score multiple times by having two runners caught trying to steal. The Kids responded with 5 hits and 5 runs in the bottom half of the frame and added a sixth run on a bases-loaded walk in the third.

Stroudsburg chipped away by scoring twice in the fourth inning and then took the lead with 4 runs in the fifth. The big blow was a 2-out, 3-run homer on a 3-2 pitch.

For the game, Barber was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Duerr was 2 for 5 with 4 RBIs. Emma Fraley went the distance in the circle, giving up 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 12.

Head coach Kristy Henritzy spoke about the team’s performance, “We got the win, but there’s a couple things we need to focus on going into the next couple of games. Practice will be hard tomorrow in anticipation of the two teams we’re playing.”

This afternoon the K-Kids go to Whitehall to face the last undefeated team in the EPC and the only unbeaten team in District XI in division 2A or higher. Northampton owns a 5-game winning streak against the Zephyrs, including the last two district championship games. The teams will not have a 3-peat in the title game because Whitehall dropped to the 5A division this year.

On Saturday night, the team plays Freedom at 7 p.m. on the Northeast Little League fields in Bethlehem. The Patriots had been undefeated until a 5-3 loss to Easton on Tuesday.