Dreams really do come true.

Just before the softball season opened, Marissa Christman had a request for coach Josh Zimmerman. “I want to pitch,” said the Northwestern Lehigh third baseman to her coach. “At least one inning.”

While Christman is known for her antics that keep the team loose, she was not joking. Apparently, Zimmerman was listening and with the season nearing an end he gave in to his senior player and granted her wish for one inning.

Christman got the start against Allen in the season’s final game and walked one batter while striking out two in her high school debut as a pitcher. Then, it was back to third base. She finished the game 1-for-2 with a double and two runs driven in as part of a 16-0 win over the Lady Canaries.

The Lady Tigers (18-2 overall, 14-2 Colonial) ended their regular season with wins in their last seven games and are winners of the Colonial League West Division and will go into the league playoffs with a quarterfinal bye as the number-two seed in the league. Palisades (19-1, 15-1) will be the top seed and have a quarterfinal bye.

With five games in eight days down the stretch, Christman’s inning gave a little rest to Northwestern Lehigh’s two pitchers, freshman Emma Freeman and junior Peyton Neumoyer.

The Lady Tigers picked up wins over Southern Lehigh (8-12, 7-9), Salisbury (2-18, 0-16), Palmerton (13-7, 10-6), Catasauqua (8-11, 5-11), and Allen (2-16, 1-15 EPC) by a combined score of 50-6, allowing runs in just two of the games.

Freeman had a phenomenal season with 82 strikeouts in 79 2/3 innings to go with a 14-1 record and a 0.70 ERA, holding opponents to a .186 batting average. Neumoyer was 4-1 with a 3.90 ERA and struck out 40 in 46 2/3 innings of work. Freeman has saved the best for late in the season, throwing a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits and no walks against Palmerton in a 4-0 Northwestern Lehigh win. Izzy Akelaitis had two hits in the win over the Lady Bombers.

In a 13-3 win over Southern Lehigh, Freeman threw six innings to get the win and went 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in three runs. Freshman Abby Dunstan had two hits and drove in three runs, including hitting her fourth home run of the season. Over the last six games Dunstan raised her average from .392 to .422, hitting .438 (7-for-16) down the stretch with a double, a home run and seven RBI.

Northwestern will play the winner of the quarterfinal game between third-seed Pen Argyl (16-3, 13-3) and sixth-seeded Northern Lehigh (13-7, 9-7) Tuesday at Patriot’s Park in Allentown. The other quarterfinal game features Palmerton playing at Bangor (11-9, 11-5) with the winner facing Palisades.