Too shocked to shed a tear, the top-seeded Whitehall Zephyrs stood stunned and received their silver medals after their 7-6 loss to the third-seeded Pocono Mountain East Cardinals in the District XI Class 5A softball final on June 1 at Patriots Park.

“This game is a street fight, and the other team’s not always gonna back down, so you have to be willing to stand in there and throw the punches, and today we were just OK, and that’s the part that hurts,” said Whitehall coach Jeff Vivian. “All year we were so good, and today we were just OK.”

Whitehall was undefeated in its first 11 games of the regular season until April 15 when the Zephyrs lost to Pine Grove. Its only other loss came on May 2 against Emmaus, and at the end of the regular season, Whitehall was the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s West Division champion with a record of 18-2, the best record in the EPC.

“Credit to [Pocono Mountain East]. Credit to that pitcher (Ashley Carlson). She basically stood in there. What a gamer. She absolutely challenged us,” Coach Vivian said. “Our Achilles’ heel all year was being able to make adjustments on the fly. We’re a team that tends not to...We kind of get stuck in our ways. Bad calls you have to overcome. They had some bad calls. They got some strikes called against them that they’ll probably tell you weren’t strikes. That’s the name of the game. Softball gods probably smiled on them a little bit more than they smiled on us today, but we had to be a better team, and we got beaten.”

Whitehall led 6-2 after two innings with four runs scored in the bottom of the first.

Emma Bonshak walked and reached second base on a wild pitch, and Jess Spanitz reached first base on an error while Bonshak scored the Zephyrs’ first run.

Kate Yadush hit a single over East’s first baseman, Kassy Aquino was hit by a pitch, and Haley Bartosh was safe at first on a fielders choice, but a throw out to home was late for Whitehall’s second run to tie.

Carlson walked in a run, and Aubrey Steiner’s RBI ground out resulted in the Zephyrs’ fourth run.

In the second inning, Bonshak’s infield hit took a high bounce, Yadush scored Bonshak on a single to right with an error, and Yadush got to second base.

Aquino hit a single, and Yadush scored on Bartosh’s ground out.

“Even at 6-2, we weren’t comfortable with the way we were swinging the bats,” Vivian said. “It wasn’t a typical Whitehall day at the plate, and that’s what hurts the most. I know they were trying to will themselves to win and probably tried a little too hard, and we probably needed to back off and have a little bit more fun at the plate.”

Pocono Mountain East added two runs in the fourth inning on a 2 RBI single by Emily Dubisz, and tied the game in the fifth inning after two consecutive batters reached base on Whitehall errors. Then, with two outs, an infield hit was bobbled while a run scored, and the next run scored on a toss to second base.

Whitehall left two base runners stranded in the bottom of the fifth and had the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth when Yadush reached first on an error, and Bartosh and Sienna Meli singled with one out, but the Zephyrs couldn’t score.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Olivia Handelong hit a double to center, Megan McClain had a controversial infield hit toward third base, and Handelong scored on a wild pitch which ended up being the game-winner.

Whitehall finished its season with an overall record of 20-4 and graduates five seniors.

“That group was the epitome of success and this was supposed to be their last step forward, but we couldn’t get it done, collectively, not the seniors, but that group,” Vivian said. “You look at Kassy (Aquino) who’s been on the rubber for the last two years for us, you look at Haley (Bartosh) who joined her this year. You look at Mya (Frana) who absolutely played her role, and Jess (Spanitz) and Emma (Bonshak). We’re solid up the middle all year, and I know this is gonna hurt. I told them they’re probably gonna look in the next couple days and want to do some things different. I know, as a coach, I want to do some things different, but it just wasn’t our day today.”