Lehigh Valley’s Carpenter Cup softball team hoped to pick up where they left off after the first day of the Carpenter Cup Classic Softball Tournament when they won three straight games, but on the tourney’s second day, Lehigh Valley was eliminated by Berks County L/L ending its run for the championship last week at FDR Park in Philadelphia.

Lehigh Valley opened the tournament with 17 hits and a 10-5 victory over Inter-Ac on June 20.

“Our first inning, we had a rough start, but I think we all had the drive to hit,” said Lehigh Valley infielder Kate Yadush (Whitehall). “We faced a lot of good pitchers today, and we were down a lot too and came back the last couple of innings.”

Yadush had three hits, including two doubles, and Hailey Pyle (Bethlehem Catholic) also had three hits against Inter-Ac.

“After my first double, I was trying to elevate the ball more, so I felt really good after that one, and that gave me a lot of confidence for my next five at bats,” Yadush said.

Lehigh Valley’s second contest of the day resulted in a 12-4 victory over Olympic Colonial.

Karlye Teman’s (Palisades) three-run homer doubled Lehigh Valley’s lead after two innings, and in the circle, Teman held Olympic Colonial scoreless in three innings pitched.

“Our plan was let’s not lose a game,” said Lehigh Valley head coach Brian Fehnel. “Last year, we were 2-1 on the first day, and there was a tiebreaker because three teams were 2-1, so we didn’t want to be in that jam this year.”

Lehigh Valley was a 7-5 winner over Burlington in its third game after trailing early when Maddyn Rittler hit a two-run inside-the-park home run.

Lehigh Valley then took a one-run lead in the third inning on Delaney Troxell’s (Catasauqua) two RBI double to right center.

“All I wanted to do was get good contact with the ball. I wanted to make sure to try and hit in the gap,” Troxell said. “Once I realized there were two girls (who scored) I was very excited for my team.”

Addison Sabo (Liberty) tripled to left center but was left stranded.

“My mindset was just to get on anywhere I can,” said Sabo. “I was excited because I’ve been struggling a little to make contact with the ball, so it felt good.”

Lehigh Valley trailed again, however, before tying the game, 5-5, on Sage Toman’s (Northwestern Lehigh) bases-loaded RBI.

A follow-up single by Carly Gaffney (Palmerton) that dropped in right field put Lehigh Valley ahead, 7-5, in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“I was a little off-balance, and the pitcher had really good movement to the outside of the plate, so I was trying to make sure my hands were in the right spot so I wouldn’t whiff at her curveball,” she said.

Gaffney forced three straight outs from the circle in the top of the seventh with a strikeout and two ground outs from Gaffney to Troxell, who also pitched throughout Lehigh Valley’s three-game day.

“Whatever situation they put me in, I was ready to go,” said Troxell. “I tried to have a really good mindset, and I was very comfortable in letting my defense do the work. My screwball was working; also my rise ball. A lot of girls were either popping up or missing them.”

After Lehigh Valley lost to Berks County L/L, 12-9, on June 21, Berks lost to Jersey Shore, 8-1.

Tri Cape defeated Jersey Shore, 2-1, for the Carpenter Cup championship, also on June 21.

“We gave up some runs in some of those innings, and we still came back in, and we were ready to hit,” said Lehigh Valley assistant coach Kelly Dulaney. “We bounced back. We picked each other up and came back.”