When the PIAA semifinal game at Lyons Ballfield ended, the scoreboard showed why Northwestern Lehigh lost to Blue Mountain by a score of 5-3.

The proof was in the error column, where the Eagles posted a zero and the Lady Tigers had five on their side.

It was the fourth straight time that Blue Mountain has defeated Northwestern Lehigh in the postseason dating back to last year. For two straight seasons now, the Eagles have won both the District 11 final, and the PIAA semifinal games against Northwestern Lehigh.

The score could have been much worse if not for some sparkling defensive plays that helped Northwestern Lehigh work out of jams.

“It’s tough when you look at the board and see all of those errors for us and none for Blue Mountain,” said Northwestern head coach Kate Farber. “You know that at the end of the day you can’t beat a team like them with five errors, but we came up big in so many other ways. Otherwise, they could have just continued to roll, and this could have been a catastrophic score.”

Eagles pitcher Marla Freiwald battled Northwestern’s Emma Freeman in the circle and Northwestern catcher Abby Dunstan at the plate.

Freiwald and Freeman have locked up in the big games between the two teams before and offensively, Freiwald and Dunstan have the biggest bat in their respective lineup. Unfortunately, the offensive fireworks were limited by the two hitters being intentionally walked a total of five times. The freebies started because of a first inning spot where Tigers coach Kate Farber elected not to walk Freiwald and the senior pitcher blasted a two-run home run to left center field to give Blue Mountain a 2-0 lead.

Freiwald, who is committed to play at St. Joe’s University, retired Northwestern in order in the bottom of the first and faced Dunstan to leadoff the second. The rising junior launched an even longer home run to left center to make it a 2-1 game.

Dunstan’s home run appeared to hit the bottom of the permanent fencing that is 265 feet away, approximately 35 feet past a temporary fencing that is used for high school softball. It was her third of the postseason and seventh overall this season.

An inning later, Northwestern used some small ball to tie the game as Ella Bressi led off with a bunt single and stole second. One out later, Sage Toman looked to move Bressi to third with a bunt and slapped it past Freiwald, allowing Bressi to score from second on what would be an infield single.

Dunstan came up with a runner on second and two outs and Eagles coach Mike Roman elected to intentionally walk her before Freiwald worked out of the jam.

Northwestern fielders committed four errors in the game, but they also came up with big plays when they needed them.

A pair of errors in the third put runners on first and second for Blue Mountain and this time Farber elected to walk Freiwald to load the bases with one out. Freeman got Olivia Labe to bounce back to her to start a 1-2-3 double-play that ended the inning.

In the fourth, Blue Mountain had runners on second and third with one out and Anna Borden grounded a ball to short where it was fielded by a charging Akelaitis, who threw home to nail a runner at the plate. A diving stop and throw by Sage Toman on the next play got the Tigers out of the jam.

Freeman retired the first two hitters in the fifth, but Farber again showed respect to Freiwald and put her on base with an intentional walk. Labe followed with a single to left and Lindsay Gibson made Farber regret the two-out walk when she tripled to right field to give Blue Mountain a 4-2 lead.

“We knew that if we were going to put her on, it was going to be a tit-for-tat kind of thing and it’s out of respect,” said Farber. “I know the fans don’t like it and the coaches don’t like it, but it’s a respect thing. You saw what happened when we pitched to her, and you saw what happened when they pitched to Abby.”

In the bottom of the fifth, Bressi again led off the inning and reached on a single to left and went to third when Rylee McGinley reached on a bunt single. Akelaitis then lifted a long flyball to left that brought in Bressi to make it a 4-3 game.

Blue Mountain added an unearned run in the seventh and Bressi led off again in the bottom of the seventh with a bloop single to center, but Northwestern could not generate a rally.

“From day one our motto has been ‘relentless’ and we came in today saying it was time to empty the tank,” said Farber. “If you can walk away from here knowing that you gave everything mentally, physically, spiritually, whatever it is that you apply to the game of softball, that’s what matters most.”

Northwestern looks to reload for next season with just two seniors – Akelaitis and Toman – not returning. Farber will need to rework the left side of the infield, but will have the bulk of her starting lineup returning with another season of experience to build on.