Kate Farber inherited somewhat of a dream situation when she took over as the coach of the Northwestern Lehigh softball program last season.

The team she inherited went 22-5 the season before and lost just three seniors from the roster. Plus, the Tigers were runners-up in both the league and district tournaments and reached the PIAA semifinals.

In Farber’s first season, the Tigers went 23-5 and were Colonial League champions.

Blue Mountain beat Northwestern Lehigh in both the district finals and the state semifinals just as it had done the season before. Turning the calendar to 2025 and Farber’s team lost just two seniors and with an impressive young crop of young players is ready to take the next step.

Farber has not had to worry about her outfield, the right side of the infield, pitching and catching this spring. Those spots are all covered by returning starters with Ella Bressi, Rylee McGinley, and Lily Kinnon in the outfield and Shelby Mitman at first, Lizzie Diehl at second and a junior battery of Emma Freeman in the circle and Abby Dunstan behind the plate.

Diehl stepped up last season to show herself as a viable alternative to Freeman to give the team’s ace a break here and there.

“Coming into last season,,” said Farber, who is in her 16th overall season as a head coach. “I thought we might be able to find some more offense than we had in the past and we did. The defense just came naturally for these girls, so that was set.

“The challenge now is to keep the offense and defense at those levels even though we lost a pair of key players. We know the pitching is there with Emma and Lizzie, so we just have to be sure that we keep the rest of the mix at a high level.”

The spring focus has been on the left side of the infield and those two spots were still a battle as the season approached. It wasn’t that Farber was having any difficulty finding capable players to take those spots but just finding the right mix of offense and defense to keep both areas as a positive.

“We’re fortunate,” said Farber, “because we have players that can play multiple positions on the infield and the bench is going to be pretty deep for us. We may have a couple of different options and use different players in different situations at times.”

Farber likes the four freshmen who made the roster and figures that at least a couple of them could find a good amount of playing time, especially with all of the mixing and matching that Farber will be able to do.

Natalie Conner opened eyes on the basketball court over the winter and transitioned to the softball field this season as an infield option. Two other young infield prospects are Sam Boyer and Addy Reichard, both also freshmen. Lexie Zentz also played basketball and is an outfield option.

“The young players have come in and worked hard and the older girls are really trying to help them adjust and fit in with everyone,” said McGinley, one of two seniors on the team. “I think they have a lot of talent, so I think we’re going to be in good shape again this season as a team.”

The tandem of pitching and catching is one of the best in the Colonial League. Freeman is the ace, and Diehl serves as another quality option in the circle. Farber mixes and matches the two depending on the opponent and game situations. Behind the plate, Dunstan is a true field commander and one of the more reliable bats on the team.

When Diehl isn’t needed in the circle, she holds down second base and senior Shelby Mitman has been playing first base full-time since her sophomore year and is a threat offensively and dependable defensively for the Tigers.

“With the experience that we have and the personality of the players,” said Farber. “There are times when I go home from practice and tell my husband ‘they don’t really need me to coach. I’m just there to manage things.’ That’s a nice situation for a coach when you can rely on the players to know what needs to be done.”