Apr. 2—LEHMAN TWP. — After seeing a couple opportunities fall by the wayside earlier, Holy Redeemer took a chance in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday.
The gamble paid off.
Lauren Hayden scored from second base when a grounder was bobbled, snapping a tie and giving the Royals a 3-2 win over Lake-Lehman in an early-season Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 softball showdown.
The victory on a 45-degree afternoon was the first for Redeemer (1-0 Div. 2, 2-1 overall) against Lehman (1-1 Div. 2, 5-1) in the regular season since 2022. Redeemer did defeat Lehman in the District 2 Class 3A semifinals last year.
Hayden singled with two outs and an error on the play allowed her to get to second base. Gracie Stetz-Madden then hit a grounder that was mishandled and Hayden raced home with the go-ahead run, sliding to just beat the tag.
"I had her going as soon as I saw what the second baseman was trying to do," Redeemer coach Jerry Paulukonis said. "I just sent her and hoped. The hope worked."
Redeemer needed to try something for two reasons.
First, the Royals squandered chances after scoring twice in the first inning on Bella Boylan's sacrifice fly and Hayden's single. They had the bases loaded in the second with one out and failed to score. They had their first two runners on in the fifth and came up empty. Mary Lombardi and Zoe Pacuch singled with one out in the sixth and didn't score.
Secondly, Lehman had the top of the order coming up in the bottom of the seventh, with Penn State recruit Kirsten Finarelli leading off. Finarelli ripped a single to left. A shallow fly was then dropped, but there was plenty of time to force out Finarelli at second.
Redeemer catcher Katie Genovese then came up big by throwing out a runner trying to steal. Pitcher Anne Carter ended the game with her seventh strikeout.
Lehman scored a run in the fourth on an infield single by Brooke Reilly. The Black Knights tied the score 2-2 in the fifth when Finarelli scored from third on a bunt by Gracie James.
"It happens. It's softball," Lehman coach Nicole Chipego said. "There's a winner and there's a loser, and our girls weren't hot today. I kind of felt that coming out of the school, but there's the whole rest of the season left."
The teams will play at Redeemer on April 23, but won't meet in districts since Redeemer has dropped down to Class 2A.
Holy Redeemer 3, Lake-Lehman 2
Redeemer'AB'R'H'BI
Pecuch 1b'4'0'3'0
Genovese c'2'0'0'0
Grandzol cr'0'1'0'0
Williams ss'3'0'0'0
Boylan cf'2'0'0'1
A.Carter p'3'0'0'0
C.Carter cr'0'0'0'0
Hayden rf'4'1'3'1
Stetz-Madden 3b'4'0'0'0
Brill dp'2'0'0'0
Lombardi lf'3'0'1'0
Pius 2b'0'0'0'0
Totals'27'3'7'2
Lehman'AB'R'H'BI
Finarelli c'2'1'1'0
Chipego p'4'0'2'0
James rf'3'0'0'1
Brudnicki 2b'1'1'0'0
Reilly lf'3'0'1'1
Wallace ss'3'0'1'0
Shotwell cf'3'0'0'0
Shorts 1b'1'0'0'0
Makarewicz 3b'3'0'0'0
Totals'23'2'5'2
Holy Redeemer'200'000'1 — 3
Lake-Lehman'000'110'0 — 2
Redeemer'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
A.Carter (W)'7'5'2'2'1'7
Lehman'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
Chipego (L)'7'7'3'2'3'9
