Comets shortstop Cecelia O’Malley (9) continues the relay, and fires a dart to home plate.
Buck Nortin-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Abington Heights pitcher Lauren Stalica added to her cause at the plate with a long drive to right center field.
Buck Nortin-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Comets left fielder Isabella DeRiggie makes a running catch on Saturday May 3, against visiting Loyalsock.
Buck Nortin-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Center fielder Hunter Kresge (1) throws the relay to the awaiting Cecelia O’Malley (9) for the Comets.
Buck Nortin-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Abington Heights closed the regular season on a 10-game winning streak to capture the Lackawanna League Division 1 title and the top seed for the District 2-4 Class 5A softball tournament.
The Lady Comets made it to the subregional final where their streak ended at 11 games and the season came to an end with a 19-3 record.
Abington Heights went 13-1 in the division and was followed in the standings by: Valley View 12-2, North Pocono 10-4, Wallenpaupack 7-7, Delaware Valley 6-8, West Scranton 5-9, Scranton Prep 4-10 and Scranton 0-14.
North Pocono 5, Abington Heights 4
Isabelle Forgione tripled and scored on a two-out error in the top of the sixth inning May 27 to lift North Pocono to its victory over Abington Heights in the subregional championship game at the University of Scranton.
Abington Heights took an early 2-0 lead and was up 4-3 after four innings.
The Lady Comets had an 8-7 advantage in hits and drew seven walks, but could not take advantage. Defensively, they were hurt by three errors that led to a pair of unearned runs.
Hunter Kresge led the Abington Heights offense going 3-for-3 and scoring three times. She also stole a base.
Eva Kane had two hits while Avary Brister and Lauren Stalica had doubles. Stalica drew walks in her other three plate appearances.
Stalica took the loss despite striking out eight and walking just two.
Alyssa Lynch, who drove in three runs, and Amelia Bell, who scored twice, each had two hits for North Pocono.
Abington Heights 13, Delaware Valley 1
Stalica struck out 13 in a five-inning, two-hitter and jump-started the Abington Heights offense with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning May 23 in the subregional semifinal victory over visiting Delaware Valley.
Brister had a bases-loaded triple in the eight-run second inning and added a fourth RBI on a single.
Isabelle Wilmot finished with two hits, two runs and two RBI.
Kane had two hits. Cecelia O’Malley scored twice. Isabella DeRiggi and Avery Venesky had doubles.
Recap
Abington Heights was 7-0 by a combined margin of 84-10 in its May regular-season games.
The Lady Comets outscored their last eight regular-season opponents by a total of 95-10 after beginning the winning streak with a pair of one-run victories.
Stalica struck out 14 in a four-hit shutout and hit two home runs in a 9-0 shutout of Delaware Valley May 7.
Cecelia O’Malley hit a grand slam and drove in five runs total May 13 when the Lady Comets wrapped up the division championship with a 21-2, five-inning rout of host Wallenpaupack.
Stalica finished with 144 strikeouts in 92 2/3 innings. She led the offense with 10 home runs, 31 RBI and a .566 batting average.
