SCRANTON – Every time a door seemed to be opening a crack for North Pocono, Evelyn Henkels and Adrianna Condrad were there to slam it shut for Abington Heights.
Henkels drove in the game’s first four runs and Condrad struck out 10 while going the distance in the circle May 27 to lead the Lady Comets to a 5-1 victory in the District 2-4 Class 5A Subregional softball championship game at the University of Scranton’s Magis Field.
Henkels was still upset with herself for dropping a throw at first base in the top of the inning when she arrived at the plate in the bottom of the second. She followed Riley McColligan’s two-out single by ripping a shot over the left-field fence for a 2-0 lead.
“After that error I made, I was really mad,” Henkels said. “I was really upset from that. I just had to reset and get ready for my at-bat because I didn’t want to disappoint there, too.”
The home run was the fifth of the season for Henkels, who ranks third on the team in that category and in RBIs with 24.
“She worked so hard (the day before) in practice because she knows teams pitch her away,” Lady Comets coach John Kelly said. “They don’t come inside too often. Today, they came inside and she made them pay.
“She’s got a lot of power. When she gets her pitch, it goes a long way.”
North Pocono managed six hits off Condrad, but all of them were singles and half were of the infield variety.
The Lady Trojans put at least one runner on base in five innings, but Condrad ended each of those threats with a strikeout.
“She’s done that all year,” Kelly said, pointing back to a March game against Emmaus when Condrad twice struck out the side in tight spots in extra innings. “ … Right then, we realized that this could be a special season.”
That special season now stands at 21-1, with a Lackawanna League Division 1 title, a district/subregional championship, and a trip into the state tournament, which began June 1.
Abington Heights had a 4-0 cushion before North Pocono broke through on two infield singles and two wild pitches in the sixth inning. From there, Condrad retired the last four batters she faced, two on strikeouts.
In the fourth inning, Henkels provided the third and fourth runs.
With Isabella DeRiggi and Brianna Bustos in scoring position after a hit, walk and two wild pitches, North Pocono tried to get a 2-0 pitch past Henkels rather than give her the open base.
“They’re not a team that would give up that easily,” said Henkels, who went the opposite way with a two-run single to right field. “I’m not surprised because they got me out last time.”
DeRiggi scored again in the sixth after a lead-off single.
