ALLENTOWN – Sammy Magee held Abington Heights to two hits and Northern York used a three-run fifth inning to get past the Comets, 4-1, Tuesday and advance to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A state softball championship game.
The teams were tied, 1-1, at Patriots Park until Northern York put together the decisive inning.
The District 3 champions (23-4) advance to Friday’s 4 p.m. championship game at Penn State against Shaler (22-1). Shaler finished third in District 7, but avenged its only loss and knocked out the two District 7 finalists on the way to the championship game.
Abington Heights (20-7) had a 14-game winning streak come to an end.
Ava Stafursky had the only two hits for Abington Heights.
Lauren Stalica walked one and struck out six while limiting Northern York to just one earned run.
Both teams scored in the third inning.
Northern York took the lead in the top half of the inning when Tayler Yoder hit a solo homer with two out.
Abington Heights tied the game when Lauryn Notari led off with a walk, took second on an Isabelle Wilmot sacrifice bunt and alertly came all the way around to score on a Lindsey Tasker grounder to the right side. A brief hesitation by the first baseman and a wide slide and reach of her hand to touch the plate allowed Notari to score on the close play.
Notari’s run was the only one scored against Northern York in three state tournament games.
Magee, who walked six and struck out four, kept Abington Heights scoreless the rest of the way.
Stafursky doubled with two outs in the fourth, but was stranded at second with the potential go-ahead run.
Northern York scored three unearned runs with two out in the top of the fifth.
The Comets brought the tying run to the plate with two walks in the bottom of the fifth.
Stafursky was then the last base runner with a single in the sixth.
Magee used just her second 1-2-3 inning of the game to end the Abington Heights season, matching two previous trips to the state semifinals as the deepest postseason trips in school history.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The reporting of Ben Magnotta in Allentown contributed to this story.
