PINE GROVE - Mano a mano.

You against me. Your best against my best.

That’s what it came down to on Thursday night at Susan Y. Stump Stadium on the Pine Grove Area High School campus.

Palmerton’s gutty sophomore right-handed pitcher Carly Gaffney against Susquenita’s top hitter Lillian Feltenberger.

A berth in Monday’s PIAA Class 3A state semifinals was on the line as the game boiled down to their matchup with two out in the seventh inning and a single run separating the teams.

Who would step up to the challenge?

Who had nerves of steel?

Who would survive the showdown?

Feltenberger was digging in and trying to protect the plate with two strikes on her ... Gaffney then let loose with a riser. Seconds later it was over. Feltenberger swung at the toss, But there was no contact. Nada. Out number 27 in the game.

The Blue Bombers had won 6-5, and punched their ticket into the next round of play.

It was pure drama. The way kids dream of things growing up - and Gaffney never seemed to waver.

Because she didn’t, the Bombers have reached heights that no softball team in school history has reached before.

“Carly really rose to the occasion after that first inning,” said Palmerton manager Bob Hock. “After a rough start, she settled down. Our entire team did. Everyone just came up big.

“This was a great win and it’s the furthest any team in Palmerton history has ever gone.”

The rough start that Hock referred to was a 27-pitch first inning that produced two Susquenita runs.

“I was a little nervous (at the start of the game) and I shouldn’t have been,” said Gaffney.

But Gaffney’s teammates had her back.

Free swinging Madison Green had the game’s biggest blow - a booming triple to right center to cap off a five-run, third-inning uprising that put her team ahead for the first time.

“I was seeing the ball very well, and I felt so good in that at-bat. It was so exciting,” Green said afterward.

Where the big inning got cooking was on a walk to Alyssa Silliman who was hitting out of the 9-hole. Silliman surely got the flame lit with the way she worked starting pitcher Shelby Wernrich.

Sydney Frantz uncorked a run-scoring double, and when Mikayla Pengrelly laid down a bunt and hustled her way to first for a single, Frantz scooted around third and scored the tying run.

The rally appeared to be running out of steam when Wenrich got the next two batters out, but then Cadee Munjone walked and Megan Matsko promptly delivered a gapper to left center for an RBI.

Leading 3-2, Green was about to deliver the biggest hit of the season for her side when she sent a high fly into the dark sky as it hit the base of the fence in right center, chasing home two more runs for a 5-2 lead.

The game was far from out of reach, however, as the Hawks (20-5) pecked away, pushing a run across in the bottom half of the third, and then adding two more runs in the fourth on just one hit to make it 5-5.

“Our kids are a bunch of battlers, so I really wasn’t all that concerned after they tied the score,” Hock said.

Hock was right.

Palmerton (17-9) figured a way to score what would be the winning run in the fifth. Gaffney aided her pitching cause when her Texas League blooper fell in behind the infield as she hustled to second, sliding in for a double.

When hard-throwing freshman Ayahna Fleisher was called on in relief, Kelsey Balliet executed a perfect sacrifice bunt allowing Gaffney to move to third. And in a near-perfect at-bat, Munjone went with an outside pitch slapping it down the right-field line to plate Gaffney with the go-ahead run.

Now it was all in Gaffney’s hands. She had to face Feltenberger to open the home fifth, and the Black Hawk star sizzled a ball down the third base line, but left fielder Silliman made a nice play on the hit, holding Feltenberger to a single. Gaffney came right back and retired the next three batters without any further damage.

The Palmerton hurler then proceeded to mow down the next six batters - retiring Susquenita in order in both the sixth and seventh innings - to secure the victory. That string of nine straight outs included the biggest one of the night – a strikeout of Feltenberger - ending the suspense and sending the Blue Bombers to within one win of playing for a state championship.

TOSSING LEATHER … Both teams made some great plays in the field. Perhaps the best play of the night was when Palmerton left fielder Silliman took the perfect angle on Feltenberger’s hard-hit ball down the third base line. Silliman quickly cut it off and held her to a single.

MORE LEATHER … The play made by Palmerton center fielder Pengelly to record the first out of the seventh inning was special. Elaina Gates smoked a liner that was diving and appeared to be a sure hit, but Pengelly came blazing in to make the play. Palmerton right fielder Kaylee Strohl also made a big play in the sixth to prevent a hit.

FIVE AND FOUR … Those were the total hits in the game, respectively, as both teams did a great job of manufacturing runs without a lot of hits. Palmerton had five hits, with three of them going for extra-bases. Frantz and Gaffney both doubled, while Green added her triple.

BY THE NUMBERS … Gaffney was tough after the first inning. After her 27 pitches to start the game, she went on to throw only 66 pitches over the final six innings for a total of 93 - 65 for strikes.

UP NEXT ... Palmerton will face Lewisburg, a 7-2 winner over Kutztown last evening, in Monday’s 3A semifinal.

Palmerton 005 010 0 - 6 5 4

Susquenita 201 200 0 - 5 4 1

Gaffney and Balliet; Wenrich, Fleisher and Printz. W - Gaffney. L - Wenrich.