ALLENTOWN - For the first time since 2007, Northwestern reached the semifinals of the PIAA softball tournament.

Back then, the Tigers were a 2A team and lost in the semis to Brandywine Heights. This time around, in the 4A class, they ran into hot pitching and a defense that made all the plays as they fell to Blue Mountain 7-0 Tuesday night at Patriot’s Park in a rematch of the District 11 championship game.

“You have to give them all the credit in the world,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Zimmerman of Blue Mountain. “They did a great job, and they hit the ball and made plays in the field when they had to.

“I hope they can bring some gold home to District 11.”

Blue Mountain pitcher Marla Freiwald was at her best. Her outstanding command allowed her to change locations at will, leaving Northwestern hitters guessing where the next pitch might be.

The junior pitcher finished with a complete-game win, giving up just three hits and one walk to go with five strikeouts.

The Tigers (22-5) weren’t able to get a runner on base until the fourth inning when Sage Toman was hit by a pitch with one out. Toman stole second, but was stranded there. Freiwald went on to set down five in a row to go through the fifth inning.

Northwestern starter Emma Freeman - who threw five shutout innings against the Eagles (24-3) in the district finals - bent but certainly didn’t break through the first five innings.

She had to work through a first-and-third, one-out jam in the third, but did so with a key strikeout of Lindsay Gibson, and the help of a fine defensive play by Rylee McGinley in center field.

Freeman had her own string of six straight retired until the sixth inning opened with back-to-back bloop singles by Gibson and Elle Walasavage. Freiwald, who also serves as the team’s clean-up hitter, doubled to center to drive in both runners. One batter later, she scored on an RBI single by Paige Bergen to make it 3-0.

Zimmerman went to Payton Neumoyer at that point, hoping to put out the fire that was starting to burn out of control.

That is where more timely hitting by Blue Mountain came into play as Olivia Labe greeted Neumoyer with a third bloop single to center. Neumoyer had the fire knocked down with a strikeout and a ground out that moved runners to second and third, but then Avery Hudock smashed a grounder to Marissa Christman at third and the ball took a bad bounce and jumped off Christman’s shoulder, trickling into the outfield grass which allowed both runners to score.

Anna Loughlin followed with a home run to left field to make it 7-0.

“We were up against an outstanding pitcher in Freiwald, and she did a great job of keeping us off balance the entire time, and we weren’t able to break through until the later innings,” said Zimmerman.

Knowing that the Tigers are not the kind of team to fade away when faced with adversity, they looked to mount one of their big comebacks starting in the bottom of the sixth.

A fielding error allowed Shelby Mitman to reach base to lead off the inning and two outs later, Toman worked a walk to put two runners on.

Freiwald was able to pitch through the jam when she got Izzy Akelaitis to pop out to third to end the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, senior Marissa Christman led off with a single to left for what would be the final hit of her high school career. Abby Dunstan hit a long fly ball to center, but Walasavage was able to race back to the fence and make the catch.

A fielder’s choice erased Christman but left Freeman on first base, and Josie Wehr followed with a single up the middle to put runners on first and second with two outs. Freiwald ended the inning by getting Mitman to ground out to second.

COVID’S FRESHMAN CLASS ... The 2020 spring season was lost to COVID, and the student-athletes who were freshmen then were seniors this season. That group of Northwestern players reached the district finals in the three seasons that they were able to play, and this season they reached the cusp of playing for a state championship. “This group of players was definitely our best chemistry-wise over the last three years,” said Christman. “And honestly, as a whole, it may have been one of the best groups ever at Northwestern. I wish we could have punched our ticket to Penn State, but we made it really far and I could not be prouder of the rest of the team. It was a great three seasons.”

THE LAND OF THE LIONS ... The Nittany Lions that is. Blue Mountain will play for the state title Thursday at Nittany Lion Softball Park when they face Montour.

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Freiwald and Cavadini; Freeman, Neumoyer (6) and Dunstan. W - Freiwald. L - Freeman. HR: Blue Mountain - Loughlin (6th, one on).