PINE GROVE – An old nemesis showed up again for the Northwestern Lehigh softball team.

It reared its head in the District 11 Class 4A championship game to once again prevent the Tigers from laying claim to gold medals.

For the second straight year, defending district and state champion Blue Mountain dug in like it was defending a foxhole and waited for the opportune time to spring back and deliver a knockout punch.

Trailing by two runs, the Eagles rallied in back-to-back innings and then relied on splendid pitcher Marla Freiwald to slam the door for a 4-2 victory at Susan Stump Softball Field on Wednesday evening.

Both the Blue Eagles and Tigers will advance into the state tournament that begins on Monday.

“Don’t be surprised if we meet them again,” Blue Mountain manager Mike Rollman said about the possibility of a rematch between the two teams in the state tournament. “They’re one of the top teams in the state. We have a lot of respect for them.

“We had our hands full tonight, but we got hits at the right time.”

The Eagles got a little bit of lady luck, too.

“We got lucky early on,” said Northwestern coach Kate Farber. “Then they had the luck at the end.”

Trailing 2-0, Blue Mountain found its offense with two-run outbursts in both the fourth and fifth innings.

Those rallies overcame single runs that the Tigers scored in both the first and fourth innings.

“We had that lead, but they’re such a good hitting team, we had to get more runs,” Farber said. “With the way Marla (Freiwald) can pitch, you need to score more runs off of her when you have opportunities. She’s very good. We just didn’t get the run support to beat them.

“We had confidence coming into the game. We knew what to expect from them.”

There was one out in the home fourth when Freiwald stirred the pot with a single for the Eagles. Oliva Labe then drove in the first Blue Mountain run. After Emma Freeman whizzed by a third strike for the second out of the inning, the Tigers seemed poised to avoid further troubles, especially when catcher Abby Dunston nearly caught Labe leaning. Dunston fired the ball to first, but Labe quickly raced to second for a huge steal. That set the table for Hailey Place, who lofted a single to tie the game.

“That was big for us,” Rollman said. “It looked as if Labe was picked off. We got lucky on that play.”

The Eagles continued to keep the pressure on in the fifth as Madison Heim singled with one out and stole second. Freeman got Addison Fishburn to pop to short, but Ella Walsavage delivered a clutch hit to right center chasing Heim home for the go-ahead run. An RBI single by Labe provided an insurance run.

The Tigers had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Sage Toman walked and Dunston eventually singled her home. In the fourth, Northwestern made it 2-0 when Dunston singled, stole second, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on Shelby Mitman’s sacrifice fly.

“Abby had a hell of a game for us. She hammered that outside pitch,” Farber said of Dunston’s 3-for-3 performance.

Then the stage was set for the Eagles to figure out a way to rally. In true championship form, Blue Mountain had the exact formula at the right time to win another District 11 gold medal.

“We hit the ball, but not as well as I would have liked,” Farber said, “That’s where we need to improve. We did it early, we had that nice jump. Obviously, two runs in a game like this is not enough.”

IN THE CIRCLE … Both pitchers battled to the wire. Freiwald allowed just five hits - three by Dunston and one each by Rylee McGinley and Liz Diehl. She fanned nine batters and allowed one walk. Freeman had seven Ks and surrendered nine hits - three each by Freiwald and Lab.

CONTESTING … Farber, an excellent skipper and a class act, was none too happy with a safe call when a Blue Mountain runner stole second. “I felt very strongly the runner was out. You have to challenge that call. It’s no disrespect to the umpire, but I still say she was out.” The call turned out to be crucial as Blue Mountain went on to tie the score instead of the Tigers getting out of the inning.

HOT CORNER … Northwestern third baseman Toman is one of the best. She can play the hot corner as good as any player in District 11, and came up with two sensational plays. Both shortstops - the Tigers’ Isabella Akelaits and the Eagles’ Hailey Place - turned in web gems as well.

UP NEXT … The PIAA play gets underway Monday. Matchups, sites and times will be announced over the weekend.

Northwestern 100 100 0 – 2 5 1

Blue Mountain 000 220 x – 4 9 0

Freeman and Dunston; Freiwald and Cavaden. W – Freiwald L – Freeman