Shenandoah – Ava Marshall crushed a Home Run and Kahlei Shifflett scored on a RBI double from Madison Phares to lead Page County High School to a 2-1 victory over visiting Strasburg Wednesday night. Freshman pitcher Summer Pence took care of the rest with a 13 strikeout, one hitter and now PCHS (20-3) is headed once again to the State Tournament.

Central – Woodstock edged Fort Defiance 5-2 in the other semifinal game and now the #3 seed Falcons will challenge the #1 seeded Lady Panthers for the Regional Championship Thursday night.

Strasburg’s  Ava Mayhew limited Page County to just seven hits and recorded nine strikeouts across her six innings of work. The junior would have celebrated a victory more often than not with those stats but the night belonged to Page County.

Both teams committed just one error behind their pitchers and Page County closed out the contest with two stellar defensive plays. Mayhew led off the seventh inning with a line shot that handcuffed Caelyn Lucas but the freshman stayed with the play, nipping Mayhew at first base. One out later, Kaitlyn Cunningham sent a line shot to centerfield that hung up long enough for Marshall to squeeze in her glove for the final out.

Shifflett led the offense by going 3 for 3 and the Junior plated what would prove to be the winning run 🏃‍♂️ in the top of the third inning, thanks to Phares.

The second straight pitchers duel in Region play once again showcased the strong suit of the Lady Panthers Softball. Strong pitching, solid defense and timely hitting is the staple of the veteran Skipper and his team over the decades. PCHS edged Stuarts Draft 3-1 in the opening round and will now face another familiar face when Central – Woodstock comes to town.

Central (20-2) and Page County split their games in the regular season with each team winning on the others home field. Back on April 2nd, Central handed Page a 6-4 loss that dropped the Lady Panthers to a mark of 3-3. On April 29th Page County edged the Falcons 2-1, a victory that is part of the teams 17 game winning streak.

The best part of this trilogy is that both teams will advance to the Class 2 State Tournament after the trophy 🏆 presentation Thursday night 🌙.

First Pitch is set for 6pm.

Strasburg       000 010 0 – 1 1 1

Page County  002 000 X – 2 7 1

Strasburg.      000 010 0 – 1  1. 1

Page County  002 000 X – 2  7  1

It’s a brisk 91° degrees here in the Shenandoah Valley, three hours before the first pitch. This means, no jacket required !

If Strasburg sounds familiar to long term readers its because I spend a decade covering both of these Schools around the time I started our feel good Blog.

The Rams 🐏 are Coached by Suzanne Mathias, the same young lady 👩 that coached the Volleyball 🏐 Rams that were  the subject of our second book 📖 entitled ” A Season of a Lifetime “.

Going to a ballpark when its Good versus Good is always a Blast ! Alan F Knight Field at the Lady Panthers Softball Complex sounds like a place that I would like to hang out, even though most people shortened the name a smidgen.