It took a grand total of 43 minutes, 36 pitches, 15 runs and two-and-half innings for Tamaqua's vaunted softball team to stay undefeated Monday afternoon.

Of course, the Blue Raiders weren't stacked against a perennial winner. Panther Valley is in the growing-pain stages these days. It wasn't a league outing, either, but more of a warm-up to stay fine-tuned and prep itself for a better-than-average team this afternoon against league and divisional rival North Schuylkill.Head coach Jill Barron knows what lies ahead, but she isn't letting her squad take it for granted."We didn't come out flat, we did some good things, and our pitching was sharp," Barron said. "It's probably the fastest game we've played since I've been coaching (seventh season). I'd rather see my team go against a little better pitching, but we sat back and got quite a few nice hits."Try a total of nine, with a pair of doubles coming off the bat of Cailyn Joseph, who drove in three runs and nearly socked one out of the park. There were two singles ripped by Brooke Zellner, Miranda Chinchar and winning pitcher Jada Schellhammer, who aided her cause at the plate.To be sure, Schellhammer looks comfortable in her role in the circle after moving over from third base a season ago. She stayed perfect this season with her eighth consecutive win, allowing a first-inning single to Chole Miller. That proved to be the Panthers' only base runner."The circle is hers for the year, with Bailey Pederson graduating," Barron said. "She's come in (to the season) and has proven that she's ready. We've got a good defense behind her, although we lost a few key spots. One of those was her moving from third to pitching."This time, Tamaqua was the team moving from inning-one, when it scored five runs. The Raiders (10-0) took advantage of two hit batters and a walk to jam the sacks, setting the table for Joseph, who clobbered the first of her two doubles.That brought Schellhammer to the plate and she delivered a run-scoring single.Staked to a 5-0 lead, the Blue Raiders cranked out 10 runs in their second at-bats. This time the eventual winner slugged out seven hits, and took advantage of three errors by the Panthers."We are kind of a work in progress'" admitted Panther Valley coach Candace Olson,"We've got to keep our heads in the game … a little bit of tough love, a little bit of soft love. It's been a rough few weeks. We've had a few injuries, and they kind of hindered us. Our goal is to get one (win) by the end of the season."MOWING 'EM DOWN ... After giving up the one-out, first-inning single, the Raiders' Schellhammer reared back and let it fly. She fanned six of the next eight batters.RUNNING 'EM OUT ... Despite getting only two at-bats, Tamaqua had 15 plate appearances. Chinchar equaled Schellhammer's two RBIs with a pair herself on two singles.Panther Valley 0 00 - 0 1 3Tamaqua 5(10)x - 15 9 0Beers, Pascoe (2) and Clouser; Schellhammer and Zellner. W - Schellhammer. L - Beers.