Pleasant Valley and Stroudsburg are familiar foes.

The Lady Bears and Mounties met twice during the regular season, with PV winning both contests.But beating a team three times in one year is no easy task, something Pleasant Valley head coach Steve Caffrey was well aware of heading into yesterday's District 11 Class AAAA opening round showdown between the two Eastern Pennsylvania Conference rivals.And while it wasn't quite a dominant performance, the sixth seeded Lady Bears got the hits and runs when they needed them to claim a 5-4 win over the No. 11 Mounties."I'm glad we came out with a win," Caffrey said. "But I didn't think it was a really well-played game between either team."All of Pleasant Valley's (15-6) runs were unearned, with four coming in the third, an inning that proved to be pivotal for both teams.Stroudsburg (9-12) loaded the bases in the top half of the frame, but managed only one run when Kalista Gioglio, who scored twice, crossed the plate to extend the Mounties' lead to 4-1.PV responded in the bottom half, as Katie Lenart, Jenna Scheller, Alyssa Kotzmann and Kelsey Diablo, in as a courtesy runner for Cassie Hill, scored on three hits and three errors to give the Lady Bears a 5-4 advantage.Lenart and Madison Kymer finished with two hits apiece, while Kotzmann scored two runs."I thought our girls battled hard today," said Stroudsburg head coach Maynard Frantz. "But we made some mistakes that I didn't expect us to make."All in all, I feel we made some mistakes that we shouldn't have made, and they capitalized on them. They're a very good team that took advantage of that."The Mounties threatened in each of the final four innings, but Lady Bears starter Kiersten Griesback was able to work out of trouble each time, something Caffrey is accustomed to seeing."At this point, Kiersten is all we have as far as starters go…and she knows it's pretty much going to be hers to win or lose," he said. "But every game she comes out and works her hardest and tries her best."It's a matter of what kind of spot we put her in and she often helps herself out. Today, she was in a couple of jams but we were able to get her out of them."Griesback was aided by stellar defense over the final innings, which included double plays in the fifth and sixth to negate situations where Stroudsburg put runners in scoring position.Lenart's heady play at second base in the top of the sixth got Griesback out of trouble. The senior tagged Amber Prisco going from first to second then threw to first to nail Morgan Pizzo for the second out.A fly out by Emily Cramer ended the inning.Griesback finished with three strikeouts while allowing two earned runs in seven innings of work.With Stroudsburg behind them, the Lady Bears will now get ready for No. 3 seed Easton, also of the EPC, on Thursday. It's another game the team shouldn't have any problem getting up for."They have a good record (14-5) and they play in a tough division (Steel)," Caffrey said of the Red Rovers. "But just like Stroudsburg is a rival for them, Easton is that for me because that's where I went. That's a game I always want to win."But anytime you can beat Stroudsburg, it's a big win, and the same goes for them anytime they beat us. We're just happy to walk away with a win."Stroudsburg 211 000 0 - 4 6 5Pleasant Vy. 104 000 x - 5 8 3Hoyt and A. Cramer; Griesback and Hill. W - Griesback. L - Hoyt.