ORWIGSBURG - Tamaqua had Williams Valley right where it wanted them.

For the first four-and-a-half innings, the Lady Raiders could do no wrong.The team that head coach Jillian Barron watched rack up 15 regular season wins was firing on all cylinders and executing to perfection against the heavily-favored Vikings.And then it happened …The "fifth-inning curse" reared its ugly head and struck again.Similar to Monday night's meltdown when Pine Grove scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to claim the Division 1 championship, Williams Valley scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the fifth frame to advance to Thursday night's Schuylkill League Championship game with a 3-1 victory over Tamaqua."It's the fifth-inning curse," Barron said. "We had it for the last three-and-a-half years. We thought we got rid of it this year, and then for whatever reason, it's creeped back up on us here in the postseason. I can't figure it out."Tamaqua (15-7) wasted no time seizing momentum, as the Lady Raiders scored the game's first run in the top of the first inning. Following singles by Cailyn Joseph and Jada Schellhammer to put runners on the corners, Taylor Fritz delivered an RBI single to left.The score remained 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, thanks to a superb pitching performance from Tamaqua's Bailey Pedersen. The senior pitcher retired the first 11 Williams Valley batters of the game.With things appearing almost too good to be true, the mental miscues and physical errors that have cost Tamaqua dearly over the past 24 hours not only began to surface in the pivotal inning, but they began to snowball as well.Alyssa Schadle led off the fifth with a single to right; however, a mental lapse of a slow roller down the first base line a few pitches earlier that eventually rolled foul would have resulted in a routine out had the ball been fielded in play. Following a bunt pop out, Meg Schadle then reached base on a fielder's choice grounder to short when a routine throw to second pulled the fielder off the bag. Autumn Calnon followed by lacing a single to right, but a Tamaqua fielding error allowed Alyssa Schadle to score Williams Valley's first run.With the score tied at 1-1, Caitlyn Pinchorski then delivered the game's biggest hit - a two-out single to left to score Meg Schadle and Calnon."For some reason on the grounder to short, our shortstop hesitated for a split second and didn't make the throw in time," Barron said. "Instead of the sure out at second, they now have two runners on base and only one out, and that hurts big time. You can't second-guess yourself in situations like that."Tamaqua was able to get a runner on second base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but was never able to capitalize.Pedersen allowed just four hits (three of which came in the fifth inning) and struck out six Vikings in her six innings of work."Bailey threw a fantastic game compared to yesterday," Barron said. "In fact, they all played great and showed a lot of resiliency after Monday's game. It was just one silly inning that came back to bite us."While Williams Valley (19-2) and Pine Grove will meet on Thursday for the Schuylkill League championship, Tamaqua will look to get back on track in next week's District 11 playoffs."I'm very proud of these girls," Barron said. "I know what they're capable of doing and I know they have the ability to do some damage in districts. We'll learn from these mistakes and we'll go back to the drawing board and prepare even harder for our next game."STAT CHECK ... Tamaqua outhit Williams Valley 9-4 and left seven runners stranded on base. Cailyn Joseph and Miranda Chinchar had two hits apiece to lead the Raiders.FIRST PITCH ... Williams Valley didn't exude a lot of plate patience on the day, as seven Vikings hit the first pitch of their at-bat into the field of play. All seven resulted in outs.Tamaqua 100 000 0 - 1 9 2Williams Vy. 000 030 x - 3 4 1Pedersen and B. Zellner; Yanoscak and M. Schadle. W - Yanoscak. L - Pedersen.