PHILADELPHIA Lehigh Valley's Carpenter Cup softball team, which includes Pleasant Valley players, Madison Shaneberger and Jordan Meckes, defeated Philadelphia Catholic's Carpenter Cup softball team, 10-5, in its first game of the double-elimination tournament on June 24 at FDR Park in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Catholic took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Lehigh Valley went ahead in the top of the third."We knew we had a lot of talent, so we knew we could come back and get those runs back," said Meckes, who played second base and had a single.Shaneberger played centerfield for the first three innings and third base for the next three. The Pleasant Valley High Schooler also had two singles."I was excited to get to play, especially being a sophomore, and I was happy where I batted in the line-up (second). I just had fun. I like the girls on the team, and we played well together," Shaneberger said. "We didn't hit in the first couple of innings, but I thought we got more aggressive and hit better toward the end of the game."Meckes recalled a lot of big hits that drove in runs, and a lot of lead-off hits."[Philadelphia Catholic] started coming back, but we kept leading," she said.Shaneberger recalled good, routine plays, defensively.Meckes had an exciting catch behind first base to end an inning for Philadelphia Catholic."It was in the middle, between first base and right field, by the first base foul line. It was kind of like a blooper, and I caught it," said Meckes.Looking forward to its second game against Tri-Cape, Lehigh Valley was sent home as thunderstorms postponed the rest of the day's games."We were getting ready to warm up and heard loud thunder. The skies were getting really black, and we ran to our cars," Meckes said.Lehigh Valley will return to FDR Park at 8:30 a.m. on June 26 to face Tri-Cape, who defeated Berks County in its first game of the tournament.The Carpenter Cup Softball Tournament is also a showcase for college coaches.Shaneberger said, "I heard there were some there, but I didn't see any. I'm just really excited that we won by a lot."