ORWIGSBURG - Winners of eight straight, Marian entered Wednesday night's Schuylkill League semifinals on a roll.

However, any thoughts the Fillies had on parlaying a division championship into a possible league championship were quickly dismissed by Pottsville, as the Crimson Tide rolled to a 10-2 victory at Blue Mountain's Patton Field.With the win, Pottsville (15-5) will meet undefeated Williams Valley at 7 p.m. tonight for the Schuylkill League championship. Williams Valley defeated North Schuylkill, 8-2, in the first semifinal contest."We came here tonight to compete, and for a while, I thought we did," stated Marian head coach Joe DeAngelo. "Pottsville has some really good hitters. Tonight, they put the ball in play with authority and kept spreading their lead."The Crimson Tide scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning with a Caitlyn Herndon RBI single to center.Following a scoreless second frame, Marian's first two batters of the third inning reached base; however, rather than try to play small ball and advance the runners into scoring position, DeAngelo opted to let the top of his order swing away. A strikeout, fly out and pop out later, Pottsville escaped the inning unscathed."Obviously when things don't work out, you're going to second guess yourself," added DeAngelo. "In that situation, we had the top of our batting order up and those girls were really swinging the bats well during the last eight games. Rather than being satisfied with one or two runs, I thought we were in a good position to play for a big inning. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us."Pottsville upped the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the inning, when Micki Garland scored on a Marian throwing error and Morgan Alisauckas laced a triple off the center field fence to score Kyra Bulion, who reached base on an infield single.The Crimson Tide added another two runs in the fifth when Herndon's two-run single to center scored Bulino and Alisauckas.Coming into the game averaging 10.5 runs and 10.9 hits over their last eight games, the Fillies were completely stymied by Pottsville pitcher Sara Tobin, who allowed just one hit and one walk to Marian over the first five innings, while pitching with a heavy heart."Sara lost her grandfather unexpectedly last week. The viewing was this morning and the funeral is tomorrow," said Pottsville head coach Chuck Rinaldo. "For a young kid to go out there under those circumstances and do what she did, words can't even begin to describe how proud I am of her."Tobin finished the night allowing two unearned runs, while striking out seven.Marian finally broke through in the top of sixth inning with three consecutive singles by Gabby Cann, Lindsay Nemeth and Bryianna Pearson. Cann scored the first run off a Nemeth single and Pottsville fielding error, while Nemeth came around to score on an infield single by Pearson that ricocheted off the glove of Tobin.Leading 5-2, Pottsville put the game away in the bottom of the sixth by sending 11 batters to the plate, loading the bases four times and scoring five runs on six hits. With two outs and the bases loaded, Bulino's second triple of the game to deep left field scored Rachael Setlock, Katie Deegan and Jolyn Rodrian. The Crimson Tide also got RBI singles by Alisauckas and Herndon in the inning."I always say that hitting is contagious. All it takes it one to start it off and before you know it, big things start happening," said Rinaldo. "Kyra Bulino has been struggling recently and she came out and smashed two triples."For Marian (16-4), Ashton Galasso led the way with two singles."Even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted tonight, I'd like to think that winning a division championship and playing in the league playoffs is a step in the process of becoming an elite program," concluded DeAngelo. "We have another opportunity next week in the district playoffs, so hopefully we can go out there and make the most of it."Marian 000 002 0 - 2 5 1Pottsville 102 025 x - 10 12 3Schaud and Nemeth; Tobin and Dusel, Shrift (7). W - Tobin. L - Schaud.