ORWIGSBURG - Tamaqua head coach Jill Barron was nearly at a loss for words.

After playing solid defense throughout most of the season, the Blue Raiders' gloves turned in a subpar effort in Monday's Schuylkill League Division 1 championship game against Pine Grove.Four errors and indecision on other plays cost Barron's club dearly, and Tamaqua fell to the Cardinals, 7-2.But despite having an off-day in the field and having to watch Pine Grove celebrate its division title, the Raiders (15-6) will return to action today as the wild card team in the Schuylkill League playoffs."For whatever reason, I don't know what went on with my defense," said Barron, whose club will face Division 2 champion Williams Valley at 4:30 p.m. in the league semifinals. "I don't know if it was the loud atmosphere that they couldn't hear what we were yelling from the sidelines or what. I have no explanation for it. I'm at a loss. I don't think I've ever seen them play that bad defensively."We're back tomorrow though ... we'll see what happens."Tamaqua's troubles started early with a pair of errors in the first three innings. But despite giving their opponent extra base runners and outs, the Raiders managed to keep the contest a 1-1 game.In the fifth inning, though, everything unraveled.The Cards' Jen Kaufman led off that frame with a bunt that was misplayed. Mackenzie Hasenauer followed with another bunt, pulling the ball past a charging fielder for a base hit. A third lay down, this time from cleanup hitter Trish Kopinetz, was handled but held on to, loading the bases.Caitlyn Becher and winning pitcher Olivia Lehman followed with RBI singles, while a ground out plated another run. Kate Rittenbaugh added a run-scoring hit later in the five-run inning that put Pine Grove ahead 6-1."We knew the small ball was coming," Barron said. "We were prepared for the small ball. We just didn't handle it. We didn't field a couple of bunts that should have been fielded. We also dropped some fly balls today and that usually doesn't happen ... I wish I could figure it out, I really do, because this is not what I've watched play all year long. We have not been perfect, but defensively we usually play pretty well.""The key with the short game is to put pressure on the defense," said Cardinal mentor Ryan Leffler. "You put the pressure on the defense and see what happens ... We did a good job today getting the bunts down, moving runners, and getting the hits."Tamaqua actually managed nine hits, including an RBI single from Cailyn Joseph in the first inning and a run-scoring triple from Kaitlyn Stauffenberg in the sixth, but it could never seem to lump them together."Hitting-wise, we had people hit but we couldn't get a bunch of solid hits in a row," Barron said. "It was just here and there."The Raiders looked like they would be the team to take the lead and have a big fifth inning. One-out singles by Broke Zellner and Courtney Hoffman led to a second-and-third situation. Lynn Kistler then hit a grounder toward first that may have been caught in foul territory, but it was ruled a fair ball and was turned into an out. Lehman then got Joseph to fly out to right.WEB GEMS ... While Tamaqua made quite a few errors, it did have a couple stellar plays in the field. Pitcher Bailey Pedersen snared a line drive in the fourth inning and turned it into a double play. Third baseman Jada Schellhammer caught a low line drive in the first inning to save a run, while center fielder Joseph had a few nice catches.AT THE PLATE ... Taylor Fritz had two hits, one a double, and scored a run for the Raiders. Stauffenberg and Miranda Chinchar also had a pair of hits. Hoffman added a hit and run scored. Hasenauer finished with three hits for Pine Grove, and Kaufman added two hits and scored three runs.Tamaqua 100 001 0 - 2 9 4Pine Grove 100 051 x - 7 11 2Pedersen and Zellner; Lehman and Kopinetz. W - Lehman. L - Pedersen.