STROUDSBURG - The Stroudsburg softball team got the kind of start to the postseason head coach Maynard Frantz was looking for.

The Mounties opened the District 11 Class 6A tournament with a statement, posting a 15-5 first-round victory over Pleasant Valley on Monday."They played the kind of game we've been looking for all year," said Frantz, "not that we haven't played games like that before this year. But I just thought it was a well-rounded game. They hit well and they didn't make any mistakes in the field."The seventh-seeded Mounties pounded out 17 hits while playing flawless defense against the Bears, scoring in every inning but the second.Cleanup hitter Amber Kishbaugh delivered a big blow in the bottom of the fourth inning, connecting for a three-run homer that pushed Stroudsburg's lead to 9-1 as the Mounties batted around. Kishbaugh finished 3-for-5, also adding a triple and a single."My catcher (Kishbaugh) is just a freshman, and she just had another phenomenal game today," said Frantz. "She can flat-out hit the ball."Kishbaugh's performance highlighted a balanced attack, as Shae Marx, Jamie Bittiger and Winnai Hoyt all finished with two hits apiece while each drove in at least one run."From the top of my lineup all the way through my No. 9 hitter, we've been blessed pretty well," said Frantz. "You never know who is going to come up with that big hit. It could be any one of them."No. 10 seed Pleasant Valley cut into the Mounties' advantage with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Lauren Steckel and Taylor Steckel collected RBI singles before Tyler Wotal drove in two runs with a single that cut the Bears' deficit to 9-5.Stroudsburg answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, before invoking the mercy rule with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end it."I was very proud of the girls," said Pleasant Valley head coach Steve Caffrey. "They could have given up when it was 9-1. They did what we asked; we asked them to play through the game, come out and play hard and be aggressive, and that's what they did the whole game."I'm proud of them. Stroudsburg was just a better team than us."Meara Hanyon started the Bears rally in the fourth inning with a single. Hanyon finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored.Alyssa Kotzmann had two hits, and drove in Hanyon for Pleasant Valley's first run with an RBI single in the third inning.Lauren Steckel, Taylor Steckel and Jenna Scheller all had two hits apiece for the Bears, who had 14 in the game.Pleasant Valley will lose Kotzmann, Scheller and Taylor Steckel to graduation.But Caffrey is hoping Hanyon, Lauren Steckel and Janelle Frable - all sophomores - along with freshman Cameron Caffrey and the rest of the team's underclassmen will benefit from the postseason experience and return eager to take another step forward next season."It means a lot to them," Caffrey said of the experience. "They get to see what it's about. Hopefully, they'll see what happened this year, and try to build from it next year, and know that they have to work a little harder."STRONG FINISH … Caffrey was happy to send his seniors out with a trip to the postseason after the team got off to a slow start to begin the year. "It's a really nice thing, especially when we started out 0-6 (in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference), and we were able to fight back and finish the season with an 8-8 record," Caffrey commented.OTHERS LEAVING ... PV is also going to lose Carissa DeSimone, Naomi Morales and pitcher Kelsey Diabo. DeSimone and Morales started Monday, and Diabo has been a reliever/spot starter during the season.UP NEXT … Stroudsburg will travel to No. 2 seed Emmaus today for a quarterfinal matchup. The Hornets won the most recent meeting 6-0.Pleasant Vy. 001 040 - 5 14 2Stroudsburg 301 524 - 15 17 0Frable, Diabo (4) and Morales; Marx and Kishbaugh. W - Marx. L - Frable. HR: Stroudsburg - Kishbaugh (4th, two on).