ALLENTOWN - Errors happen.

They’re part of the game — even for teams making a run at a district championship.

Unfortunately, when those miscues occur in big games at the wrong time, the outcome can be devastating.

On Thursday, Tamaqua found that out the hard way.

Locked in a tie game with Bangor in the District 11 Class 4A semifinals, the Blue Raiders couldn’t execute a force play at second base with two outs in the ninth inning. On the play, the Slaters’ Nikki Smith raced home with the winning run to give her team a 4-3 victory and a berth in the finals.

“We had an out there, but it just didn’t go right,” said Tamaqua head coach Jill Barron, whose team was eliminated from the playoffs with the loss. “They took advantage of our mistakes, and we just made one too many today.

“We had a really good season ... we just didn’t come through with a win today. But we did have a 17-5 season, and no one can take that away from us.”

In that decisive ninth, Bangor’s Serena DeAngelis reached on a one-out single. After pinch-hitter Smith worked a walk, Emma Rambo hit a grounder to short that resulted in a force out at third.

Morgn Karasek followed with a roller up the middle that Raider shortstop Jen Frederickson ranged to her left to field. Frederickson reached the ball and tried to flip it with her glove to second baseman Courtney Hoffman. The two, however, couldn’t connect and the ball trickled far enough away for Smith to race home.

“That happens to everyone,” said Bangor mentor Rich Kessler about teams making errors. “We like to keep the pressure on with our speed, and I think that was a contributor on that play. They had to hurry up a little bit and they misplayed the ball.

“We were just hoping we’d get some runners on and hit the ball hard and see what happens.”

Tamaqua hit the ball hard often in the extra-inning affair.

Frederickson drilled an RBI double to left in the second inning to open the scoring, while Brooke Zellner ripped a two-run double to the left field gap in the sixth that gave the Blue Raiders a 3-1 lead.

“We had some solid hits, but they also covered a lot of ground in the gaps,” said Barron. “We hit the ball hard today.

“We had two leads and we just couldn’t hold it. We went ahead on that two-run hit, but then we went out and threw the ball around. They took advantage of that, scored two runs and tied the game right back up.”

As Barron said, the Slaters (17-5) quickly erased the deficit.

A throwing error on a bunt single resulted in a runner on second base, and a single to center put Slaters on the corners with no outs. A wild pitch scored one run and sent the trailing runner all the way to third. After an out was recorded on a grounder to third, a return throw to third was wide, allowing the tying run to trot home.

“We’ve actually been pretty good defensively and haven’t had too many ugly games,” said Barron. “We’ve kind of been on point ... and we weren’t really worried about our defense. We’ve been making the plays all year, but today I just don’t know.

“Unfortunately it didn’t go our way today.”

HARD-LUCK LOSS ... Tamaqua hurler Jada Schellhammer pitched well in defeat, striking out eight. She allowed eight hits and just two walks. “Jada pitched a great game,” said Barron. “They have good hitters over there and she kept a lot of them at bay, which was nice.

MISSED CHANCES ... The Raiders left three runners in scoring position, two of them at third, over the final four innings. Bangor also left a runner on second base in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

SAD FAREWELL ... Five Tamaqua players in the starting lineup were seniors and played their final high school game. They included Zellner, Hoffman, Taylor Donnan, Madson Matsago (who doubled in the contest), and Kaitlyn Stauffenberg. One other senior was Rebecca Ansbach.

Tamaqua 010 002 000 - 3 5 3

Bangor 010 002 001 - 4 8 2

Schellhammer and Zellner; DeAngelis and H. Klingle. W - DeAngelis. L - Schellhammer.