ALLENTOWN – They live and die by the small ball softball game.

Pine Grove will pick at you with bunt after bunt.

It doesn’t matter if its the first game of the year or a late-season playoff game - it’s in the Cardinals’ DNA.

That was the case on Thursday evening when Pine Grove turned back Palmerton, 6-3, in the District 11 Class 3A semifinals.

The win sends the Cardinals into familiar territory as it advances to play Palisades on Wednesday in the district title game.

Palmerton - which entered as the No. 1 seed - struggled to get on track with its offensive attack. By the time the Blue Bomber bats finally came alive against winning pitcher Hannah Aungst, the Cardinals had built a comfortable 4-0 lead.

“They are a solid team. They do a great job with the bunting game,” said Palmerton manager Robert Hock. “It’s their game and they execute it well - and it’s tough to beat that.

“I think they also had a little bit of luck on the some of the small stuff they did, but that’s part of the game. The bottom line is that they executed more often than not.”

Indeed, that was the bottom line.

“It’s our game,” said winning manager Ryan Leffler. “Our goal was to put up one run an inning, and we almost did it. They have a great pitcher in (Carly) Gaffney, so to score as often as we did was really nice.”

Pine Grove (15-6) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Emily Fisher singled with one out, stole second, reached third on a throwing error, and crossed home on Addison Zimmeran’s two-out RBI single.

The Cardinals made it 2-0 in the third. The Blue Bombers came up with a superb defensive effort from third baseman Megan Matsko - who was nothing short of stellar as she kept making plays one right after another - as she cut down a potential run on a suicide squeeze bunt with a nifty toss to catcher Kelsey Balliet to tag Leffler at the plate. But Fisher, who bunted on the play, alertly raced to second and eventually scored on a Madison Shiffer single.

Palmerton had a potential storm brewing in the home third, but Emily Christopher and Sydney Frantz were stranded at first and second.

Meanwhile, Pine Grove continued to manufacture runs. It scored a run in the fourth when Samantha Scheibley reached second on a hit and wild pitch, and came home on a double off the bat of Sunshine Krill. In the fifth they used a safety squeeze bunt from Aungst to plate Shiffer.

Trailing 4-0, the Bombers finally got on the board in the home fifth. Maddison Green stirred the pot with a single, and eventually scored on Matsko’s two-out basehit. Gaffney then aided her pitching cause with an RBI that made it 4-2.

The Cardinals answered with a two-run outburst in the sixth as Leffler walked, Fisher singled, and Shiffer picked up an RBI single. Zimmerman brought home their final run with a ground out to s second.

The Bombers would make one last stab at trying to catch Pine Grove when Frantz boomed a triple to right in the seventh, and Hailey Barry brought her home. But Aungst set the final two Palmerton batters down to end the game.

“It was a great run by us, I couldn’t ask for more,” Hock said as his team left the field for the final time in 2023.

TOUGH OUT … Palmerton senior catcher Balliet had to leave the game when she collided with third baseman Matsko as both players were trying to field a bunt pop up. Balliet is the lone senior on her team.

QUOTEABLE … “It was her last game of her career, and she didn’t want to leave the field. But there are more important things than softball,” said Hock about Balliet’s injury.

BY THE NUMBERS … Palmerton had seven hits as Green, Christopher, Gaffney, Frantz, Matsko, Pengelly and Gaffney all had one. Pine Grove had 12 hits. Zimmerman led the way with three, while, Shiffer and Leffler had two each. Fisher, Dorsey, Aungst and Scheibley added one apiece.

Pine Grove 101 112 0 - 6 12 2

Palmerton 000 020 1 - 3 7 1

H. Aungst and Bohr; Gaffney and Balliet, Delgado (6); W - H. Aungst. L - Gaffney.