It’s the time of year when teams climb on board buses and take some long trips.

For the Athens Wildcats, their Monday bus ride from just about three miles away from the New York State line in Bradford County, it will take a little over two-and-a-half hours to get to the friendly softball confines of Northwestern Lehigh High School.

Athens and Northwestern will open play in the PIAA 4A softball tournament Monday afternoon. Athens won the District 4 championship while the Tigers won gold in District 11.

When the Wildcats arrive in New Tripoli, the bats might not be the first thing they unload.

The team, which stands at 21-1 after defeating Central Columbia in the District 4 4A championship game on Thursday, relies on pitching and defense to win games. That’s not to say that they can’t hit but compared to Northwestern’s .360 season batting average as a team, Athens’ .291 average falls short.

The first one to grab her bat will likely be sophomore Gretchan Hiley, who will also be the likely starting pitcher for Athens when they face Northwestern Lehigh.

Hiley led the team with a .386 average this season and posted a 0.93 ERA and struck out 260 batters in 128 innings in the circle. Hiley’s offensive cohorts include classmate McKenna Jarvis (.342) and junior Savannah Finan (.382). Jarvis also led the team with 13 stolen bases.

The Wildcats prefer to play a small ball style of softball and hit just three home runs all season. Northwestern junior Abby Dunstan has 10 home runs on the season and as a team, Northwestern (24-2) has hit 16 home runs, with freshman Natalie Conner hitting three, Emma Freeman with two, and Shelby Mitman with one.

The matchup with Hiley in the circle and Dunstan at the plate will be one to watch.

While Hiley gets about 68-percent of her outs via the strikeout, there is always work for the defense to do and the Wildcats can show some leather.

The team has a .951 fielding percentage and has made 23 errors in 22 games, but with Hiley’s penchant for strikeouts and good fielding, the team has allowed just seven unearned runs this season.

Northwestern won its first district championship since 2018 when it defeated North Schuylkill in the district championship and come into states looking for an extended run. After all, they and the 15 other teams in the tournament are all just four wins away from being state champions.

“I think the fact that we have had to play a couple teams (Tamaqua and North Schuylkill) that we really haven’t seen this season will help us down the road,” said coach Kate Farber, whose team scrimmaged North Schuylkill prior to the season, but had not seen Tamaqua.

“Once you’re in states, you’re always playing a good team and generally you don’t know much about them. That’s how it was for us, especially with Tamaqua, but we found ways to beat them.”

The Tigers can counter Hiley with Freeman, who threw 133 innings and has struck out 197 hitters so far this season, posting a 1.16 ERA. In her career, the junior pitcher is just five strikeouts away from reaching 500 for her career.

Northwestern also matches up well defensively.

It’s tough to get a ball through the left side of the infield with Conner at short and Sam Boyer anchoring third base. Rylee McGinley’s speed in center field helps her get to a lot of balls that other center fielders just don’t get to. Fellow senior Mitman has been an unsung hero at first base in her time with the Tigers.

While Northwestern hasn’t won a district championship in a while, they are no strangers to the PIAA tournament. As last year’s District 11 runner-up they had to open on the road at Archbishop Ryan and then had to go to Central Columbia to face Valley View in the quarterfinals.

After beating the Cougars, they were closer to home against Blue Mountain in the semifinals at Lyons Ballfield. The game was a classic, but Northwestern was on the wrong end of a 4-2 score and fell to the Eagles, who went on to win a state championship.

“It’s going to be really nice to have one more game on our home field,” said senior Rylee McGinley. “The seniors are especially thankful for that and we’re really looking forward to playing.”