HAZLETON — A coin flip and a change of venue wound up playing larger than expected roles in Northwestern Lehigh’s PIAA semifinal game on Monday.

Until about four hours before game time, the contest was scheduled to be played at Wilkes University, but overnight rain left the field unplayable, and the game moved to Hazleton Area High School’s artificial turf field.

Then, a coin flip made Valley View the home team, giving it the last at-bat opportunity in the game, which it took advantage of for a 5-4 walk-off win and a trip to the finals at Penn State University on Thursday.

The turf came into play on the final play when junior Abbi Call, who will be playing college ball at Clemson, hit a sharp grounder to third that scooted quickly on the turf. As Sam Boyer turned to make a play on the ball, just the slightest stumble allowed the ball to go through and the winning run to score from second.

The run ruined a two-run top of the seventh that Northwestern used to tie the game.

Lizzie Diehl, who started several rallies for Northwestern in the district semifinals against Tamaqua, did the same thing in the PIAA semis when she dropped a base hit into short left field to open the seventh inning with her team down 4-2.

Diehl was on second with one out when Emma Freeman lifted a high fly to left that looked to be the second out of the inning, but the ball popped out of the glove of left fielder Mady Minelli to put runners on second and third with one out. After an intentional walk to Abby Dunstan, a wild pitch scored Diehl and a ground out by Natalie Conner tied the game.

Conner played a role in the game’s first run when she led off the second inning with a walk. When Shelby Mitman singled to right, Conner never broke her stride rounding second and the throw to third was wild and went out of play, allowing Conner to score and give Northwestern a 1-0 start.

Unfortunately, that would be the last time that Northwestern would play with a lead.

The Cougars banged out four hits in the second with Zoie Krapovich and Emily Moyles driving in runs for a 2-1 advantage.

Two innings later, Ainsley Behler singled and Boyer followed with a high, long fly ball to center field that hit at the base of the fence to tie the score.

In the bottom of the inning, a pair of singles and Moyles’ sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position for Valley View, and Ashlyn Palickar lined a single to center to score both runners and give the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 4-2.

Senior Rylee McGinley showed off her speed and defensive abilities in center field when she thwarted a pair of Valley View hitters looking for extra base hits.

The first came when she robbed Cora Castellani of extra bases with a running catch deep into left center field in the first inning. An inning later with two runners on and two outs, McGinley had to go into right center field to catch a ball hit by Kalli Karwowski that would have scored two runs.

McGinley will be attending the University of Notre Dame on an academic scholarship, but her softball career ended with Northwestern’s loss.

“It’s been the best four years. I wouldn’t have wanted to be with any other team,” said McGinley. “The game didn’t go our way and there were a lot of things contributing to that, but it’s been an amazing four years. We accomplished so much and, most of all, I made a lot of friends and that’s the most important thing.”

Pitcher Emma Freeman controlled the hard-hitting heart of the Cougars’ lineup, but the six through nine hitters went 5-for-11 (.455) with three runs scored and four RBIs.

The Tigers stranded seven runners on base, with four being left in scoring position, including three runners left on third base.

The biggest missed opportunity came in the second inning when Northwestern loaded the bases with nobody out, but senior Taylor Cawley was able to rebound and strand all three runners.

“I told the girls that I don’t think anything I could say in this moment will take the sting away; not today, not tomorrow, maybe not ever,” said Farber. “They battled and we were literally one hit away. I think we played better defense than they did. We hit the same, it just came down to that coin flip that made us the away team and gave them last at-bats.”

This season marked the third straight year that Northwestern played in the state semifinals, and also marked the first time since 2018 that the program won a District 11 championship.

“We have been scratching and clawing at this forever, and we wanted it really bad, but we came up short,” said Mitman, who is the only other senior on the roster, and will play softball at Penn State Harrisburg next year. “We played really hard, and it was tough to keep our energy up, but we kept fighting.”

ANOTHER BATTLE … Emma Freeman goes right into another run for a championship as a member of the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup softball team. Lehigh Valley won last year’s tournament. The games are played at Philadelphia’s FDR Park, and are sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies. Freeman was a member of last year’s team, and is competing again this season. The team will play two games at Patriots Park in Allentown on Wednesday night, facing two different teams of senior all-stars. The game will be a tune up for the Lehigh Valley team, and will also present the potential to see Freeman face Northwestern teammates Rylee McGinley and Shelby Mitman.

Northwestern 010 100 2 - 4 9 1

Valley View 020 200 1 - 5 9 2

Freeman and Dunstan; Cawley and Hallett. W - Cawley. L - Freeman.

Records: Northwestern (26-3); Valley View (23-2).