ALLENTOWN – Traditions have to begin somewhere.

Wednesday night at Patriots Park in Allentown, a pair of games pitting the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup softball team against two different Lehigh Valley All-Star teams comprised of high school seniors may have just been the first of an annual tradition.

The event allowed seniors to take a final bow in front of family and friends, and gave the Carpenter Cup team a little practice before they begin their tournament at Philadelphia’s FDR Park on Monday.

In the opening game, the Carpenter Cup team – itself an all-star team of high school sophomores and juniors - defeated a team comprised of seniors from Dieruff, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Northampton, Northern Lehigh, Northwestern Lehigh, Palmerton, Parkland, Pleasant Valley, and Whitehall high schools by a 10-1 score.

The game was played with a time limit rather than a set number of innings to ensure that the games would be completed without going extra innings or dragging on.

“It was the Carpenter Cup kids last year,” said Carpenter Cup coach Brian Fehnel of how the two games came to be. “We asked them what they thought of playing a pair of scrimmages and they thought it would be awesome, so we worked it all out and I’m glad that we did.”

The West team scored a first-inning run when Pleasant Valley’s Kailyn Getz, who was also the team’s starting pitcher, worked a bases-loaded walk to force home Southern Lehigh’s Lila Padden with what would be its only run of the game. Padden and Brianca Pridham (Pleasant Valley) had the only two hits for the all-stars, as they both recorded first-inning singles against Whitehall’s Morgan Laub. Mari Eisworth (Emmaus) and Emma Freeman (Northwestern Lehigh) also pitched in the game for the Carpenter Cup team.

“This was a lot of fun,” said Freeman. “It’s been good to get to play with girls that I have only played against before and to get to know them a little.”

Isabella Germani (Southern Lehigh), Eisworth, and Laub all had three hits for the Carpenters.

Abby Derr (Emmaus), Germani, and Laub each had two RBI.

Getz started the game for the West All-Stars, and Mikell Kulp of Northampton came on in relief.

In the nightcap, the Carpenter Cup team opened a 5-1 lead before the East All-Stars scored three times to close the gap. Laub started for the Carpenters and went three innings before Freeman came on to finish out the game.

Palisades’ Karlye Teman, who was a member of last year’s Carpenter Cup team, started for the East before giving way to Pen Argyl’s Jillian Bradley.

Bradley was lifted in the middle of an inning late in the game and received a loud ovation as Teman re-entered.

Catie Russo (Palisades) and Derr both had a two-run double for the Carpenter Cup team. Russo, facing teammate Teman in three plate appearances, was the highlight showdown of the night.

Teman won the first battle by throwing a nasty change-up to strike out Russo in the first before the junior infielder delivered her double to give the Carpenters a 2-1 lead in the third inning. In their final battle, Russo worked a walk.

Teman was a force at the plate, as well, delivering an RBI double and an RBI single. Notre Dame of Green Pond’s Hannah Lilly had two singles and two runs scored, while Bradley drove in a pair of runs with a two-out single in the East’s three-run sixth inning rally.

The East team featured seniors from Bangor, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Liberty, Nazareth, Notre Dame of Green Pond, Palisades, Pen Argyl, Saucon Valley, Stroudsburg, and Wilson.

UP NEXT ... The Carpenter Cup tournament begins on Monday and is a double-elimination series. Each team is guaranteed three games. Lehigh Valley will face a team from the Philadelphia Catholic League at 8 a.m. Monday, and then play Jersey Shore immediately following the opener.

At 2 p.m., Lehigh Valley will play Olympic Colonial to wrap up its opening day play in the “A” bracket.

Teams from the “B” bracket also play on Monday with the “C” and “D” brackets competing on Tuesday. Two teams from each bracket square off on Wednesday to determine the 2025 Carpenter Cup champion.

“I’ve said every year that I felt that we had a shot to win it and every year, we have been in the mix,” said Fehnel of what he thinks of his team’s chances. “We just want to go down and be in the mix and see what happens.”

GAME 1

Carpenter Cup 040 51 - 10 15 0

West All-Stars 100 00 - 1 2 0

CC – Laub, Eiswerth (3), Freeman (5) and Derr; WAS – Getz, Kulp (4) and Padden, Price

HR – none

GAME 2

Carpenter Cup 002 003 - 5 8 0

East All-Stars 100 003 - 4 7 2

CC – Laub, Freeman (4) and Duerr; EAS – Teman, Bradley (4), Tema (6) and Sullivan, Espinosa

HR – none