ALLENTOWN — The last time Palmerton and Northwestern Lehigh played, it ended in a thrilling 4-3 win for the Tigers.

There was no reason to believe that the script for Thursday night’s Colonial League championship game between the two softball rivals at Patriots’ Park in Allentown would be any different.

That was until the Northwestern players did a rewrite.

The new script had the Tigers using eight hits — five of them in a row — taking advantage of a couple of Palmerton miscues and scoring seven runs in the second inning.

Spoiler alert: The new script also had Northwestern winning its third league championship in six seasons with a 10-0 victory over the Blue Bombers.

Looking back, one may have known it would turn out to be one of those innings for Palmerton when Molly Schlofer led off the frame by reaching on a dropped third strike. Then came a string of three straight singles by Lily Kinnon, Lizzie Diehl and Ella Bressi to put the Tigers up 1-0 with the bases loaded and one out.

Emma Freeman hit a hard grounder to third that was played nicely by Jaylin Strohl, who threw home to get the force for the second out.

Then, the hit parade began. Natalie Conner and Abby Dunstan both delivered line drive singles to right with Conner’s hit bringing in two, and Dunstan’s bringing in another run to make it 4-0. Ainsley Behler then hit a line drive back to the mound that went off pitcher Hailey George’s glove for a single that again loaded the bases.

A passed ball brought in another run, and Schlofer dropped a single over the head of shortstop Hailey Barry and an error on the play gave the Tigers a 7-0 advantage. Sam Boyer delivered another infield single, but George recovered and got the final out to end the rally.

Freeman, a senior, got the start for Northwestern in the circle and put down Palmerton in order in the third.

Northwestern used a Palmerton error and a wild pitch to make it 8-0 through three innings.

The game then went back to the original script.

George and Freeman battled each other until the bottom of the sixth inning. George got the first out, before Conner singled and Dunstan walked on four pitches. Behler hit a hard grounder that was misplayed for an error and allowed Conner to score.

Schlofer, another member of the senior class, came to the plate and doubled to right allowing Dunstan to come home, hands raised, to make it 10-0 and end the game with the mercy rule.

“I have been looking to make good contact recently, and that was the spot to do it,” said Schlofer of the game-ending hit. “It felt awesome. Coach (Kate) Farber said just go up there and do what you do. She just wanted me to get contact and not worry about trying to get the run in.”

Freeman, who hadn’t started in either of the first two rounds of the league playoffs, didn’t show any signs of rust. She allowed just one hit and one walk over six innings, and was content to let her fielders do their jobs. As a senior though, Freeman was glad to be back in the circle and help her team get gold.

“It felt really good. It was amazing that we were able to put up so many runs against them,” said Freeman. “It’s been a bit of a change this season (not starting every game), and it’s been a better change for our team. I think we’re stronger having Liz (Diehl) and Ainsley (Behler) and me all able to pitch.”

The two teams, whose game on Thursday was the third meeting between the two this season, could have a fourth encounter in the district playoffs which begin next week. On this night though, coach Bob Hock, who at one time was Northwestern coach Kate Farber’s mailman when she was a child, it was all about a few things that went awry in one inning.

“It was the one bad inning. We had a dropped third strike, and some soft ones that they hit found spots,” said Hock. “It was 1-0 and we had two outs, but we couldn’t get that last one and the next thing you know it was 7-0 and things got out of hand.

“We’ve still got districts, and we’ll work at that and see where it leads us.”

BIRTHDAY GOLD ... The game was played on Farber’s birthday, and the gold medals provided a great present from her team. “I told my husband this morning that this could either be a great birthday, or a really bad birthday,” said Farber. “It turned out to be a great birthday.”

THE NEW NO. 1 ... With Pine Grove defeating Blue Mountain in the Schuylkill League playoffs and Northwestern winning the Colonial League, the Tigers leapfrog over the Eagles for the top spot in the District 11 4A classification. That could be big since Northwestern and Blue Mountain met in the district finals in both 2023 and 2024, with the Eagles winning both matchups. The top spot gives Northwestern a home game against Allentown Central Catholic on Wednesday.

Palmerton 000 000 - 0 1 3

N’western 071 002 - 10 12 2

George and Trumbore; Freeman and Dunstan. W - Freeman. L - George.

Records: Palmerton (19-4); Northwestern (20-3).