When Toni Bush talks about the girls lacrosse program at Pleasant Valley High School, she can’t help but get emotional.

“I remember the day a long time ago when it was snowing and I was standing outside the elementary school for parents to sign their kids up for our youth lacrosse program,” Bush said. “I was freezing, and I thought, what am I doing?”

Fifteen years have passed since Bush first organized scrimmages for girls in kindergarten through fourth grade. Since then, she has built one of the premier high school lacrosse programs in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

As interest in the sport grew and the youth program expanded, Bush presented a petition to the Pleasant Valley School Board, earning approval to introduce lacrosse at the high school level.

“Our first year of competition was 2015. We only had a JV team,” said Bush, who played college lacrosse at East Stroudsburg University. “We fielded a varsity team the following year. There were hardly any high school lacrosse programs around, so we had to travel to the Philadelphia area to play our games.”

Since then, the Bears have compiled a 112-47 record under Bush’s guidance — excluding the 2020 season, which was canceled due to the pandemic. The team went 18-0 in each of the last two regular seasons, winning its third consecutive EPC title with a 9-4 victory over Emmaus. In 2024, the squad captured its first District 11 Class 3A championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the PIAA tournament.

It’s been a labor of love for Bush, the only head coach in the program’s history.

“I’m a goal-oriented person,” she said. “To build a successful program takes time and sacrifice, and a lot of dedicated people who have worked hard to help us along.”

Bush credits coaches at every level — from the Pleasant Valley Youth Association to the middle school and high school — for contributing to the team’s growth. Two of her current assistants, Alyssa Grieco and Savannah Bauman, were freshmen on her first varsity squad.

All coaches in the program are required to be certified through USA Lacrosse.

“Unlike the major sports, everyone doesn’t know the game of lacrosse,” Bush said. “We’ve been fortunate to have athletically minded parents who are willing to learn the skill sets needed for the sport and want to see their kids do well.”

The numbers reflect the program’s continued momentum. There are currently 80 girls in the youth program. The middle school team is PIAA-sanctioned, though it often travels more than an hour to find sanctioned opponents due to the lack of local competition. The high school roster has ranged from 17 to 29 players in recent years.

Despite being recognized as the face of girls lacrosse in Brodheadsville, Bush is quick to deflect credit.

“The program is bigger than me,” she said. “And being that it’s not one of the major sports, it deserves to get media attention.”

Over the years, she has coached hundreds of athletes, including her three daughters — Alexandra, Devon, and Lauren.

“They all know I’m very tough on them,” she said. “But they understand why when they experience the success we’ve had.”

Her approach — tough on the outside, soft on the inside — has helped establish Pleasant Valley as a force in girls lacrosse and made Toni Bush synonymous with the sport’s rise in the region.

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CENTURY MARK ... Northern Lehigh sophomore softball pitcher Addie Smith recorded six strikeouts in Wednesday’s game against Southern Lehigh. That pushed her career total to 100 already with over two years left playing for the Bulldogs.

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RECORD BREAKER ... At Northwestern’s track meet with Saucon Valley on April 15, Sophia Schaffer broke the school record in the 100, finishing in 12.20. The previous mark was 12.5, which was held by three people: Sally Spaar (1988), Tiffany Cougle (1998), and Lauren Anderson (2014).

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MILESTONE ... Northwestern’s Emma Freeman recently recorded her 400th career strikeout. Freeman is currently 10-1 for the Tigers with a 1.30 ERA in 70 innings pitched. She has struck out 108 batters this season. At the plate, she is second on the team with a .513 batting average with 20 hits in 39 at bats. She has a .578 OBP, 1.296 OPS and .718 SLG with two doubles, two home runs, 12 RBIs, 20 runs scored and six walks with just four strikeouts.

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SALUTE TO SERVICE ... The track and field meet with Marian, Nativity and Panther Valley that will take place on April 23 at Mahanoy Area will also be a Salute to Service meet. The event will begin at 3:45 p.m.

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TRIBE PRIDE ... The District 11 boys Class 2A and 3A singles tournaments will begin Tuesday, April 22 at Lehigh University at 11:30 a.m. Lehighton’s top three singles players all qualified for the 2A event. Bayto Cokrlija earned the fourth seed and will face Bethlehem Catholic’s Liam Maloney in the first round; Bekim Cokrlija is seeded ninth and will face No. 8 Gavin Yost of Palisades; Isaac Carpenter will play fifth-seed Louis Flowers of Saucon Valley. The quarterfinals will also take place on Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals to be held Thursday, April 24, also at Lehigh University, with semis to begin at 12 p.m.