At first glance and impression, eighth-seeded Pleasant Valley’s 6-1 loss to top-seeded Emmaus in an East Penn Conference quarterfinal game could easily be attributed to Mari Eiswerth’s 14 strikeouts and two hits allowed.

Pleasant Valley head coach Michelle Albanese agreed in part, but watched her club waste some opportunities and post some faulty execution.

The Bears did jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first, but they couldn’t keep the momentum.

Emmaus broke the game open with a four-run fourth.

“Emmaus had a solid pitcher and our players just weren’t connecting today,” said Albanese. “We had the bases loaded in the first inning and scored one run. We stayed close through the second, and had a defensive error in the third that extended the inning in which Emmaus scored four. From there, they only scored one run here and there.

“Emmaus made good contact with the ball, and when they hit it found a gap or dropped in. Our girls made contact but not solidly and not often enough, too many strikeouts on our end today.”

Pleasant Valley starting pitcher Kailyn Getz admittedly again dealt with her pitches finding the right spot behind the plate. Getz did drive in the Bears’ lone run.

“I think my main issue was being able to find the umpire’s strike zone and keep my pitches in that zone,” she said. “I’ve seen myself having issues with that all season.

“Other than that, I felt as though I hit my spots fairly well, and I did the best I could while being on the mound.”

Getz was pleased with one particular pitch.

“My drop curve was working pretty good today,” said Getz. “Almost every time I would pitch it, the batter would pop it up. We were able to get an out, which helped us get out of a few jams.”

Albanese was satisfied with her senior hurler’s performance, and the head coach wasn’t discouraged with her giving up 11 hits, striking out two and walking three.

“Kailyn threw a good game,” said Albanese. “I couldn’t have asked her to do anything different. Emmaus just made some good contact with the ball, and got it down when it counted.

“Our defense backed her up and helped her out by making plays and getting outs.”

With a non-conference game against Wallenpaupack today on their regular schedule, Albanese likes the state of her club with a 12-7 record.

“I think this season is going mostly as expected,” she said. “Obviously, I would have liked to win some of the games we lost, but we beat a couple teams we knew were going to be tough games.

“Overall the girls are playing well defensively. We’ve made a few errors, but we’ve been able to recover from them. Hitting is something we are constantly working to improve. We have great hitters, they just don’t always put the hitting and defense together every game.”

Along with Getz, Albanese cited the steady performances of senior center fielder Lydia Borger (.388, 26 RBIs) and fellow senior third baseman Brianca Pridham (.525, 36 RBIs).

“Lydia Borger has been a standout in center this season, making some great catches and equally great throws,” said Albanese. “Brianca Pridham has been doing well at the plate, struggling some here and there but overall she has a solid bat. Her glove at third is one of the best I’ve seen, and she makes plays that many girls wouldn’t.”

The Bears, as of now, will enter the upcoming district playoffs as the top seed in the Class 5A bracket with Southern Lehigh on their heels. A loss to Wallenpaupack today could drop them from the top. Pocono Mountain East is in the third slot.

Regardless, Albanese is confident her team can bring home a title.

“Going into districts, we feel that we have a solid shot at a championship,” said Albanese. “We will definitely have to work hard to get there. We lost to Southern Lehigh early on and split with Pocono Mountain East, so there’s never a guarantee.

“But we definitely want it, and we are working hard to achieve that goal.”

Getz echoed the words of her coach, and recognized their turning point this season.

“Going into districts, I think our team is confident,” said Getz. “We can clean up a few things, but overall we are playing very well together while having fun.

“In my opinion, our second games against Pocono Mountain East and Stroudsburg and our Parkland game pushed us over the hump. Coming into our Parkland game, we were hoping to win, but not by 10-run ruling them. That was a big surprise to most of us on the team. To us, that was a big difference in our season.”

BIG HITTERS ... Emmaus received three hits and an RBI from Sophia Tranguch, while Sadie Haefeli added a pair of hits, two runs and an RBI. Avery DeFanti also blasted a solo home run for the Green Hornets. PV hits came from Getz and Jovie Valenzuela.

Pleasant Vy. 100 000 0 - 1 2 1

Emmaus 000 411 x - 6 11 0

Getz and Frable; Eiswerth and Schwab. W - Eiswerth. L - Getz. HR: Emmaus - DeFanti (5th, none on).

Records: Pleasant Valley (12-8); Emmaus (18-3).