Northwestern players would have preferred to have a quick turnaround after losing to Palisades in the Colonial League finals.

It would have helped them to erase the 2-1 loss from their memories and allow them to focus on a bigger prize in districts.

Instead, rain forced them to wait two additional days before they could open play in the District 11 4A tournament. With Friday’s win in the quarterfinals, the Tigers now face the opposite situation, a quick turnaround for their semifinal matchup with Tamaqua.

In the quarterfinals, Northwestern (22-2) faced Bethlehem Catholic (5-15) and used a combination of a key home run and some small ball to down the Golden Hawks 11-1 in a game shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule.

Abby Dunstan, whose last hit was a first-inning home run in the opening game of the Colonial League playoffs, repeated the early game heroics when she stepped to the plate for the first time in eight days and homered to right field with a runner on first to give Northwestern a 2-0 lead.

Freshman Natalie Conner followed with a triple to right, but Hawks’ pitcher Maddie Bixler regained her composure and struck out the next two hitters to limit the damage.

In the top of the second, Bethlehem Catholic’s Mikaila Brooks hammered a pitch from Emma Freeman over the fence to straightaway center field and cut the lead to 2-1.

The rest of the way, Freeman would allow just one other hit and no runs.

Of the first six outs made by Northwestern hitters, five came on strikeouts as the Tigers looked to shake off some of the dust that had accumulated on their bats during the layoff. While Northwestern has some players who can launch softballs out of the park, they went to basics in the third inning.

The Tigers used three singles and a walk to produce two runs in the third with Conner and Mitman driving in runs on singles to center.

Sam Boyer then dropped a bunt in front of the plate and was thrown out at first, but Conner, who had singled, stole second, and moved to third on Mitman’s single, raced home and beat the throw back from first to make it 5-1 in favor of Northwestern.

While Freeman was buzzing through the Hawks lineup, Northwestern continued to find its groove at the plate. In the fourth, a one-out double by Rylee McGinley was followed by an error and back-to-back RBI singles by Dunstan and Conner to make it 7-1.

Dunstan, who had moved over to third, was thrown out at the plate when she went on contact on a ground ball to third.

With Conner on third and Mitman on second, Conner showed some speed when Ainsley Behler grounded a ball to short. Shortstop Angela Hodge elected to throw to third to get Mitman, but Conner’s speed allowed her to cross the plate before Mitman could be tagged out at third. The play left Northwestern up 8-1 through four innings.

With one out in the fifth, third baseman Sarah Banko was playing in to guard against a bunt, but it didn’t do any good because Ella Bressi dragged a bunt between the pitcher and first base for an infield single.

Lizzie Diehl doubled to bring in Bressi and one out later, Northwestern got RBI doubles from Freeman and Dunstan to end the game and eliminate Bethlehem Catholic.

Freeman finished her day in the circle with five innings, giving up just two hits and two walks while striking out 13.

After their long break between games, Northwestern will now have to turn around and be on the field at Patriots Park in Allentown just about 15 hours after beating Bethlehem Catholic.

The Tigers, the top seed in the tournament, will play fourth seeded Tamaqua (11-5) at 9 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

The game was scheduled early in the day to allow time for Northwestern’s seniors to transition from softball attire to gowns for Saturday night’s prom.

BACK ON TRACK … Playing on back-to-back days allowed District 11 to get their softball schedule to where it should be with the final scheduled for next Wednesday. Don’t look now, but the early forecast calls for a chance of showers on Wednesday. The finals will match the winner of the Northwestern/Tamaqua game against the winner of the Blue Mountain/North Schuylkill game. Blue Mountain and Northwestern met in last year’s district final that was won by the Eagles 4-2.

Bethlehem Cath. 010 00 - 1 2 2

Northwestern 203 33 - 11 12 1

Bixler and Ostrosky; Freeman and Dunstan. W - Freeman. L - Bixler. HR: Bethlehem Catholic - Brooks; Northwestern - Dunstan.