POTTSVILLE - There's a big reason why Tamaqua's softball team is making a major push to capture the Division I, Schuylkill Softball League pennant.

The Blue Raiders play with confidence, but don't assume they are going to win. A year ago they had to battle Pottsville four times, including a meeting in the league championship, managing just one victory, as the Crimson Tide won the title, the first since 2009.Wednesday afternoon, Tamaqua quickly took control and rallied around a 14-hit attack, and the splendid pitching of Baily Pederson to hogtie the Tide, 13-3. The win sets the table for a Friday showdown with undefeated Pine Grove."We had to win this one, it was so important," said Tamaqua head coach Jill Barron as she watched her team improve to 5-1 in the league and 9-2 overall. "We hit the ball consistently and that's been something we've been doing the better part of the season."Plus with Baily out there throwing, and the way our defense can come up with plays, is the reason we're off to a good start. We showed it in the early innings today."Pederson without a doubt was a thorn in the side of the Tide. She retired the first nine batters. But Pottsville finally cracked Pederson's code with a two-run rally."I felt really strong early," said the senior right hander who went the distance allowing eight hits and striking out eight. "I left my pitches up there in that one inning, and they hit me."The Raiders got hits up and down their line up, including nine from the first three players in the batting order, along with Cailyn Joseph, who belted two singles and drove in three runners."I made good contact, and all I wanted was to put the ball in play somewhere," said Joseph. "We're the type of team that will do anything to score a run, even if that means we need to sacrifice."Tamaqua erupted for four runs in the second sending 10 batters to the plate. The biggest hit in the win came off the bat of freshman Miranda Chinchar, who clubbed a triple to fuel the rally, and she also singled for an RBI later in the game.The heart of the offense yesterday found Lynn Kistler, Casey Hoffman and Brook Zuber all with three hits, with Zuber driving in a pair of runs and Hoffman also adding an RBI."We have balance as you can tell," said Barron of the hitting attack. "We kind of lost (momentum) in the third when (Taylor Fritz) got injured. We looked (stunned) to tell you the truth."Fritz left the game with a knee injury as she tried rounding third base on Kistler's hit, but fell to her knees scrambling back to the base. That came in a four-run fourth-inning rally, which gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead."We just gave them too many outs and our mental mistakes hurt badly," said Pottsville head coach Chuck Rinaldo "You can't allow those types of mistakes to a very good Tamaqua team - they took advantage of them."Now the next hurdle is at hand for the Raiders - a date with the team atop the division, Pine Grove."We're going home and come tomorrow, we're going to work and prepare for them," Joseph said with a smile, obviously thinking about the next big challenge.RISERS AND CURVES …Pederson's most effective pitch was a sneaky curve as an out pitch and her riser had the Tide fishing at times. She threw 87 pitches, but 35 came in the fourth inning. She threw 66 of her pitches for strikes.DEFENSIVE GEM …Kaitlyn Stauffenberg, who replaced Fritz at first, made a dandy play on a liner as she tug first to double up the Tide and end a sixth-inning rally. Pottsville had scored a run and had two runners on when Stauffenger snagged the liner and stepped on the bag.Tamaqua 040 310 5 - 13 14 1Pottsville 000 201 0 - 4 8 5Pederson and Zuber; Moran, Porter (2) and Marx. W - Pederson. L - Moran.