WHITEHALL – Pleasant Valley squeaked its way into the District 11 Class 6A softball playoffs as an 11th seed.

The Bears faced Whitehall Monday afternoon, and after a slow start to the game, both teams picked up some steam in the later innings.

PV got on the board first in the top of the third inning, but Whitehall quickly answered and cruised to an 11-2 victory in the opening round of districts.

“For the most part, I thought we played a better game than we normally do,” Pleasant Valley head coach Steve Caffrey said. “Unfortunately, we had a couple of errors that kept it from being tighter. They were able to capitalize on things and just take it from there.

“We had to play an A game and we probably played a B-minus ... and then everything fell apart for us at the end.”

Whitehall’s Lindsey Gawrys led the Zephyr offense. She tied the game in the third with an RBI triple down the right field line, and later added two more hits.

“Lindsey’s been tremendous all year,” Whitehall head coach Blake Morgan said. “She was second-team all conference, and she’s just been a great player for us. She’s a good kid, shows up every day and works hard. When she’s up and we have a chance to score, we’re thinking she’s going to get it done.”

The game remained close until the sixth inning when Whitehall put up a six spot that ultimately ended Pleasant Valley’s season.

Although there were peaks and valleys for the Bears, Caffrey felt there was one thing missing from his team this year.

“We could’ve done better if we had more of a commitment,” Caffrey said. “The lack of commitment kind of dictated our season on how well we did. We have kids that they think they could just show, and good things are going to happen.

“But when you face better pitching down in the Lehigh Valley, if you’re not consistently batting and taking reps, you’re not going to get better. That’s what happens when we come down here.”

Numbers were also an issue for the 2019 Bears squad. Caffrey also mentioned he was getting around 25 kids for a junior varsity and varsity softball team.

“We don’t get the kids to try out,” Caffrey said. “My outfield is all my basketball players, and two of them are sisters. One came out last year for the first time, and another came out this year first time. I’m walking down the halls asking kids to come out. A lot of our kids are playing multiple sports.”

“Our kids are committed to multiple things. It’s not just softball. In the past when we’ve had the better teams, I had kids that were playing travel ball. If I had 15 kids on the team, I probably had 12 or 13 that were playing travel ball. Right now, I might have two.”

UP NEXT ... Whitehall advances to play Nazareth this afternoon.

KEY THROW … Whitehall centerfielder Meghan Hutter fired a bullet to home plate to prevent Cameron Caffrey from scoring on a fly ball in the first inning.

EARLY JAM … Pleasant Valley pitcher Janelle Frable was able to escape the first inning while leaving a runner stranded on third.

BUNTING THE BALL … Whitehall was able to play small ball successfully by bunting runners over. On the other hand, PV struggled to do so in the top of the third when they were threatening to score more runs.

Pleasant Vy. 001 010 0 - 2 6 4

Whitehall 002 126 x - 11 8 2

Frable, Jennings (6) and Steckel; Cunningham and Lasko. W - Cunningham. L - Frable.