5/3/25
 
WEST WINDSOR TWP., NJ – Lackawanna College softball held an early lead and had runners in position throughout the first few innings, but top-seed Delaware Tech CC did what the Falcons could not, pouncing on chance after to chance to pull away, 11-3, for the five-inning victory on Saturday morning in a Region XIX Division II elimination game at Mercer County CC.
 
The Falcons (29-26) led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the third inning, but Delaware Tech (30-5) scored three runs in the bottom half to take the lead for good, added another in the bottom of the fourth, then scored five in the fifth inning to walk the game off. Lackawanna scored three runs on five hits, walking three times. The Falcons struck out nine times and committed three errors.
 
Lackawanna hit the front early, putting their first two runners on and scoring on a blooped singled to left from Laniah Tasker (Chambersburg, PA) to take a 1-0 advantage. Tasker finished with two hits on the day, along with a walk. The Falcons stranded a pair of runners after her hit, however, and couldn't expand their early advantage.
 
DTCC struck back in the bottom frame, as Brooklyn Richardson hit a fly ball to right field that hit the fence and rolled away from Kaislyn Currie (Gibbons, AB). Richardson made it to third with a run home, but an error on the infield let Richardson come home to make it 2-1, Del Tech.
 
Starter Mia Scalese (Moscow, PA) put up a big zero in the second inning, and the Falcons answered back in the top of the third. Emmalee Mowery (Mechanicsburg, PA) led off with a single, and Currie was hit by a pitch to put two on. A sac bunt placed the runners at second and third, and a wild pitch on ball four to Tasker let Mowery score to make it 2-2. Gracie Sokol (Belle Vernon, PA) popped up to shallow right, and Currie took a chance and sprinted for home, sliding in safely to give the Falcons a 3-2 advantage heading into the bottom half.
 
In the bottom of the third, Del Tech had runners on first and second with one away, when a pop up to the outfield was dropped for an error, letting the tying run score and putting runners on the corners. A strikeout put two away, but the big hit came one batter later, with a double to the left field corner from Natalie Berry to make it 5-3, DTCC, heading into the fourth.
 
The Falcons had their chances in the top half, when Scalese singled and Kizbelth Ortiz (New Britain, CT) ripped a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third with nobody out. This proved to be a pivotal moment in the game, as pitcher Kylee Hill struck out the next three batters to strand the potential tying run at second and keep the Falcons off the board.
 
DTCC scored another run on a sac fly to left field in the bottom of the fourth, leaving Lackawanna in a three-run hole heading into the fifth. The Falcons had a runner on second with two outs, but a ground out up the middle ended the potential rally and brought Del Tech to the plate in the bottom half.
 
The top-seed wasted little time, using a leadoff single and a two-run homer to left that made it 8-3. A walk and two singles loaded the bases, still with nobody out, and a two-run single to left pushed DTCC ahead, 10-3. Another walk loaded the bases again, and a wild pitch let another run score and triggered the run-rule victory for Del Tech, ending Lackawanna College's playoff run and its 2025 season.
 
Mowery scored a pair of runs and finished 1-for-2 with a walk on the day. Currie had a run and a walk, while Scalese and Ortiz added the other two hits, alongside Laniah Tasker's pair. Sokol had the other RBI. Scalese pitched well until the fifth inning rally form DTCC. She took the loss, giving up eleven runs, seven earned, on eleven hits in four innings.
 
Lackawanna College finishes 2025 with a third-place regular season finish and just one game shy of a potential Atlantic District berth. Delaware Tech would later defeat Mercer County CC in extras, 5-4, to force a final championship game later in the afternoon, which Mercer then won, 9-2, to capture its first Region XIX championship since 2018. The Vikings and DTCC will participate in the Atlantic A and Atlantic B district playoffs next weekend, hosting the Region 10 runners-up and champions, respectively.