Errors hurt St. Basil in PIAA AA semifinal loss to Holy Redeemer

ALLENTOWN — Throughout its prior four postseason games, the St. Basil softball defense had been on a roll.

The Panthers were smooth and clean in the field for the most part, senior pitcher Nichole Eberhard was getting out of rare jams and they weren’t giving opponents extra outs. But that hadn’t been the case all season.

Tuesday, that other side reared its head and it proved to be costly. Errors and miscues hit St. Basil at an inopportune time and the Panthers weren’t able to overcome them in a 4-2 loss to Holy Redeemer in a PIAA Class AA semifinal at Patriots Park.

“That’s what happens,’ St. Basil coach Steve Sonneborn said. “I thought we played well. We had a couple mistakes but we battled and that’s what we’ve been doing for most of the year.’

The game actually started on Monday, but lasted all of five batters before thunder, lighting and a deluge of rain forced a postponement. Roughly 23 hours later, the game picked back up where it was. While there were some challenges, including a long bus ride home, soaked equipment and a return trip up to Allentown, the Panthers were sharp and had energy in warm-ups.

Sonneborn was worried the team would be flat trying to pick up where it had left off. But once they got on the field, his concerns were gone at least through warm-ups.

Centerfielder Myranda Gormley, the team’s other senior, didn’t think there was any effect from the layoff, other than building anticipation of wanting to play. St. Basil had a runner in each of the first two innings but couldn’t drive anything home. While the Panthers scored first, things wouldn’t hold up.

“We worked hard,’ Gormley said. “We’re making school history just by being here. I’m really proud of where we are and I know everybody else is really proud. We knew we were going to play a good team and when you play a good team and make mistakes, they capitalize on them.’