In a Bethlehem rematch that stood at 1-1 from the regular season, Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic competed in the East Penn Conference softball semifinal last Thursday when the Hurricanes defeated the Hawks, 5-2, at Pates Park in Allentown.

“I was a little nervous going in, but I had a little break since Nazareth, so my arm felt good,” said winning pitcher Paige Zigmund.

The Hurricanes were on the scoreboard first with an RBI single from Kyla Benner that scored Mikayla Ruppert in the first inning. Ruppert then had an RBI double in the second inning that scored Julie Curti, who had two doubles in the game.

“I think they were both supposed to be inside, but they had a little too much plate, I think,” said Curti. “It felt good because I haven’t been hitting good, so I’ve been making adjustments and it finally paid off.”

The Hawks scored a run in the bottom of the second on an RBI by Morgan Christine, but the Hurricanes went up 3-1 when Alexa Burger had a base hit that went over the second baseman’s head.

Becahi loaded the bases in the fourth inning on singles by Tasha Miner, Julia Sledz, and a walk by Christine but failed to score.

“I just threw my game,” said Zigmund, who was feeling confident in her inside fastball and change up.

The Hurricanes scored their last two runs in the fifth inning when Brooke Zigmund singled to score Apryl Cruz, and Burger singled to score Sarah Curti.

Earlier in the week, the Hurricanes defeated Nazareth, 7-0, in the quarterfinal, highlighted by Ruppert’s grand slam.

“I knew she threw first-pitch strikes, so I just went right after it, and it happened to go over,” Ruppert said. “It kind of gave us a boost of energy, and we really knew we could do it. A lot of people doubted us going into Nazareth, but we knew what we had and what we were capable of doing.”