Freedom left fielder Natalie Stannard was where every player wants to be and no player wants to be: up to bat with two outs, two runners on base, the count 0-2, her team trailing by a run in the last inning of a softball semifinal.

“I saw that pitch right on the outside part of the plate and put it where I was told to,” said Stannard, whose base hit to right field scored both the tying and winning runs last Monday night when Freedom was the 3-2 East Penn Conference semifinal winner over Parkland at Patriot’s Park in Allentown.

“It’s a great place to be,” Stannard said. “The pressure? At times, it’s a good feeling. Once I hit it, I knew it was going to fall where I needed it to. I just didn’t know if that second run was gonna’ come in, but then we had some clutch running by Taylor Pavelko from first base who scored on that hit.”

Freedom coach Michele Laubach had some reminders for Stannard as she prepared to step up to the plate.

“I said, ‘You gotta’ lock in here. This is everything we worked on. With that pitch, there’s a big gap between first and second. That’s right where you punch the ball,’” Laubach told her.

Now it was up to Patriot pitcher Jennifer Slanovec and Freedom’s defense to put away the game.

“I just wanted to keep the runs down as much as I could, and I had the confidence in my team that if the ball was hit into play, we would get the out,” said Slanovec.

Two strike outs and an infield pop-up later and the Patriots were headed to the EPC final against Northampton, the other semifinal winner against Whitehall.

“We just knew we were going to attack the seventh inning and take it home,” Slanovec said. “It was amazing, and everyone contributed today.”

Pinch runner Jade Hoffman scored the tying run on Stannard’s base hit.

“We worked all week on that low and away pitch (Katie) Zaun throws, and I think the first time through our batting order we were chasing some balls out there, but after that we were able to put the bat on the ball,” Coach Laubach said.

Freedom shortstop Julia Heineman led off the top of the fourth inning with a triple that dropped between center and right field and scored on a ground out by Corrin Gill. That tied the game, 1-1, after an RBI by Parkland’s Ellyanna Kromer in the bottom of the second inning scored Leanna Zagrodnik who doubled.

“This was the second time through the lineup, so we needed to get something started and that was my plan to start something however I could,” Heineman said.

In the top of the fifth, Brenna Ortwein led off with a double and reached third base on an error but was left stranded.

The Trojans took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Zagrondik scored after Jenna Piatkiewicz was safe at first base on an error, but Gill saved a run when her throw to home beat Cassidy Sweeney.

“When we needed to make the big plays, we came up with them, and you know, this field is tough to play on,” said Laubach. “It’s very hard and the one error was a very bad hop. It’s tough to field on that.”

Freedom third baseman Matison Piripavel also saved a run in the bottom of the sixth after a passed ball was retrieved by catcher Brianna Cole.

“It was all or nothing at that point,” Piripavel said. “[Katie Gontkosky] was taking a super big lead, Bri threw down to third, and the runner broke for home so I chased her all the way to home and then I dove and tug her out.

“I feel that was a big startup for us. It got the energy going again and pushed us through to the next inning offensively. We prepped a lot and we knew what we were facing. They’re an amazing team, but we’re also an amazing team.”