A hard hit ball to the elbow of Freedom pitcher Jennifer Slanovec in the first inning couldn’t stop the Patriot senior from responding with a leadoff home run in the second to propel the Pates to a 10-0 victory in five innings over Northampton in the East Penn Conference softball final last Thursday at Patriot’s Park in Allentown.

“It was an amazing day for all of us, especially knowing it’s the first time in school history anyone’s come to the championship in EPC’s,” Slanovec said. “It felt great for me to be able to put our team on the board, which gave us some momentum in that inning.”

That was the beginning of a big inning for Freedom, and Brenna Ortwein kept the hits coming with a triple to right field.

“I love hitting after Jen. She motivates me, and you don’t want to come up next and get an out, so I saw a pitch on the outside corner, and it ended up working out in our favor,” Ortwein said.

The Patriots scored two runs on K-Kids errors, Natalie Stannard had an RBI, and Matison Piripavel had two RBI on her double to center field.

“Top to bottom, we all hit through the lineup, and I was glad to contribute,” said Piripavel. “That was a big catalyst that pushed us through.”

Piripavel returned to the plate in the fourth inning with a line drive and then stole second base.

“I was down with two strikes and I knew I had to get on any way I could and keep the runs coming,” she said.

After Slanovec reached first base on an error, Ortwein hit a three-run homer. Hailey Snisky hit a double and reached third on an error, but was left on base.

Even with a 9-0 lead, the Pates knew momentum has the potential to shift.

“We were never really comfortable, and we knew Northampton’s a very good hitting team that had the capability to do exactly what we did,” said Ortwein. “Jack (Roman, assistant coach) kept us in line and he told us the game wasn’t over and we needed that reminder.”

Northampton’s biggest threat came in the fourth inning when they left two runners stranded.

“I felt this was going to be another one run game, but our offense came out and exploded here,” said Freedom head coach Michele Laubach, “and regardless of the score, I know at any moment that could change quick, so you’re still in it till it’s over. It really is special, and it means a lot.”

Slanovec’s base hit in the fifth inning scored Madison Glick, who tripled, to give the Patriots their 10th run of the game.

“It’s everything we worked for, and we knew we could get it this year with the talent and experience we had,” said Ortwein, “but we still had to come out and play and get it.”