The Emmaus High School softball team entered the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs as the top seed with an 18-3 overall record and 14-2 mark in the conference.

The Hornets took down the eighth seed Pleasant Valley 6-1 in the quarterfinal round to advance to the final four.

In Monday’s semifinal, Emmaus held a slim lead in the fifth inning, but fifth seed Nazareth took back the lead and then closed out strong with a six-run, seventh inning to win the EPC semifinal 10-3 Monday night at Patriots Park in Allentown.

In their lone meeting during the regular season, the Hornets got the better of the two-time defending conference champion Blue Eagles, 7-6, back on March 20th. But Nazareth was looking for some revenge and a shot at winning their third consecutive title.

Emmaus held a 2-1 lead after four innings, but the Blue Eagles scored nine runs over the final three innings to pull away late and take control of the game. The Hornets had their six-game win streak end.

“Nazareth did a good job at the plate and really had a couple of big hits that put them over the top,” said head coach Richard Giering. “I’m proud of how our girls competed and played hard. We’ll regroup and get better from this.”

The two teams had a defensive battle through the first three innings as the game was scoreless into the fourth. Nazareth took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth after a leadoff single turned into a triple after a fielding error allowed the ball to go to the fence. The run then scored on a wild pitch.

The Hornets answered in the bottom-half of the frame. With one out, Sophia Tranguch and Morgan Schwab connected on back-to-back singles. Two batters later, Sydney Bennett dropped down a bunt that she beat out and recorded an RBI to tie the score. A fielding error by the shortstop in the next at-bat allowed Emmaus to take a 2-1 lead.

The big hit then came in the top of the fifth inning, Shauna McNamee took a ball over the left field fence to give the Blue Eagles a 4-2 lead. McNamee hit an RBI single into left field to push Nazareth’s lead to 5-3 in the seventh inning. Then, Natalie Chloros stepped to the plate and crushed a three-run homer over the center-field fence to make it a five-run lead for the Blue Eagles to cap a six-run inning.

“Those two hitters had a big game for them,” Giering said. “They really had some impressive at-bats and really stepped up for their team when they needed it.”

Both Tranguch and Schwab finished with three hits. Avery Shank and Bennett each recorded an RBI against Nazareth.

In the quarterfinal round win over Pleasant Valley, Tranguch went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Sadie Haefeli reach base four times, going 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs and an RBI. Schwab was 2-for-3 in the win over the Bears.

Mari Eisworth allowed just one PV hit over seven innings while striking out 14 batters and walking just two.

Emmaus will now prepare for the District 11 6A Tournament and will be a high seed when it begins next week. Nazareth will now play the three seed, Freedom in the championship game.