Traditions have to begin somewhere.

Last Wednesday night at Patriot Park in Allentown, a pair of games pitting the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup softball team against two different Lehigh Valley All-Star teams comprised of high school seniors, may have been the first of an annual tradition. The event allowed seniors to take a final bow in front of family and friends and gave the Carpenter Cup team a little practice before they begin their tournament at Philadelphia’s FDR Park on Monday.

In the opening game, the Carpenter Cup team – itself an all-star team of high school sophomores and juniors – defeated a team comprised of seniors from Dieruff, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Northampton, Northern Lehigh, Northwestern Lehigh, Palmerton, Parkland, Pleasant Valley and Whitehall high schools by a 10-1 score.

The game was played with a time limit rather than a set number of innings to ensure that the games would be completed without going extra innings or dragging on.

“It was the Carpenter Cup kids last year,” said Carpenter Cup head coach Brian Fehnel of how the two games came to be. “We asked them what they thought of playing a pair of scrimmages and they thought it would be awesome, so we worked it all out and I’m glad that we did.”

Fehnel gave the Carpenter Cup team a lifeline four years ago when he agreed to take over as the team’s coach rather than have the team be ended. In addition to his Carpenter Cup duties, Fehnel also coaches the Salisbury softball team that made big strides in the 2025 season.

The West team scored a first-inning run when Pleasant Valley’s Kailyn Getz, who was also the team’s starting pitcher, worked a bases-loaded walk to force home Southern Lehigh’s Lila Padden with what would be their only run of the game.

Padden and Brianca Pridham (Pleasant Valley) had the only two hits for the all-stars as they both recorded first-inning singles against Whitehall’s Morgan Laub. Mari Eisworth (Emmaus) and Emma Freeman (Northwestern Lehigh) also pitched in the game for the Carpenter Cup team.

“This was a lot of fun,” said Freeman. “It’s been good to get to play with girls that I have only played against before and to get to know them a little.”

Isabella Germani (Southern Lehigh), Eisworth and Laub all had three hits for the Carpenters. Abby Derr (Emmaus), Germani and Laub each had two RBI in the game.

Getz started the game for the West All-Stars and Mikell Kulp of Northampton came on in relief.

In the nightcap, the Carpenter Cup team was able to open a 5-1 lead before the East All-Stars scored three times to close the gap.

Laub started for the Carpenters and went three innings before Freeman came on to finish out the game.

Palisades’ Karlye Teman, who was a member of last year’s Carpenter Cup team, started for the East before giving way to Pen Argyl’s Jillian Bradley. Bradley was lifted in the middle of an inning late in the game and received a loud ovation as Teman reentered.

Catie Russo (Palisades) and Derr both had a two-run double for the Carpenter Cup team. Russo, who faced teammate Teman in three plate appearances, was the highlight showdown of the night. Teman won the first battle by throwing a nasty changeup to strike out Russo in the first before the junior infielder delivered her double to give the Carpenters a 2-1 lead in the third inning. In their final battle, Russo walked.

Teman was a force at the plate as well, delivering an RBI double and an RBI single. Notre Dame of Green Pond’s Hannah Lilly had two singles and two runs scored and Bradley drove in a pair of runs with a two-out single in the East’s three-run sixth inning rally.

The East team featured seniors from Bangor, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Liberty, Nazareth, Notre Dame of Green Pond, Palisades, Pen Argyl, Saucon Valley, Stroudsburg, and Wilson.

The Carpenter Cup tournament begins on Wednesday for the LV team. Each team is guaranteed three games. Lehigh Valley will face a team from the Philadelphia Catholic League at 8 a.m. Thursday and then play Jersey Shore immediately following the opener. At 2 p.m., Lehigh Valley will play Olympic Colonial to wrap up their opening day play in the A bracket. Two teams from each bracket square off on Thursday to determine the 2025 Carpenter Cup champion.

“I’ve said every year that I felt that we had a shot to win it and every year we have been in the mix,” said Fehnel. “We just want to go down and be in the mix and see what happens.”

The Carpenter Cup team was set to begin play Monday morning in Philadelphia, but weather wiped out the day’s events.