Traditions have to begin somewhere.

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, Emmaus, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Northampton, Northern Lehigh, Northwestern Lehigh, Palmerton, Parkland, Pleasant Valley, Southern Lehigh, and Whitehall high schools by a 10-1 score.

Players from Emmaus on the West All-Star team included seniors Avery DeFanti and Sadie Haefeli.

Juniors Taylor Hauver and Abigail Derr, along with sophomore Mari Eisworth were selected to play for the Carpenter Cup team. 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 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.”

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. Eisworth (Emmaus) and Emma Freeman (Northwestern Lehigh) also pitched in the game for the Carpenter Cup team.

Isabella Germani (Southern Lehigh), Eisworth, and Laub all had three hits for the Carpenters. 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 facing 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 worked a walk.

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 was supposed to get underway on Monday, but rain wiped out the schedule, including three games that Lehigh Valley was supposed to play in the double-elimination series. Each team is guaranteed three games. Lehigh Valley is in the “A” bracket which will now get their play underway on Wednesday, along with “B” bracket games. Teams in the “C” and “D” brackets remained on the schedule for Tuesday. 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 of what he thinks of his team’s chances. “We just want to go down and be in the mix and see what happens.”