The Whitehall softball team entered the EPC tournament as the sixth seed with an opportunity to avenge a regular season 10-0 loss to Cement Belt rival Northampton.

The Konkrete Kids took the quarterfinal contest 10-1, but the game was competitive until the fourth inning when the Kids erupted for 7 runs including a backbreaking grand slam by Avery Deibert.

The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Zephyrs. Morgan Laub struck out the Kids’ JoJo Siegfried to leadoff the bottom of the first, but the ball was dropped allowing Siegfried to beat the throw and reach base safely.

Siegfried stole second and third and scored on Kiley Henritzy’s single.

Northampton added a run in the third and then the dam broke in the fourth.

Eight of the first nine Kids to bat in the inning reached base safely. There was an error, a hit batter, 2 walks and 3 singles to go with Diebert’s homer.

The Zephs threatened to get back into the game in the fifth. Jules Muth smacked a double to drive in Jillian Pagan and set up second and third with no outs. However, the next three batters could not get the ball out of the infield and the rally died.

Alyssa Dunbar had a pair of singles, going 2-3 on the game. Josie Schultz and Corynn Troxell had the other 2 hits for Whitehall.

“We’re a young team in a lot of areas and it’s not just age, it’s game experience,” explained head coach Jeff Vivian. “When you go up against a Northampton team like this, who’s pretty senior-laden, you have to play a pretty clean game. We didn’t do that. We didn’t get a timely hit when we needed one. We had mistakes that we couldn’t overcome.”

Next up for the Zephs will be the class 6A district tournament next Thursday. Once again Whitehall will be seeded sixth. Their quarterfinal opponent is contingent on tonight’s EPC championship game. If Stroudsburg wins, the Zephyrs will play at Emmaus. If Freedom becomes the champion, Whitehall will travel to Stroudsburg.

The Lady Mounties won the regular season meeting between the schools 4-1 on March 30. The Zephs and Hornets have played twice since April 20 with Emmaus coming out on top both times, 7-1 and 9-5.

The EPC announced their All-Star team last week. Molly McFetridge was named 2nd Team All-Conference outfielder. McFetridge and Amya Espinal (Catcher) were selected as Lehigh Division 1st Team. Morgan Laub was 2nd Team Lehigh Division pitcher.