Salisbury’s fairy tale softball season came to an end, but the Falcons made sure it wasn’t easy for opponent Northern Lehigh.

It took a run in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Bulldogs to beat Salisbury 7-6 in the District 11 3A softball quarterfinals.

Both teams came out looking a little rough around the edges.

Salisbury, which had not played for two weeks after being eliminated in the opening round of the Colonial League playoffs, battled through for an early 2-0 lead. A pair of errors gave the Falcons their first run and two outs later Jenna Swoyer singled to put them ahead 2-0.

Swoyer started in the circle for Salisbury and hit two batters with pitches in the first inning. An error allowed two runs to score for the Bulldogs to make it 2-2 after the first inning.

Northern Lehigh committed two more errors in the second inning that led to a pair of runs.

Gianna Olds hit a ball that was misplayed and allowed Sydney Foulke and Brinlee Neitz to score, giving the Falcons their two run lead back at 4-2.

Things started to settle down from there for both Swoyer and the defense behind her as she retired seven of the next eight hitters.

Northern Lehigh starter Addison Smith also settled in, but Salisbury got to her in the fourth inning to go up by three.

Salisbury’s Sophia Gunning started a two-out rally with a triple, and Olds followed with an RBI single as the Falcons expanded their lead to 5-2.

The Bulldogs pulled themselves back into the game when a double steal put runners on second and third. Aubrey Reinhard’s line drive hit scored a pair of runs and got her team within a run at 5-4.

Salisbury wasted no time in getting right back on the scoreboard.

Swoyer walked to open the fifth and one out later, Neitz and Foulke came through with singles to load the bases. Looking for some insurance, Alaina Pavolko hit into a fielder’s choice with Swoyer being thrown out at home. In the Bulldogs’ attempt to pull off a double play, the throw to first went off Kenzie Chrusical’s glove for an error that allowed Neitz to score and give Salisbury a little breathing room at 6-4.

In the bottom of the sixth, with Tessa Kemmerer taking over in the circle for the Falcons, Northern’s Annalisa Douglas reached on an infield single and promptly stole second base.

Reinhard dropped a sacrifice bunt to move Douglas over to third. Emily Gad dropped a bunt single with Douglas staying at third to put runners on the corners. Gad stole second and a passed ball allowed Douglas to score and Gad to take third.

Another sacrifice bunt allowed Gad to score the second run of the inning and tie the game 6-6.

In the decisive inning, Smith put Salisbury down in order.

In the bottom of the inning, Kemmerer got the first two outs and it looked like the game was destined for extra innings.

A line-drive double to center was followed by a bloop single to left for Northern Lehigh, but Douglas gave her team the win with a single to left to make it a 7-6 game.

Neitz finished the game with two hits and two runs scored. Gunning also scored two runs and Olds drove in three runs in the game for the Falcons. Six Bulldogs errors led to five unearned runs for the opportunistic Falcons.

Salisbury finished the season at 11-11 with a young team that took big steps this season and put the team in the postseason for the first time since 2021.

The team had no senior players this season and will return all of their players for the 2027 season.