as Abington Heights knocked off North Pocono, 5-1, at the University of Scranton\u2019s Magis Field<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThis team is so great. I just had to reset in that at-bat because I didn\u2019t want to disappoint them,\u201d Henkels said.<\/p>\n
The Lady Comets beat the Trojans for the third time this season, and exacted a little revenge after last season\u2019s loss to North Pocono in the 2025 title tilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one, it really does mean a lot,\u201d Condrad said. \u201cWe actually had a photo of the article from last year\u2019s championship, and it says, \u2018Do you want to feel like this again?\u2019 That really motivated us. We are just dogs. Evelyn Henkels was so clutch with four RBIs. That was an amazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win puts Abington Heights in the state bracket where the Lady Comets will take on the fourth seed from District 1, either Upper Moreland or Upper Dublin.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win the state championship, not only do you have to be good, but we have to get some breaks along the way,\u201d Abington Heights coach John Kelly said. \u201cEveryone is good at this point. If we play like we are capable of playing, I would line us up against anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Henkels, Wednesday was a dream come true.<\/p>\n
She remembers growing up, watching the Lady Comets teams of the past make runs in the state tournament. She\u2019s lived this moment in her dreams; stepping up to the plate, driving the winning runs across the dish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was either my freshman year or my eighth-grade year, I watched them to go pretty deep in the state playoffs. And I thought that was such a cool experience. Now, it\u2019s amazing that I get the chance to play on this team,\u201d Henkels said.<\/p>\n
The junior was the difference-maker Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Her two-run home run gave Abington Heights (21-1) the 2-0 lead in the second inning, and she followed it up with another clutch knock in the fourth.<\/p>\n
A single by Isabella DeRiggi, and a walk to Brianna Bustos put two Lady Comets on base with one out. Bell got her first strikeout for the second out, bringing Henkels to the plate. North Pocono pitched to the first baseman, and she made them pay \u2014 driving a two-run single down the right-field line as the Lady Comets led, 4-0.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s one of those kids that you are so happy when things go her way,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cShe works so hard, and it\u2019s her first year starting. We worked with her yesterday on balls that were away because no one pitches her inside because she\u2019s so strong. Today, they put one inside, and she hit it a long way. That\u2019s the kind of power she has. I\u2019m so happy for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making up a two-run deficit against Condrad would have been a monumental task.<\/p>\n
Give her a four-run lead, and it\u2019s like scaling up Mount Everest.<\/p>\n
The junior Syracuse commit allowed just six hits, didn\u2019t issue a walk and punched out 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I am on the mound, I want the best chance for my team. I threw my heart out, and I knew those girls behind me were going to make those plays,\u201d Condrad said. \u201cIf I wasn\u2019t getting the out, they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Condrad was clutch in key moments.<\/p>\n
She struck out two in the second after North Pocono got a runner to second. She sat down another two when the Lady Trojans had a two-on, one-out situation in the fourth after back-to-back hits by Riley Grambo and Adysen Iyoob.<\/p>\n
The Lady Trojans\u2019 lone run came when Grambo crossed home in the sixth on a wild pitch. But the Lady Comets quickly responded in their half of the inning when DeRiggi, who drew a walk to start the sixth, stepped on the dish on a passed ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe girls have been waiting for this game since last year. We were the favorites last year, and North Pocono took it to us. They are a really good team, and we knew it was going to be a tough day. AC threw a heck of a game, and we played really good defense. And we got timely hitting when we needed it,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 Evelyn Henkels was frustrated. Right before her first at-bat of Wednesday\u2019s District 2 Class 5A softball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-203935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}