Expand<\/a><\/p>\nBy Holden Mostofsky<\/p>\n
Correspondent<\/p>\n
SCRANTON \u2014 Ava Schmidt was a threat both offensively and in the circle all season for the Holy Cross softball team.<\/p>\n
Things were no different Tuesday night in the Field of Dreams All-Star Rivals Game.<\/p>\n
Schmidt struck out eight and had a RBI double to help Team Purple down Team White, 8-3, in the contest featuring the Lackawanna League\u2019s top seniors at the University of Scranton\u2019s Magis Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were tied for a little bit. But we started poking a little hits through, and we all just started working really well together,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
Brynn Warriner of Elk Lake contributed two hits and two RBIs for the winners.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe we all know how to play our positions and other positions, but we started off pretty well, actually, and then I think just talking in the dugout helped us a lot, and it just connected us,\u201d Warriner said. \u201cWe were a very bubbly group, so I think that helped a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Purple scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Kate O\u2019Hearn of Old Forge, Rachel Walsh from Dunmore and Holy Cross\u2019 Payton Graboske scored runs. Graboske also had a RBI single and Warriner had a RBI double.<\/p>\n
In the top of the second, Team White responded with two runs, scored by Avery Venesky of Abington Heights and Brianna Connor from West Scranton. It then tied the game, 3-3, in the top of the fourth inning when an error allowed Western Wayne\u2019s Hannah DeStefano to score.<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t stay tied for long as Team Purple answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Riverside\u2019s Cassidy Merifield and Carbondale Area\u2019s Riley Pietrowski both hit drives to deep center field to knock in runs as Juliete DeStefano of Old Forge and Merrifield scored.<\/p>\n
Then in the sixth inning, Team Purple sealed the victory. Kate Jones from Lackawanna Trail started it with a single. Olivia Lach of Lakeland followed with a RBI triple. Schmidt then hit a deep ball to left for a RBI double. Walsh had a RBI single to cap the inning.<\/p>\n
Schmidt then closed things out, just the way Team Purple coach Sarah Cantarella of Dunmore planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were really fortunate, we had a lot of really great pitchers, and we knew we wanted Ava to finish it out for us and finish strong,\u201d Cantarella said. \u201cShe had a great year, and we were looking to highlight her for that at the end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being able to be teammates with players who usually are opponents was exciting for Schmidt.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the season we had, it was really exciting to just play with everyone that I\u2019ve been playing against all season and play with my friends and play against them,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cWe were all just joking around, and it was really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warriner agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I took away was just that you can meet new people and just have fun,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a great experience, and seeing all these people that really like softball, and then some people that don\u2019t have their heart set on softball, and just play it for fun. All the different people that were here, they had fun, and our team won, we had fun, and what I took away was just meeting new people is a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cantarella said it was great to see the players come together, have one last moment to shine and get the recognition they deserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much fun, and it\u2019s so fun to see these girls who compete against each other all year, how easily they come together, they just match, and they\u2019re looking forward to competing and winning, and it was a really great event,\u201d Cantarella said. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering the success that the Lackawanna League had with a repeat state champion, two state runnersup and a state semifinalist, Cantarella also said it was the perfect way to end the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see the way the game is growing locally is incredible,\u201d Cantarella said. \u201cWe have some really great athletes here, and we had four teams playing in the state tournament and (for) state titles, and to see everyone come out and support the kids here at a local venue is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Pocono\u2019s Amelia Bell delivers a pitch at the Field of Dreams Lackawanna League Softball Star Rivals game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-226507","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\/226507","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=226507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"North](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-SOFTFIELDOFDREAMS-0624-02.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Old](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-SOFTFIELDOFDREAMS-0624-03.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-SOFTFIELDOFDREAMS-0624-06.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Holy](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-SOFTFIELDOFDREAMS-0624-04.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-SOFTFIELDOFDREAMS-0624-05.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n