With two outs in the top of the seventh on Monday, the Lady Hornets clung desperately to a one run lead.

North Pocono’s Brittany Cesarini stood on second base, the possible tying run poised in scoring position at the climax of a wild Lackawanna League game.

Honesdale’s Jenn Edsall got the sign from catcher Maeghan Almy, took a glance at third and went into her wind-up. The pitch was a fastball right down the pipe and Megan Acevedo pounced. The Trojans’ first baseman ripped a hard grounder up the middle and into the outfield grass.

Cesarini never hesitated. She sprinted around third and headed for home. Leslie Smith charged the ball aggressively. Honesdale’s senior centerfielder fielded it cleanly and came up firing. Smith’s throw was deadly accurate and hit Almy’s mitt on one hop.

Cesarini slid hard, kicking up a big cloud of dust, but to no avail. Almy had the plate blocked and applied the tag. Maeghan looked to the home plate umpire, who was waiting to see if she still had the ball. When Almy held it up for him to see, he made the “out” call that sent Honesdale fans into a frenzy.

Smith’s throw and Almy’s tag had preserved a 7-6 victory for the homestanding Lady Hornets. The play capped an emotional rollercoaster ride that left Coach Dave Patrisso drained and searching for words.

“I’ll be honest with you: our defense has been our Achilles’ heel alot of times this season,” he told TWI Sports just moments after the dust cleared. “What’s encouraging is that the girls are making most of their errors in the early innings. Then, when the game’s on the line, they seem to make the big plays. They thrive on the late-game pressure.”

With the win, Honesdale improved its overall record to 11-4. The Red & Black are 8-3 in Division One action. North Pocono fell to 4-7 in league play.

Next up for the Lady Hornets is a road trip to Scranton this afternoon. The local girls then close out their regular season with back-to-back home games against Abington Heights and Delaware Valley.

Power Surge
Honesdale wasted no time jumping out to a quick lead in this one. The Lady Hornets scored twice in the home half of the first thanks to a bomb off the bat of Edsall.

Megan Davis opened the frame with a double off North Pocono starter Katie Jones. Korilynn Grady moved Davis to third with a sacrifice, thus setting the stage for one of the Lackawanna League’s most feared power hitters.

Edsall stood in against Jones and quickly found herself down 0-2 in the count. Jenn fouled off a pair of tough breaking balls before finally seeing a pitch she liked. Edsall turned on a low, inside fastball and crushed it to left. The ball took off like a Jack Nicklaus tee-shot and jetted far over the wall for a two-run homer.

“Jenn Edsall has the potential to do that almost every time she bats,” said Coach Patrisso. “She’s a very good hitter and she’s a senior leader. Whether she’s pitching or batting, we know Jenn’s going to come through in the clutch.”

Edsall ran into trouble on the hill in the top of the third. North Pocono used five singles, two walks and a hit batter to surge ahead by a score of 4-2. Brittany Cesarini, Nicole Cesarini and Kayla Copertino each delivered an RBI base knock for the visitors.

North Pocono didn’t stop there. The visitors from Moscow tacked on two more runs in the fourth, increasing their lead to 6-2. Both of these runs were unearned as the Red & Black committed a pair of fielding miscues behind Edsall.

Down by four, the Lady Hornets turned up the heat in the bottom half of the fourth. Honesdale re-captured the lead with a five-run outburst that had Maple City fans on their feet.

Sarah Wolf ignited the blaze with a one-out single. She was joined on the basepaths just moments later by teammates Staci DeLuca and Smith, both of whom walked. This brought Anna Albers to the dish with a chance to do some damage.

Albers delivered, roping a bases-clearing double. Davis then collected her second hit of the day, a single that chased Albers home. Grady followed with an RBI single of her own and suddenly Honesdale had itself a 7-6 lead.

“That’s the kind of team we are,” said Coach Dave Patrisso. “We never gave up and scrapped our way right back into this game. Coach (Fred) Light and I have been preaching since Day One that we have to be aggressive at the plate and on the bases. We try to put as much pressure as we can on the defense and then take advantage of whatever mistakes they make.”

Down to the Wire
All that remained was for Edsall to protect a tenuous one-run lead. After struggling in the middle innings, Jenn seemed to find herself. She cruised through the fifth and sixth before finding trouble once again in the seventh.

Luckily for local fans, Leslie Smith was there to make the big play in the clutch. In addition to throwing out Cesarini at the plate to end the game, Smith also scored a key run in the fourth and made a leaping catch of a line drive in the sixth 

“Leslie’s just a very, very nice kid,” said Coach Patrisso. “She’s going to do anything and everything in her power to help us win. Leslie will lay down a sacrifice bunt, hustle on the bases and make big plays in the outfield. She does alot of the little things that don’t always show up in the boxscore. I can’t say enough good things about Leslie.”

Score by Innings...
NP      0  0  4  2  0  0  0 - 6
HON   2  0  0  5  0  0  x - 7