Twin Valley tops Hamburg in 9

Sofia Palyan hits a three-run homer, then works out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam as the Raiders beat the Hawks 5-2 to stay unbeaten

Sofia Palyan doesn’t shy away from pressure situations. She thrives on them. The Twin Valley senior found herself in two tough spots in the ninth inning of Friday’s Berks Softball League Division II showdown with Hamburg at Hawk Hill. She came through both times, with a little help.

“I think that’s where everyone wants to be,” Palyan said. “I like to be in those situations.” Palyan hit a two-out, threerun home run in the top of the ninth inning to help the undefeated Raiders down Hamburg 5-2 to open a two-game lead in the division race.

In the bottom of the ninth, Palyan had to work out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam to enable the Raiders (8-0, 12-0) to defeat the Hawks (8-2, 15-2) for the second time this season.

Palyan got the second out with her ninth strikeout of the game before Katie Behler sent a line drive to right-center field that Natali Foster ran down and caught for the final out.

“I knew as soon as that ball was hit that Natali had it,” Palyan said. “I have a lot of faith in her and all my teammates. It was a great team effort.”

Palyan needed a lot more help from her defense than in the first meeting with the Hawks. Palyan struck out 17 in the Raiders’ 5-1 win on April 14 at Twin Valley.

On Friday, the Hawks made much better contact and collected 10 hits off Palyan compared to three in the earlier loss.

“We played a nice game,” Hamburg coach Zena Lutz said. “We were much more aggressive at the plate.”

Hailey Strunk hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning that gave Hamburg a 2-1 lead. She also had a leadoff triple in the sixth after Twin Valley had tied it, but was stranded.

Twin Valley opened the scoring off Haley Gravish in the first inning. Sophia Marsalo led off with a single and scored with some aggressive baserunning. She stole second and scored from second on two-out infield single by Palyan.

After Strunk’s home run, Twin Valley tied it in the top of the sixth when Maddie Garber hit a two-out single, stole second and scored on a single by Mia Ahronian.

Gravish limited the hardhitting Raiders to eight hits, just one for extra-bases. She struck out 12.

But Hamburg, which had a runner on in every inning, left 13 on base. It had Lutz and the Hawks hoping for a rematch between the teams with the county’s best two records in the upcoming BCIAA Tournament.

“I hope we get to see them again,” Lutz said. “They have a nice team.”