June 7th Opening Round State 5A Softball Tournament:

The Lampeter-Strasburg District 3 champion Pioneers have now improved to 27-1 by defeating Marple-Newtown 8-2 in the opening round of the state Class 5A softball tournament.

They will face Springfield in next round on Thursday towards their goal of another state softball title. They won in 2018 and came in second in 2019.

The Marple Newtown Tigers Varsity watched the game slip away early and couldn’t recover as the Pioneers’ Chloe Blantz opened the first inning with a triple down the line in right and scored on Daisy Frank’s SAC fly to left.

Lampeter-Strasburg erupted for four runs in the sixth to put the game away. The Pioneers will play in their fifth straight state semifinal.

In the circle, Middleton retired the first seven Tiger batters and 11 of the first 12 before allowing an unearned run in the fourth, closing the gap to 3-1.in

Lampeter-Strasburg scored four runs in the sixth inning.

Middleton, the Pioneers’ SP allowed only five hits and two runs over seven innings, striking out eight and walking zero.