Karlee Fretz admitted that Upper Perkiomen the softball team might have taken their District One Class 4A opening round opponent lightly.

            According to Fretz, multiple teammates said they weren't concerned about beating Pope John Paul II since the team swept the season series. The junior third baseman, far less cavalier about the Indians' chances, took the challenge more seriously.

            "You know how hard it is to beat the same team three times in a season?" Fretz asked her teammates rhetorically during a May 24 conversation in school.

            Fretz took the competition, and specifically two crucial at bats, to heart. Twice the Panthers pitched around Morgan and Taylor Lindsay to face her. Fretz made them pay both times by delivering two RBI hits. The second one, a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning, helped Upper Perkiomen secure a 10-6 victory.

            Her extra-base hit down the right field line highlighted a four-run rally which secured a berth in the district title game for the top seeded Indians (20-3) against Villa Maria on Wednesday. May 31.

            Talyor Lindsay registered seven strikeouts and posted the mound victory despite permitted nine hits, including two home runs in the district playoff game.

            Fretz, their No. 5 hitter who finished with three hits and three RBI, takes the decision by opposing pitchers to face her rather than their third and fourth hitters as a challenge.

            "If pitchers want to do that, we can play that game," she said.

            Olivia Young and Carly Barnhardt each finished with two hits and one run scored for the Upper Perkiomen, which hadn't played in six days following a 2-0 loss to Perkiomen Valley in the Pioneer Athletic Conference title game.

            In the fourth inning against Pope John Paul II, Fretz capped a three-inning rally that put the team ahead to stay with a line single up the middle. The hit came on the heels of consecutive walks to the Lindsay sisters.

            Two innings later, after the visiting Panthers got within 6-4, Fretz struck again. Her double plated Morgan and Taylor Lindsay, both of whom were walked without seeing a pitch near the strike zone.

            Alyssa Sullivan drove home Fretz with a line single to left. Oliva Young, who reached on a fielder's choice, eventually scored on a passed ball to cap the four-run rally.

            Pope John Paul II took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Grace Harvey's home run off Taylor Lindsay. Upper Perkiomen head coach Dean Sullivan said it made him nervous. He added that the long ball did not sit well with his pitcher.

           "I knew this wouldn't be an easy game," the coach said.

            The Indians forced a 2-2 tie in the second inning on a single by Young and a bases loaded walk to Emily Moll. However, Pope John Paul regained a 3-2 advantage in the top of the third on three straight singles.

            According to Fretz, the Indians weren't adversely impacted by the long layoff. She said the players, a relaxed group, might be too laid back at times.

            "I'm not sure the players truly understand what they have accomplished and what is at stake," Dean Sullivan said. "If they win a district championship, I hope they will celebrate."