PATTON — Tyrone showed gumption Thursday afternoon in erasing a 4-0 deficit with five runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead over Cambria Heights in their District 6 Class 3A first-round softball playoff matchup.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, however, the Lady Highlanders showed that two can play the comeback game.

Heights responded with five runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth and went on for a 9-5 victory in chilly, windy weather at the Cambria Heights High School softball field.

The victory earns the eighth-seeded Lady Highlanders (11-9) a game in the quarterfinal round of the tournament, on the road, against top-seeded Bedford on Monday afternoon. Ninth-seeded Tyrone closed the books on an 8-13 season.

Heights coach Drew Thomas said that he challenged his team after the Lady Highlanders had surrendered the five runs and the lead. The players responded admirably.

“One bad inning has hurt us all year, and we had a little talk after that bad inning, I challenged the players, and they put up five runs in the bottom of that inning,” Thomas said. “Everybody contributed today for us. It was definitely a team win.”

Sophomore left-hander Rylee Lane, who pitched a complete game for the victory, got Heights off and rolling in the big bottom of the fifth inning by stroking a leadoff double down the left field line. Frankie McMullen entered the game as a courtesy runner for Lane, and after Margaret Elias reached base on an error, moving McMullen to third, Elias stole second, and Brea Kountz singled to right field to score McMullen and tie the game.

Kountz moved to second base on the throw in from the outfield, and Rachael Nelen hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Elias from third base and give Heights the lead back for good, 6-5. Pinch-hitter Kaitlyn Fox drew a walk and Autumn Groer followed with a single to right field that scored Kountz from third base.

An errant throw from the outfield after the Groer hit allowed Jayden Ivory – who had re-entered the game for Fox – to score, and Groer moved all the way to third, from where she scored the final run of the inning on a single to center field by Hailey Harges.

“They’re definitely a good team,” Lane said of the Tyrone squad. “We knew that we needed to stay calm and stay together as a team.”

Tyrone scored its five runs in the top of the fifth inning, with Kaitlyn Rockwell’s two-run single, RBI singles by Sage Harris and Paisley Fix, and a run-producing groundout off the bat of Ally McNelis driving home the runs.

“I’m real proud of our girls for the way that they responded after falling behind,” Tyrone coach Hilary Soellner said. “They learned through the course of this season to continue to persevere. Our season has been up and down, and that (fifth) inning was kind of a reflection of how our season has gone this year.”

An RBI single by Elias in the first inning and two bases-loaded walks in Heights’ three-run third inning helped the Lady Highlanders build their early 4-0 lead.

“I believe that we’re definitely hitting our stride right now, and I hope that we can keep that up against a very good Bedford team,” Thomas said.

TYRONE (5): Harris ss 412, Albright 3b 311, Rockwell p 411, McNelis 2b 401, Fix DP 301, Fogelman c 400, Haines 1b 300, Naylor rf 311, Harper cf 311, Beeman lf/Flex 000. Totals – 31-5-8.

CAMBRIA HEIGHTS (9): Hayes cf 412, Bachik c 402, Kelly cr 010, Lane p 201, Nelen cr-lf 010, McMullen cr 010, Elias rf 311, Kountz 3b 311, Miller 1b 400, Bradley lf 100, Ivory ss 210, Fox ph 000, Groer 2b 322. Totals -26-9-9.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 000 050 0–5 8 2

Cambria Heights 103 050 X–9 9 1

2B–Lane. RBI–Rockwell 2, Harris, McNelis, Fix, Kountz 2, Hayes, Elias, Nelen, Bradley. SF–Nelen. SB–Rockwell, Hayes 2, Groer, Elias. HBP–Albright (by Lane); Fix (by Lane). CS–Hayes (Fogelman to Albright). LOB–Cambria Heights 8, Tyrone 6.

PITCHING

Tyrone: Rockwell (L) 6IP, 9H, 9R, 5ER, 5BB, 7SO.

Cambria Heights: Lane (W) 7IP, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 8SO.

Records: Tyrone (8-13); Cambria Heights (11-9).

Umpires: Bruce Legros (plate); Justin Smith (1b); Lynn Smith (2b); Phil Wombacher (3b).