But it seems despite their youth, the Lady Blue Devils have done plenty of growing over the past year.

B-A bounced back from the early deficit to score eight unanswered runs against District 6 softball power Southern Huntingdon in an 8-2 triumph Wednesday that earned the Lady Blue Devils a spot in the championship game on Thursday, May 28.

“It feels wonderful,” Bellwood-Antis coach Heather Quick said. “It’s been a long time. The last time we made it, I was an assistant for this program. We have had quite a few lean years, and this is quite a long time coming for this team.”

Prior to last year’s 10-10 season, Bellwood-Antis had not reached double-digit wins since the 2016 season under former coach Jim Payne when the Lady Devils dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in the District 6 Class 3A final in nine innings to Bellefonte. A year prior to that, B-A won its last district title.

Avery Conlon

Bellwood-Antis will get its latest shot at another next Thursday against the winner of today’s game between undefeated defending district champion West Shamokin and West Branch.

“We have to keep working hard to get ready for the district championship,” B-A freshman Avery Conlon said. “This feels great, because we put countless hours in when other people weren’t working, and it feels really good that it has paid off.”

Conlon, along with Wednesday’s starting pitcher Lainey Stinson, third baseman Jordan Johnsonbaugh, outfielder Izzy Sweet and courtesy runner Izzy Weeks, is part of a stellar freshman class that contributed on the field during the semifinal victory.

It was Conlon that put Bellwood-Antis ahead with a two-run single that scored Weeks and Sweet to put the Lady Devils ahead, 3-2, in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“I was really excited, because I love when I can help out my team,” Conlon said. “It’s exciting as a team, especially because we haven’t had much success over the last few years. We have been stepping up to the plate and working as a team this season. It’s amazing.”

Stinson, who struck out eight and walked none, got off to a shaky start when she allowed an Emma Smith double on the first pitch of the game and an Ella Young home run two batters later.

But the freshman allowed just two hits, one of which did not leave the infield, the rest of the game.

“We heard a lot about how good of a pitcher she was, but we came out hitting her,” Southern Huntingdon coach Terri Lessley said. “We were really pumped, but we only had two more hits the rest of the game. You can’t win games like that at this level. I think she had a little bit of nerves in the first inning as a freshman, and I think once she settled in, she pitched her game.”

Bellwood-Antis has shown resiliency all season, so Quick wasn’t concerned about facing an early deficit.

“We have come from behind in quite a few games this season,” Quick said. “We’re used to picking up one hit at a time and building momentum off of that. I was a little concerned that we didn’t score earlier, but I knew we had the ability to score runs and get ahead.”

All but one of Bellwood’s hitters had at least one hit in Wednesday’s game.

“We worked the last few days on our hitting, because we knew we were going to have to hit against these good pitchers we’re going to be facing,” Quick said. “Everybody contributes, and everyone knows they are capable of contributing. We talk about stringing hits together, going one base at a time and scoring runs that way. They believe they can do it. We’re pretty balanced. We can hit solidly one through nine.”

The Lady Blue Devils put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Conlon, Hayden Taylor, Karlie Sweigert, Parker Martin and London McKee opened the inning with five consecutive singles, and Palynn Gregg brought in two with a double two outs later.

Gregg split the pitching duties with Stinson this year, but Quick likes Bellwood’s defense when Stinson is in the circle.

“The way that we have our defense with Lainey pitching is our strongest team defensively,” Quick said. “Palynn is a really good pitcher, but we aren’t sure if we’re going to use her or not (in the circle), but defensively having her as our centerfielder and having the other players around Lainey like they were today is our best way to get the furthest.”

Southern Huntingdon wrapped up a 17-6 season in which it fell in the District 6 semifinals and the Inter-County Conference championship game.

“As a team, we have done so well,” Lessley said. “But we just haven’t been able to get over that last little hump. It’s something to work on to come back for next year. We only lose two seniors, so the majority will be back. Hopefully that helps us.”

SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON (2): Smith 2b 311, Deller rf 202, E. Young p 311, Varner c 300, Gantt cr 000, Dell 3b 300, A. Young cf 300, Semple 1b 300, Oswald ss 200, Traxler lf 200. Totals — 24-2-4.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (8): Sweigert 2b 301, Martin ss 412, McKee 1b 422, Clabaugh d0 400, Johnsonbaugh 3b 000, Gregg cf 412, Stinson p 401, Weeks cr 010, Sweet rf 312, Conlon lf 312, Taylor c 311. Totals — 32-8-13.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Southern Huntingdon 200 000 0–2 4 3

Bellwood-Antis 000 314 X–8 13 1

E–Martin, A. Young, E. Young, Dell. 2B–Smith, Gregg. HR–E. Young. RBI–Deller, E. Young, Conlon 2, Gregg 2, Sweet, Sweigert. WP–Stinson. LP–E. Young. SO–E. Young 6, Stinson 8. BB–E. Young 1.

Records: Southern Huntingdon (17-6); Bellwood-Antis (16-4).

Umpires: Gary Kost (HP); Dave Fyock (1B); Ed Habbershon (3B); Phil Wombacher (2B).