Northern Lebanon softball returning to District 3 Class 4A finals after beating Big Spring

May 21-Northern Lebanon will play for a district softball championship for the second straight season.

The Vikings jumped to a five-run lead, then held on to beat Big Spring 5-4 in a District 3 Class 4A softball semifinal game on Thursday at The Keystone Complex in Carlisle.

Third-seeded Northern Lebanon (20-3) will face either top-seeded Kennard-Dale (19-0) or fourth-seeded Fleetwood (17-3) in the championship game on Tuesday at Millersville University at a time to be announced. The Rams and Tigers are scheduled to play their semifinal at Fawn Grove at 1 p.m. Friday.

Last season, the Vikings lost to Kennard-Dale 4-1 in the final. Now, they've given themselves another chance to capture district gold. They also clinched a PIAA playoff berth.

Northern Lebanon took control with four runs in the second inning on Thursday.

Sophia Roye singled with one out. Following the second out, Makenzie West and Keira Palski each singled to load the bases.

Ryleigh Hughes followed with an infield single to make it 1-0. Stephanie Palkovic's two-run double made it 3-0. The fourth run scored on an error on Addison Hollenbach's grounder.

Big Spring (19-3) loaded the bases with two outs in the third, but Hollenbach got Izzy Fry to fly out to right to end the threat.

Northern Lebanon made it 5-0 in the fourth when West, who had walked, scored on a wild pitch.

Zoey Zimmerman led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, but Hollenbach stranded her there on a strikeout, a pop out and another strikeout.

The Bulldogs broke through in the fifth when Hannah Darhower led off with a home run. Fry had a two-out RBI triple later in the inning, but Hollenbach got Zimmerman to pop out to third to end the inning.

Northern Lebanon loaded the bases with one out in sixth, but Zimmerman, who earlier had come on in relief, got consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.

An RBI single by Darhower cut it to 5-3 in the sixth and put runners on first and third with one out. Hollenbach got out of that inning with a strikeout and a pop out.

In the bottom seventh, Kennedy Klein's leadoff homer cut the Vikings' lead to 5-4.

Following a strikeout, Zimmerman lined a hit to center, but center fielder Hopkins threw to shortstop Roye, who relayed to Addison Kubica at third to nail Zimmerman for the second out.

Hollenbach then got her 10th strikeout of the game to end it.

Hopkins finished 2-for-3 and Palski 2-for-2. Hollenbach allowed three earned runs on eight hits and one walk.

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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 5:08 AM.