Chambersburg rightfielder Chambersburg’s Morgan Stockslager makes a catch while second baseman Bree Paetow turns out of the way during the Trojans’ 4-3 loss to Central Dauphin on Monday (photo by Darby Sells).

LINGLESTOWN — First place in the Mid Penn Commonwealth softball standings was up for grabs Monday afternoon.

Chambersburg erased a 2-0 deficit with a three-run top of the sixth inning, but Central Dauphin came right back with two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning and hung on for a 4-3 victory on their home field.

“We win as a team, and we lose as a team,” Trojan coach Chris Skultety said. “It wasn’t one play, but a combination of several things is why we lost. This one hurt, though, because we could have essentially had a two-game lead with the tiebreaker.”

Chambersburg (9-2, 6-2 MPC), which had a nine-game win streak halted, could not solve the deliveries from CD pitcher Stella Gasper through five innings. Twice they had two runners on in scoring position with two outs, but could not come through.

Addison Gsell of Chambersburg knocks a single to right field to start the Trojans’ three-run rally Monday (photo by Darby Sells).

But after getting the first two batters in the top of the sixth, Gasper suddenly ran into some trouble. Addison Gsell got it started with a sharp single up the middle, then she issued her first walk, to Carly Benedict, and Abagail Newman singled to load the bases.

The Rams changed pitchers, going with Bre Lock, but her luck wasn’t any better, walking Brooke Leedy to score a run.

With two strikes, Bree Paetow then slapped a hard grounder to the right of the shortstop and two runs scored to lift Chambersburg into a 3-2 lead.

It might have been more, with the team’s best two hitters coming up, but CD catcher Maddie Paul gunned down the runner on third after a pitch in the dirt rolled a few feet away from her.

Skultety was disappointed with the offense’s approach with runners in scoring position (except for the sixth inning).

“We need more production from the bottom of the lineup,” he said. “When we have runners on base, we need to put the ball in play. That really bit us tonight. Too many strikeouts – you have to make them make the plays. And we were even missing signs today.”

The Rams (12-1) built their 2-0 lead off Kylee Miller with a run in the second and another in the fifth. Allie Wenrich lined a triple to right-center in the third and scored on a bunt hit by Lock. In the fifth, Kasi Loser singled and raced home on a double by Paul.

In the sixth, Central Dauphin got a leadoff single from Macey Fisher, but Miller induced two weak infield pop-ups. A base hit by Gasper brought up Kayla Fletcher, who hit sinking line drive to centerfield that was misplayed, enabling two runs to score and give CD the lead again.

Miller (7-1) was tagged with her first loss of the year. She gave up 10 hits and a walk and fanned only three batters. The Rams fouled off a large number of two-strike pitches and had several key two-strike hits.

Skultety said, “Kylee wasn’t as sharp as usual today. She didn’t hit her spots in some two-strike counts, but the defense let her down.”

NOTES: Sam Paetow was 3-for-4 for Chambersburg … The Trojans struck out seven times — two of them to end threats … In the top of the seventh, leading off, Karley Skultety hit an apparent single to right, but Loser threw to first and Skultety was called out … Sam Paetow then hit a single, but CD ended the game on a 6-4-3 double play.