QUARRYVILLE — A two-run sixth inning and a quality relief appearance by Sophie Layton enabled Greencastle-Antrim to claim third place in the District 3 Class 5A softball tournament.

The Blue Devils earned a 6-4 victory over the Solanco Golden Mules in a road game Thursday afternoon.

Meadow Gambacurta

Greencastle (20-5) will now face Oxford (20-3), the District 1 champion, in the first round of the PIAA Tournament on Monday, with site and time TBA.

“We needed this for our confidence going into next week,” Blue Devil coach Mark DeCarli said. “It was a good bounce back from losing to Mechanicsburg (in the semifinals). We hit the ball well (10 hits) and the defense played well.”

The Mules tied the game 4-4 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and chased starter Mackenzie Wingert. Layton came in to get the final out of the inning, then kept Solanco (21-3) off the board in the final two innings.

In the top of the sixth for Greencastle, Alexis Jones reached on an error, then stole second base. After two outs, Makayla Jerin singled and an error was made on the play, which allowed Jones to score. Meadow Gambacurta then singled to bring in courtesy runner Kaidyn Zimmerman.

The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the third when Jones was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Sydney Orndorff’s bunt, to third on a fielder’s choice by Caroline Logsdon and came home on a single by Gambacurta.

Emma Broadwater

In the fourth, G-A snapped a 1-1 tie when Abby Stouffer singled and ran home when Emma Broadwater hit a double to left field.

The Blue Devils struck for two more in the fifth. After an out, Gambacurta singled, Annika Gaus had a base hit, Stouffer hit a double for an RBI and Broadwater’s fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop scored the second run.

Gambacurta finished 3-for-4, Stouffer was 2-for-3 and Gambacurta and Broadwater each had a pair of runs driven in.

“The bottom of the order has been coming through lately,” DeCarli said. “Jones has been getting on base and Broadwater’s been hitting the ball hard. Those girls can really help us in states.”

Wingert went 4.2 innings and allowed seven hits and three earned runs, while walking two and striking out one. Layton (10-1) pitched 2.1 innings, giving up just two hits.

DeCarli said, “Wingert pitched a solid game, then Layton came in to close it out.”

In the bottom of the seventh, Solanco’s first two hitters each had a base hit. The next batter hit a grounder to Gambacurta at shortstop and she got the lead runner at third. The next batter also grounded to Gambacurta, who stepped on second and threw a strike to first for a game-ending double play.