OXFORD — It wasn’t their best game, and it was certainly not their worst, but the Greencastle softball team could not quite rise to the challenge posed by Oxford in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A Softball Tournament.

Sydney Orndorff

The home team Hornets held off the Blue Devils, 6-3, with a three-run fifth inning proving to be the difference.

Oxford (21-3) heads to the quarterfinals, where it will take on Abington Heights (18-6) on Thursday. Greencastle ends an excellent season with a 20-6 record.

“It was a great season overall,” G-A coach Mark DeCarli said. “We were picked to finish fourth in our (Colonial) division and we won the division and the Mid Penn Conference. The girls really showed a lot of heart.”

Hornets pitcher Cece Figueroa scattered nine hits and four walks to pick up the win, and she also contributed a two-run single in the big fifth inning for her team.

DeCarli said, “Their pitcher was like our pitching (not overpowering). We got nine hits, but we didn’t get the big hits from some of the players who have been getting those hits for us lately. And we didn’t move the runners up as well as we could have. But I really think if we played them again, we could beat them.”

Oxford scored a run in the third off Sophie Layton (10-2), then Greencastle tied it in the top of the fifth. Becky Leckron and Alexis Jones walked and moved up on a fielder’s choice by Sydney Orndorff. Courtesy runner Lily Crum scored from third when Orndorff swiped second base.

The Hornets went ahead 6-1 after six innings, then the Blue Devils tried to rally in the seventh after two outs were made. Orndorff singled and pinch-hitter Kaidyn Zimmerman laced an RBI double. Makayla Jerin walked and a single by Meadow Gambacurta scored the second run. But the game ended on a pop-up to the infield.

“We played pretty well,” DeCarli said. “Sophie pitched a great game, but we made a couple of miscues there in that one inning. They surprised us with some small ball situations.”

Orndorff and Gambacurta each went 3-for-4 for the Blue Devils.