WEST CHESTER — The West Chester East softball team apparently learned a few things last year when it lost 13-0 to Greencastle-Antrim in a PIAA semifinal mismatch.

The teams met again Monday in a Class 5A first-round contest in West Chester and the Vikings turned the tables on the Blue Devils, taking a 5-1 victory to end G-A’s season with a 19-6 record.

Serenity Goodman

“They were a much better team than we saw last year,” Greencastle coach Mark DeCarli said. “Even though we’re out now, we still had a heck of a season, especially the way we started the season with a lot of sickness.”

WC East pitcher Ava Ferri handcuffed the Blue Devils with a 4-hitter, walking none and fanning 8 batters. She threw only 81 pitches, 58 for strikes.

DeCarli said, “That was not the same pitcher we saw last year. She’s gotten a lot better and she kept hitting the outside corner, which is our Kryptonite.”

Greencastle went down 1-2-3 in each of the first three innings. In the fourth, Kiersten Swain singled and went to second when a ball hit by Kylie Kerns was mishandled. But they were stranded.

In the seventh, the Blue Devils scored their only run when Minnie Gambacurta and Serenity Goodman belted back-to-back doubles.

“We just didn’t create many threats,” DeCarli said.

Swain held the Vikings (22-2), who will play Abington Heights (22-1) in Thursday’s quarterfinals, scoreless until the fifth inning. A double by Emma Antczak, followed by two errors, made it 2-0. Carly Bickel then had an RBI base hit.

In the sixth, WC East made it 5-0 on a single, a walk and a two-run double to left by Riley Douglas.

DeCarli said, “Kiersten was moving the ball around pretty well, but I think she got a little gassed at the end. They scored and that put the pressure on us.”