FAYETTEVILLE — Patience was the word of the day for the Chambersburg softball team.

The Trojans fell behind Pennsbury early as much as 5-2, but came on strong at the end, scoring twice in the fifth inning and three more times in the sixth to pull out a 7-5 victory over the Falcons in a PIAA Class 6A first-round game Monday afternoon at Norlo Park.

Addy Gsell

Chambersburg (19-4) will now face its nemesis, Hempfield Area (22-1), the District 7 champion, in a quarterfinal game Thursday, with site and time TBA. The Trojans are 0-4 against Hempfield in PIAA play over the last 10 seasons.

“That’s what’s great about this team,” Chambersbug coach Chris Skultety said. “They just kept believing and had some good answers at the end.”

Centerfielder Marley Onomastico said, “We were struggling a little, but I knew we’d find some way to get a spark. And once one person starting hitting, we took it and ran with it.”

“We just kept saying that we were a better team, and we got together and said, ‘We can do this,'” shortstop Addy Gsell said.

Pennsbury, which was eliminated with a 20-5 record, held the upper hand early thanks to a 4-run second inning that included 6 singles (3 of them via a bunt). Jenna Thompson had an RBI bunt hit, Jaylynn Rodweller and Syd Kandravi produced run-scoring base hits and a grounder by Ryen Rittersbach brought in the fourth run.

Skultety said, “We knew they’d do some bunting, and we worked on it. But we didn’t handle it well. Our defense kind of fell apart, and it almost cost us.”

But Trojan pitcher Issie Slimmer settled down and allowed only one more run and 3 hits the rest of the way. In the first inning, she struck out Thompson, a Purdue recruit, for her 100th career K.

“I knew I needed only one, so it was good to get that early,” Slimmer said. “After they got ahead I really had to lock in, and I knew my defense had me.”

Chambersburg manufactured a run in the first off pitcher Paige Fidishun when Erissa Varner reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a fielder’s choice and trotted home on a sacrifice fly by Kylee Perry.

Trailing 4-1, the Trojans got another unearned run in the third when Varner singled and raced around on an error and two fielder’s choice grounders.

Pennsbury got that run back in the fourth when Thompson was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a hit by Fidishun.

Fidishun retired the first two batters of the fifth, but then things began to unravel for the Falcons’ freshman ace.

Addy Gsell and Perry then worked her for walks, bringing up Onomastico. She promptly drilled a liner to right-center for a double that brought in both runners to take the score to 5-4.

Skultety said, “We were hoping their pitcher would wear down a little. We knew she threw 209 pitches last Thursday and it looked after 100 she started getting tired. We were patient and taking good at-bats.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Kendall Flory led off with her second base hit of the game. After a perfect sac bunt by Sanay Jones, pinch-hitter Sophia Zeigler came to the plate and earned a walk after fouling off several 2-strike pitches.

“We put Zeigler in in a tough situation, and she gave us a great at-bat,” Skultety said.

A walk to Josey Snavely loaded the bases. Varner hit a high fly to right field that chased in courtesy runner Ashley Mitchell with the tying run.

That brought up Gsell, who said, “I was feeling the pressure, and was a little scared about how I’d feel if I didn’t come through.”

No worries. Instead, Gsell came through in the clutch with a fastball roasted into centerfield that scored two runs and made it a 7-5 game.

“It was nice to see a senior get that big hit — she really smoked that ball,” Skultety said. “We put some really good swings on the ball late.”

Slimmer walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, but then induced three fly balls to end the game.