FAYETTEVILLE — As the old adage says, when you're in the playoffs, it doesn't matter how you win games, just that you win.

You can place Chambersburg's District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal softball victory over Mechanicsburg into that category. It certainly wasn't easy, but a 2-1 win at Norlo Park on Tuesday afternoon pushed the Trojans into the district semifinals and qualified them for the PIAA Tournament.

Piper Jones

Chambersburg (17-3), the No. 2 seed, will host No. 3 Wilson (19-3) on Wednesday at Norlo Park at 4:30 for a semifinal contest, although the site could change if more rain hits the area tomorrow.

"It's a battle for survival in the playoffs — you just have to find a way to win," Trojan coach Chris Skultety said.

The Wildcats, who bow out with a 14-8 record, lost to Chambersburg twice this year, 7-0 and 5-0. But they made the Trojans work Tuesday. Mechanicsburg made two errors in the game, however, and Chambersburg cashed in each of them for a run.

Issie Slimmer hurled a 4-hitter for the Trojans, but after holding the Wildcats scoreless thru 16 straight innings this year, she gave up one in the top of the sixth inning.

And her defense saved her on several occasions.

Third baseman Piper Jones handled four chances flawlessly, including one that had her diving to her left on her knees, getting up to throw the runner out. The second out of the top of the seventh happened when Brynn Miller sent a sharp one-hopper off Slimmer's foot. The ball popped into the air and Jones caught it and threw to first.

"That's not usually where I play, I play more middle infield," Jones said. "Normally we score more runs on offense, but the defense and pitching helped a lot today."

The final out of the game came about when the Wildcats' Evyr Nailor sent a drive into left-centerfield — the most well-hit ball of the game — but it was run down and caught by a stretching Marley Onomastico.

"I read it off the bat, and I was able to track that one really well," Onomastico said. "That was a good hit into the gap." 

Skultety said, "You know defense is our No. 1 staple. They made a couple of mistakes and we didn't — it was the difference in the game."

The Trojans had to scrap for every piece of offense they could find off Mechanicsburg starter Kenzie Boyer, who wasn't fast, but changed speeds well and moved the ball around.

Skultety said, "She threw a lot of offspeed pitches and got us to lower our hands (resulting in 11 outs by fly balls)."

In the second inning, Onomastico led off with a looping hit to center and Kendall Flory followed with a walk. After a wild pitch moved the runners up, Hensley Brookens hit a hard grounder that ate up the third baseman and Onomastico, running on contact, scored easily.

The Wildcats tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth after two were out. Mia Masser notched her third hit of the game and Asha Pratt drew the first walk off Slimmer.

Kenzie Shockey then delivered a line single to center to score a run. Slimmer loaded the bases with an intentional walk, and then induced a pop-up from Lily Shockey to end the threat.

But Chambersburg came right back with the game-winner in the bottom of the sixth. Kylee Perry's grounder to short was dropped, and then the throw flew past first base and Perry ended up on second. Onomastico bunted her to third and she scored on a wild pitch.

Onomastico, who was 2-for-2, said, "We hadn't seen live pitching for awhile and that affected us. We know what we need to do to fix it for tomorrow."

Because of a bye in the first round of the playoffs and the rain, Chambersburg hadn't played a real game for 14 days.

"We did as much as we could going live in the gym," Skultety said. "We didn't hit well, but the girls didn't panic. And now we could go from being off 14 days to playing three games in three days."

NOTES: Should Chambersburg defeat Wilson tomorrow, it would play in the final against rival Central Dauphin on Thursday at Millersville University, time TBA … CD blanked South Western 4-0 in a semifinal Tuesday … The Trojans, not including bunts, put the ball on the ground just 4 times and they resulted in 2 errors, 1 hit and 1 out.