BLOOMSBURG - Southern Columbia's post-game celebrations during this playoff run have been immediate and jubilant.
But it took a moment Monday for the Tigers to realize the magnitude of what they had just done.
By beating Greenwood, 5-2, in a PIAA Class A semifinal game at Bloomsburg University's Hutchinson Field, Southern Columbia earned a trip to the state final, where the Tigers will play Fannett-Metal at 10 a.m. Friday at Penn State's Beard Field in State College.
That's a lot for anyone to process in the moment between Mallory Tomaschik's strikeout of Greenwood's last batter and when the crowd erupted.
"It hasn't really set in yet," Tomaschik said after the game and the post-game talk by her coaches, and after her family greeted her with a congratulatory bouquet.
"It's hard to believe we got to the state championship because nobody expected it. I don't even think our own players expected to get this far."
The Tigers may not have expected it, but they came out swinging Monday with that goal in mind.
Southern opened the top of the first with four straight singles by Kirstin Blass, Tomaschik, Kayla Lavella and Taylor Hoffman.
The quick pounce scored three runs.
Tomaschik then went out to the circle and eased through a one-two-three inning.
The Tigers weren't done scoring.
Three straight doubles by Tomaschik, Lavella and Hoffman netted two more runs in the second inning. Before Greenwood knew what hit it, the Wildcats were down 5-0.
That kind of start was exactly what helped calm down the Tigers, and took away mounds of pressure in other areas of the game.
"I think it relieves all of us, not just me," Tomaschik said. "They know if they make a mistake, it's not a big deal, and that it's not going to drastically change the game that second. But we know we can't take it for granted."
Tomaschik came back out in the second and needed just seven pitches to get through the inning. Meanwhile, the 61 pitches Greenwood's Jessica Heichel needed to get through the first two innings, got her yanked in favor of Chelsea Hicks.
Hicks gave up four hits, two walks and two more Southern runners reached after swinging on wild strike threes that skittered away from the Wildcats' catcher, but no more runs.
"We're doing what we have to do to win," Southern Columbia head coach Al Cihocki said. "We left a ton of people on. If we get a hit here or there, we bust it wide open."
The late-inning hitting belonged to Greenwood.
Both Wildcats' runs came later in the game.
Heichel, who had two hits off Tomaschik, singled in the fifth inning, advanced on a passed ball, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an infield single.
In the sixth inning, Brittany Fleisher reached on a single up the middle, then scored when A.J. Seigel tripled to right.
From there, Tomaschik shut down the Wildcats, inducing two pops back to her and a strikeout looking for the third out.
Tomaschik also took care of the side in the seventh, with a ground out to her and two strikeouts.
And with that last out, a very pro-Southern crowd was making plans to go to State College Friday.
"This is great for the kids," Cihocki said. "They work hard and they're good kids. No matter what happens, they're a special ball club."
Game Summary
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (AB-R-H-BI) - Blass 3-1-1-0, Tomaschik 4-2-2-0, Lavella 4-2-3-2, Hoffman 4-0-2-2, Troup 4-0-1-0, McGinley 4-0-0-0, Lupold 4-0-2-0, Yoder 3-0-1-0, Reigle 2-0-0-0, Vought 1-0-0-0. Totals 33-5-12-5.
GREENWOOD (AB-R-H-BI) - Shaffer 3-0-0-0, Fleisher 3-1-1-0, Seigel 3-0-1-1, Heggenstaller 3-0-0-0, Osborne 3-0-0-0, Hicks 3-0-0-0, Heichel 2-1-2-0, Morrow 1-0-0-0, Seaman 3-0-1-1. Totals 24-2-5-2.
Southern 320 000 0 - 5 12 1
Greenwood 000 011 0 - 2 5 2
Extra-base hits: 2B - Tomaschik, Lavella, Hoffman. 3B - Seigel.
IP H R ER BB K
Southern Columbia
Tomaschik 7 5 2 2 0 9
Greenwood
Heichel 2 8 5 5 0 3
Hicks 5 4 0 0 2 2