A year later, a nine-inning game in temperatures pushing the upper 90s made things less than favorable to play in and Montoursville found itself again on the losing side of things.

Both those losses came at the hands of Keystone as well. Montoursville’s players wanted to break through and, last week, they did just that by defeating Keystone in the District 12 major softball championship game in back-to-back days to win the title and punch their ticket to the Section 3 tournament, which begins today in South Williamsport.

Montoursville got its revenge in the district final and now wants to keep its summer postseason going further.

“They’re pretty pumped up. They’re glad to still be playing,” Montoursville manager Travis Sheleman said. “Last few years we ended short against Keystone, so they’re pretty happy to have beaten them.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville catcher Avery Bolsar throws to first base on a bunt in the first inning of the second game of the Little League District 12 Majors Softball Championship at Lycoming College Wednesday.

Montoursville begins its quest for a sectional title with a game against the District 15 champion at 6:30 p.m.

“We just want to win games. I mean we’ve been going pretty much every day and they just wanna keep winning,” Sheleman said. “They have a goal to at least get to states, hopefully further than that.”

Montoursville fell this year in the District 12 winners’ bracket final to Keystone and had to battle their way through the elimination bracket with three games in four days. Montoursville had to go through a strong South Williamsport team in the elimination bracket first and then after reaching the final, had to beat a Keystone team whcih beat them 9-1 in the winners’ bracket final thanks to an eight-run inning, in back-to-back days.

That’s far from an easy task to win three games in four days, but Montoursville’s major softball team did so and played solidly in each game.

“Three games in four days, we were able to still hit the ball, play good defense and we beat two good teams. I mean going into districts I thought South and Keystone would be the two teams that we had to beat to win and it ended up being that way,” Sheleman said. “So to beat those two teams, they’re pretty pumped up. I’d say they’re pretty pumped and ready to go.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville team mates take a jog around the field with their championship banner after their win over Keystone for the Little League District 12 Majors Softball Championship at Lycoming College Wednesday.

Montoursville has a talented team that can hit the ball throughout the lineup. That includes players like Avery Bolsar (1 for 2, run, stolen base), Frankie Finicle (1 for 2) and Myla Carey (RBI) who all contributed in the championship game against Keystone.

And Averie Sheleman, Sunny Robson, Sophie Hoffman, Alivia Frey, Blakely Ings, Carley Smith, Nayomi Belle, Scarlet Rickerd and Audrina Watson all can connect at the plate too.

And while that offense has helped propel Montoursville to the final, its pitching and defense has been valuable too.

Sheleman didn’t hesitate when asked the strength of his team: defense.

“”If you look at that last game against Keystone, it was zero errors to three errors and I’m pretty sure that’s the difference in the outcome of that game,” Sheleman said. “The team that had the fewest amount of errors ended up winning. Our defense and pitching is probably our strength.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville team mates celebrate their win over Keystone in the Little League District 12 Majors Softball Championship at Lycoming College Tuesday. The two teams will play again Wednesday at Lycoming College.

In that winners’ bracket final loss to Keystone, multiple errors proved costly and helped allow Keystone to score eight runs in a single inning to break the game open. Since then? Montoursville hasn’t committed a single error and is playing excellent overall.

“That game, it came down to errors. I think we had (three) errors, which allowed them to keep batting, keep scoring in that inning. I told the girls after that game that one inning is the difference between a 9-1 game and a 1-1 game,” Sheleman said. “After that, we went back to the drawing board at practice and we got down on defense, since then I don’t think we’ve had an error in three games.”

When Sheleman became the all-star manager, he wanted to make sure he had a team that can not only play well in the field and make plays, but players who can hit from No. 1 through No. 12.

“That’s another thing when I picked this team, I wanted girls that I knew could put the ball in play and that’s what we have,” Sheleman said. “I mean we had some strikeouts, but we also faced some of the best pitchers in the district. Any girl in that lineup can put the ball in play and do damage.”

This year’s Montoursville team claimed the league’s second major softball title in three years, and third since 2010. That 2024 team reached the state tournament after winning the Section 3 championship two summers ago, and this year’s team is hoping to mirror that success.

Montoursville’s players have been competing in Little League and all-star competition for the past three years together. They keep putting in the work year after year, and it’s showing on the field.

“Every year we’ve gotten better. It seems like every year there’s always one thing that happens that causes us to lose, you know what I mean? Two years ago our catchers got hit on a bad swing, leaving the game and we had a rough couple innings. Last year we had a nine-inning game in 100 degree weather,” Sheleman said. “There’s always something that causes that to happen. This year we fought through all of that. They really worked hard at practice to get better to avoid any kind of issues like that going forward.”