Thank you.
Those were the first two words Lehigh Valley Softball Carpenter Cup coach Brian Fehnel had for his players on Wednesday afternoon as they gathered one final time behind a dugout at FDR Park in Philadelphia.
Lehigh Valley’s run ended with a 7-3 defeat to Mid-Penn in the semifinals of the 17th annual tournament sponsored by the Phillies.
On their return trip to the sprawling park adjacent to the Philly sports complex, the local girls showed their grit one more time in a 5-3 come-from-behind win over defending Carpenter Cup champ Delaware South to advance to the final four.
However, the team couldn’t muster another rally after getting behind 6-0 to a Mid-Penn team featuring players from schools such as Cumberland Valley, Central Dauphin, Cedar Cliff, Chambersburg and Shippensburg.
They still stirred enough to get some runs on the board and demonstrated unity and enthusiasm until the end and finished the tournament with a 3-2 record.
It was near carbon copy of how things went in 2021 when Lehigh Valley also went 3-2 and reached the tournament semifinals before suffering an 11-8 loss to Mid-Penn. Mid-Penn also followed the same script as in 2021, losing the title game 1-0 to Jersey Shore.
But while they had the same record, this year’s Lehigh Valley team had surprising success considering it looked as though the Lehigh Valley wouldn’t have a team after Blake Morgan, who ran the local Carpenter Cup squad for several years, retired as Whitehall’s coach last year.
It wasn’t until mid-May when Fehnel was asked and agreed to take on the team. A few phone calls were made and tryouts arranged and a few practices were held before the team headed to Philly at dawn on Monday morning for its first game.
“These are just a great group of kids,” Fehnel said. “They don’t quit. We only…
