LEBANON — A rivalry game tied 2-2 after one inning quickly became all Raiders in an NHIAA Division II opener Wednesday afternoon.
Lebanon High’s softball team started its 2026 campaign with a bang, routing Hanover High, 20-6, in five innings on 18 unanswered runs.
“I think you could see the jitters in the first inning there, so I thought Hanover did a good job of putting the pressure on us early. … But it was good to see the team regroup, get the energy back,” Raiders head coach Matt Kaercher said.
Those early jitters included errors that gave the Bears a first-inning lead. Hanover got its first three batters on base and scored on an infield single from sophomore Abigale Lindsay. After Raiders senior starter Ava Kaercher struck out the next batter, the Bears went up 2-0 on a passed ball before Kaercher struck out the next two to end the inning.
From that point, the senior was nails in the circle, finishing with 10 strikeouts through four innings despite the rocky start.
“I have confidence in my girls. They’re right behind me, with me, and a few errors is not that bad,” the senior captain said. “I think we kept the energy up even if we had a rough start.”
Lebanon tied the game in the bottom of the first. Junior Avelina Pentella and Kaercher reached on a walk and hit by pitch, but Bears sophomore starter Lucy Hochreiter got the next two out. With two outs, a hit batter loaded the bases, junior Anna Harrington walked to make it 2-1, and senior Ella Reichert was hit by a pitch to tie it.
The Raiders blew it open in the second. Sophomore Sophie DiDomenico singled, Pentella walked, and Kaercher singled to load the bases again. Lebanon added six runs in the frame on two walks, a hit batter, a passed ball, a wild pitch, and an RBI single from senior Regan DiDomenico.
Up 8-2, Kaercher kept dealing. “I think she does a very good job of composing herself and just going at those batters,” coach Kaercher said of his pitcher.
Lebanon added six runs in the third and six more in the fourth to lead 20-2 entering the fifth. Hanover scored four in its final at-bats on two hit batters, an error, and a walk before Pentella, pitching in relief, closed it out.
Lebanon (1-0) travels to Oyster River (2-0) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Hanover (0-1) hosts Coe-Brown Northwood (2-0) at the same time.
