Leadoff hitter Morgan Smith was able to get a hold of a ball that was driven high to right center field, only for Mistretta to race to her left for a diving catch for the first of the final three outs of the night.

With two more strikeouts from pitcher Ashlyn Harvey, No. 1 Panama (13-2) finished off a 4-0 win over the Eagles (12-11) for their first Section VI Class D softball title since 2010, and their seventh in school history.

“That catch said it all,” said North Collins head coach Jan Warren. “After that, I just said, ‘Game is over.'”

Mistretta had just as big of an impact offensively, batting in a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to help put the Panthers into Friday’s 4:30 p.m. Far West Regional game against a to-be-determined Section V champion at the Martin Road Complex in Jamestown.

Above, Panama’s Abi Lisciandro slides safely into third base as North Collins’ Selena Maciejewski awaits the throw. Next, the Lady Panthers and coaching staff pose for a team photo after their Section VI Class D title game win.

“She’s just phenomenal,” Panama coach Tammy Hosier said of Mistretta. “It was a phenomenal catch and it just kind of put the icing on the cake at that point. We’ve had our normal kids who throughout the whole season have been our go-to people and the last couple of games we’ve had some different people step up. Alexys (Marsh) and Jess stepped up. It’s really great to have different people picking it up, and the whole team camaraderie is great.”

Marsh and Mistretta led the offensive push in the fourth, which began with a Harvey single. Following Harvey was Natalie Angeletti with bunt, and the junior was able to make it to first following a throwing error from the Eagles. Pitcher Rebecca Holmes then issued a walk to Ava Morton to load the bases, which brought Marsh up to the plate.

An RBI single on a grounder through the infield by Marsh plated Harvey, bringing Mistretta up to bat. The sophomore made it 4-0 Panama as she chipped a single to short right field that plated a pair of runs as Selena Maciejewski was called for interfering with a Panama runner at third base.

“We knew that they have gone to states the last two years, we knew it would be a tough battle and we knew we just had to come out and be ready to play. We did expect it to be a low-scoring game,” said Hosier. “We figured they were going to do a lot of bunting and stealing and that kind of stuff. That was our game plan, to hopefully keep them off the bases and then we obviously wanted to use some small game ourselves.”

Panama picked up their first run in the opening inning, which began with a single from Marra Hovey. Hovey stole second base and came home on an RBI single up the middle by Abi Lisciandro.

Entering the day, both coaches knew that Monday’s game could end up as a defensive battle.

“We just didn’t hit,” said Warren. “They are a great team and they made some big plays, but this is exactly what I expected. My pitcher is good, their pitcher is good and they just got more hits than we did at the right times.”

North Collins attempted to fight back with a double from Morgan Smith in the second inning, as well as singles from McKenna Williams and Myah Gabel in the fourth, but the pitching of Harvey and defensive support of the Panthers kept the Eagles off the board.

Harvey’s shutout performance included 11 strikeouts and one walk while Holmes fanned six for North Collins.

“She’s been working hard, she’s come on, and picked it up, and then having the defense playing behind her (helps),” Hosier said of Harvey. “You know if you have an error here or an error there, it brings the whole team down. Everything is contagious. She is pitching well, you have some good defensive plays, everything keeps going with that momentum.”