WINDBER — Freshman Jocelyn Luft wants to win a state softball championship, but she also wants to start driving.
The 15-year-old Hempfield second baseman might get to do both very soon.
Luft can hear keys jingling like she hears bats pinging.
“She’s been asking me if she can start practicing for her permit,” said her mother, Hempfield coach Tina Madison. “I told her, ‘OK, if you hit a home run in a playoff game, you can.’ I guess when we get home, we have to start practicing in a parking lot.”
Luft belted a two-run homer in the sixth inning Thursday to give Hempfield some space and back the three-hit pitching of senior ace Julia Varhola as the Spartans blanked District 3 runner-up Chambersburg, 4-0, in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals at Windber Sports Complex.
“When we’re only up by two or three runs, we can feel a little pressure,” said Luft, who went 2 for 3 and scored twice. “When I hit (the homer), we could finally breathe.
“It helped put us in the driver’s seat to get the win.”
That’s the nature of the state tournament, where one good or bad inning — depending on who you ask — can turn a game around and determine a season’s ending. But Hempfield (23-1) denied Chambersburg (19-5) in the few scoring opportunities it had and posted the shutout to move to the semifinals for the third time in four years.
Luft isn’t quite ready to drive a Coach bus yet, but the Spartans kept theirs running. The WPIAL champions will play District 3 and defending state champion Central Dauphin (23-1) on Monday at a time and site to be determined.
Central Dauphin edged Souderton, 4-3, in nine innings.
Last year, Hempfield built a 4-0 lead through five innings against Chambersburg in the same round at the same site but allowed three runs in the sixth before holding on for a 4-3 win.
Varhola didn’t allow a rally this time as she struck out 11, despite feeling ill when she woke up Thursday. She didn’t show any signs of fatigue or lethargy, especially against the bottom four hitters, who were a combined 0 for 8 with six K’s and a walk.
The hard-throwing ace now has 301 career strikeouts.
“My stomach was bothering me earlier, and then the heat was getting to me today,” Varhola said. “I trusted my defense to make plays behind me. I am surprised to have the shutout because (Chambersburg) can hit the ball. I tried to put some spin on my pitches today. Jocelyn gave us a boost of confidence.”
Luft’s second homer of the season made it 4-0 just after senior Lauren Howard was caught stealing at third. Trojans senior catcher Kendall Flory was sharp as she threw out three would-be base stealers.
“Julia and Joce were the MVPs today,” Madison said. “We had some baserunning blunders that cost us. We’re lucky we had Julia’s pitching performance.”
Despite the win, Madison said she had a lot to critique. She talked this week about the Spartans needing to “slam the door” on opponents, but this wasn’t quite what she meant.
“We didn’t slam it,” she said. “We kind of closed it softly, like a 10-month-old was in their crib ready to take a nap.”
Still, the Spartans did enough against slow-throwing senior pitcher Issie Slimmer, who allowed five only hits, four of which were singles. She had two K’s and two walks.
Chambersburg left seven on base, getting runners to first and second in the sixth and second and third in the seventh.
“Julia pitched a great game. Cred to her,” Luft said. “We had her back.”
Varhola issued two walks, hit a batter and had two passed balls, but no damage was done.
Hempfield took a 1-0 lead in the second after Luft led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a throwing error.
It was 2-0 in the fifth when junior Abby Magill slapped a single up the middle past a drawn-in outfield — junior center fielder Marley Onomastico moved all the way up to shortstop — to score sophomore courtesy runner Faith Orczek, who ran for Varhola after a walk.
Magill had just made the defensive play of the game with a diving catch in foul territory in right when the Trojans had two on and one out in the fourth.
“We knew we have to play a great game, no matter who we play,” Luft said. “Hopefully, we can go off the adrenaline of this game.”
Magill also made a sliding grab near the same spot in the seventh after Varhola walked Flory, the leadoff batter.
After a strikeout, Luft was charged with an error at second, and a passed ball allowed the Trojans to get runners to second and third.
But Varhola got senior Erissa Varner to line out to senior first baseman Emily Bozek to end it.
Freshman Jayelyn Luft had a bunt hit early in the game to give her 44 singles, a Hempfield single-season record.
Hempfield didn’t hesitate to bunt. Howard had a bunt single in the sixth, and senior catcher Ella Berkebile, the clean-up hitter, also tried to lay down a bunt in the same inning before she walked.
“We knew about (Slimmer’s) pop-ups,” Madison said. “We tried to get bunts down in the sixth. This game is hard. It’s hard to win playoff games. They’re all close.”
Chambersburg, which made three errors, had not been shut out since March 24, a 2-0 loss to Cumberland Valley. The Trojans are 0-5 against Hempfield in the state tournament since 2016.
They last made the semifinals in 2023.