The waiting was the hardest part.

No. 10 and third-seeded Middletown Northtook a 1-0 lead over No. 15 and second-seeded Northern Burlington in a NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 3 softball semifinal Thursday.

A few thunder claps, a lightning strike and a few minutes of torrential rain later and the Lions had to head home to sleep on their thin lead.

But Middletown North arrived at Northern Burlington – albeit about 40 minutes late – on Friday and finished the job to advance to the sectional final with a 1-0 win.

The Lions will host fourth-seeded and defending champion Steinert, which defeated top-seeded Burlington Township, 1-0, on Tuesday.

 “It was kind of different,” said Middletown North senior Cara McNulty, who scored the game's only run. “I never experienced anything like that, and we were a little nervous because we had some momentum.”

Malori Bell pitched a three-hitter and struck out 14 for the victory. Bell walked the last batter before the delay and the first on Friday to put two runners on with one out in the fourth but escaped the jam with a strikeout and fly out.

“I definitely slowed myself down, took a lot of deep breaths,” said Bell. “I threw my game. Having a couple walks was a little nerve-racking, but we worked through it.”

Northern Burlington put two runners on with one out in the fifth, but Bell retired the last eight hitters – five by strikeout.

Haylei Archer was almost as good as Bell. She allowed just two hits and struck out 12.

Fortunately for Middletown North, both its hits came in the third inning.

McNulty – who was hit near the left elbow with a pitch, keeping her on the ground for five minutes in the first inning – singled after a long at-bat for her school-record 51^st hit of the season.

Two batters later, Ashley Kofsky ripped a double into the right-center field gap to score McNulty.

“It was right there, it felt good and I knew Cara would score,” said Kofsky.

As McNulty crossed the plate, Kofsky jumped up and down on second base as if she just won the game.

Which of course, in the battle of two of the state’s top pitchers she did.

“It definitely was not fun (to have to stop the game Thursday),” said Middletown North coach Chris Hoffman. “I kind of lied to them and said this is good for us, Malori will be refreshed. But they said so will their pitcher. We didn’t sleep well. We just wanted to get here, and then we were late, but we just wanted to play.

“Malori is Malori, right? We expected her to come her and get 11 outs and she did. She does what she does, and I hope she does it one more time.”

McNulty wore a huge bruise on her left arm, and Hoffman admitted he thought the player he calls the best he ever coached was done for the year when she was initially hit.

“I was scared, I thought this might have been it for me,” admitted McNulty. “It was really sore, I was really nervous but I wanted to get back in there, I didn’t want it to keep me down. I just wanted to get in and score.”

It was the second straight year Northern Burlington dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker on its home field – losing in the final to Steinert and Kaylee Whittaker last year. The Greyhounds have a strong junior class which will be back for one more run next season.

“It’s a tough loss, you come so far and you have aspirations to play in June and it doesn’t work out,” said Northern Burlington coach Tara Corcoran. “You have to score to win. We didn’t. That obviously makes it difficult.

“It’s such a good group of girls. You have the expectations from Day 1. To not be able to make it happen makes it hard. You have next year. You just have to wait a long time for it.”

Hoffman has a lot of respect for the Northern Burlington program and said next year would be their year. North graduates a stellar senior class.

“Northern Burlington will win Central Jersey 3 easily next year,” said Hoffman.

Corcoran made no such promises.

“But I would be OK with that,” she said.