Palmerton wins first CL softball title

ALLENTOWN — The Palmerton offense has been playing a little game of hide-and-seek lately.

On Thursday night, the offense hid early and then found itself in the form of a five-run inning on its way to an 8-0 win over Notre Dame in the Colonial League championship game.

The victory gave the Bombers their first league title in school history.

Palmerton coach Bob Hock has been impressed with how the team has handled both the regular season, and the pressure of going for their first league title.

“These girls were just having a good time,” Hock said. “They really didn’t seem fazed by any of the pressure and they just stayed confident and were there to pick each other up.”

In each of the first two innings, Palmerton put a runner on second, but failed to cash in.

The fourth inning opened with two routine outs before Megan Serfass rapped a basehit to right. Amanda Lalik then unleashed a double to center that brought home the game’s first run.

“I was just trying to make contact and move her into scoring position to keep the inning going, but I got the ball in a good spot and we got more out of it than I planned,” said Lalik, who would finish the night 2-for-3.

The next inning, Payton Lesher led off with a basehit and was replaced by pinch-runner McKenzie Silliman, who was bunted along to second and then to third by Allyssa Frantz and Yessie Olewine as Palmerton looked to add an insurance run. They added more than that when Emily Baumgardt and Paige Shupp delivered back-to-back doubles to make it 3-0.

With Lexi Merkel working her magic on the mound, the three runs proved to be more than enough. The junior pitcher retired the first 10 batters she faced, eight of them on strikeouts. The only real trouble she encountered came in the sixth when two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out. From there, Merkel recorded another strikeout and got a weak pop-up to third to work out of the jam with no damage.

“We were sweating a little,” Hock said about the sixth-inning issues. “You never have enough runs in a game like this and they were one big hit away from doing some real damage, but Lexi pitched beautifully. nobody panicked, and we came out of it in good shape.”

Perhaps the sixth-inning threat spurred Palmerton’s offense to bigger and better things, because in the bottom of the inning it took advantage of an error that put Serfass on first. Lalik hammered a ball to deep left center field that hit near the top of the fence for her second double and second RBI of the night. Back-to-back singles from Madison Finley and Lesher, along with a sacrifice fly from Frantz, pushed two more runs across to make it 6-0. Baumgardt followed with a short pop up that fell in no-man’s land between the pitcher’s circle and second base for a single that brought home pinch-runner Megan Green. Baumgardt then stole second and scored on a double from Shupp.

“The offense was a little shaky at first,” Hock said. “I don’t know if it was nerves or something else, but we were eventually able to put together that big inning to lock things up.”

Notre Dame came in seeded sixth and Palmerton was the fourth seed in the tournament, so their matchup in the finals was unexpected, except to the players and coaches.

“We knew we could get here and once we won last night, we knew we had this,” said Lalik. “This is so amazing. The seniors were really focused on winning this, because it’s never been done before at our school. This team is special and we’ve wanted this all season and here we are.”

BRING IT ON ... Hock and his players talked about the bump in confidence that the league title has given them. That confidence will ride over into the District 11 playoffs, which get underway next week. “It won’t get any easier, that’s for sure,” said Hock of the road ahead. Last season, Palmerton lost to Salisbury in the first round of districts after having reached the semifinals for two straight seasons.

SWING AND A MISS ... Merkel recorded another 15 strikeouts in the win, giving her 60 through her last four games. In those four games, she has allowed just seven hits and three walks, and has had to face just 10 more batters than the minimum to work her way through 28 innings on the mound.

Notre Dame 000 000 0 - 0 3 1

Palmerton 000 125 x - 8 12 0

Fabiano and Coyle; Merkel and Frantz. W-Merkel. L-Fabiano