Thanks to an embarrassment of riches when it comes to pitching, Northwestern Lehigh came into the Lehigh Valley High School Baseball Tournament last week as one of the favorites. With a good lineup to compliment the pitching, the Tigers seemed poised to contend for the tournament title.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the bats weren’t as hot as the August weather and Northwestern exited after their three pool games in the tournament.

“We were only guaranteed three games and even had we advanced we were only ever guaranteed one more game at a time,” said Tiger head coach Duran Porrino. “This was really exciting though. For the kids to come out here and get to play together one last time and have at least three games from their season salvaged, it was great.”

In the end, Northwestern got good pitching and allowed just five runs in three games, but was eliminated with losses to Saucon Valley and Emmaus after beating Salisbury 15-1 in the tournament opener.

Each of the Tigers’ final two games came down to the last play of the game, but when the dust settled, Northwestern fell to Saucon Valley 3-2 and then dropped a 1-0 decision to Emmaus.

The Panthers took advantage of two first-inning errors to grab a 1-0 lead. Saucon Valley put runners on second and third with one out in the fifth and looked to grab a run on a groundball to short by Brandon Binn. Rafe Perich threw a perfect strike to catcher Ryan Kensinger to nail the runner at the plate. Saucon Valley was still able to push two runs across in the inning to go up 3-0.

Northwestern’s Nate Goodolf drew a one-out walk in the sixth and scored on a double by Perich, who was later driven in on Justin Holmes’ RBI single, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Panthers reliever Cole Curtis got the first two outs of the seventh, but lost his command and walked Vinny Castrine. Carter Welch then roped a double into right-center field and Castrine was waved home as he approached third base.

The Saucon Valley defense executed a perfect relay from the outfield to nail Castrine at the plate for the final out of the game.

Needing a win over Emmaus to lock up a spot in the tournament playoffs, Northwestern looked to match its pitching with that of the Hornets, who have a formidable pitching staff of their own.

Perich and Emmaus’ Vince Petrizzi locked themselves into a pitcher’s duel that kept the game scoreless through five innings. Vince Castrine came on for Northwestern in the sixth and Emmaus loaded the bases, but with two outs, Castrine struck out Joel Freeman to put down the uprising.

After a walk to open the seventh, Tyler LePage hit a ball that had third baseman Nate Goodolf diving far to his left with the ball going just off the edge of his glove for an infield single. Heavy hitting Wyatt Henseler then followed with a sinking line drive to center field. Nick Henry raced in and, knowing the game was on the line, did everything possible to make a play, diving for the ball, which landed just ahead of his outstretched glove. Matt Madigan raced home from second with the walk-off run for Emmaus.

Porrino was happy with how his team played overall and after playing two exciting games at the end of the tournament, was happy that his team was able to be in big situations in front of an excited crowd.

“I hope they all took just a minute to look around and appreciate what was going on here,” said Porrino. “Even with everything going on, there was a crowd here that was really into these games and was cheering and yelling for them. You don’t always get these opportunities and with everything going on, it really was a great thing.”

Perich played tournament ball in Georgia and Florida this spring and faced top-notch pitching. His bat still had some heat left in it from down south and he finished the three games going 8-for-11 with a home run, four runs scored and seven RBI. He also threw five shutout innings in the game against Emmaus, allowing just one hit and one walk.

The Hornets went on to win their pool and take the title for the 32-team tournament. The Hornets met Parkland in the tournament final Monday at Coca-Cola Park. Emmaus opened a 7-2 but the Trojans cut it to 7-5 in the seventh inning and had the tying run at the plate before the Hornets closed out the win.

Henseler, a University of Pennsylvania-bound outfielder who had a home run in the title game, was named tournament MVP.