Offense was a key component in the first matchup this season between Palmerton and Northwestern, as the two teams combined for 35 runs and the Bombers came away with a victory.

In their second tango on Monday, offense again played a vital role, but this time the Tigers produced the big offensive surge to down Palmerton, 8-5, for an important Colonial League victory.

The Bombers took a first-inning lead when Emily Baumgardt tripled and eventually scored.

In the top of the second, Palmerton looked like it was going to get out of the inning relatively easily after freshman pitcher Carly Gaffney retired the Tigers’ first two batters.

But Northwestern had other ideas as it put together an improbable two-out rally to score seven runs. Sage Toman, Morgan Farthing and Marissa Christman all came up with hits in the inning. The Tigers paired that with two Palmerton errors, and two players hit by a pitch to take control of the game.

“I think our girls did a good job of seeing the ball all day,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Zimmerman. “I thought we made the most out of our opportunities when they presented themselves. It’s always a positive thing when you can have a good offensive output inning like that.

“Hats off to Palmerton. That’s a really good ballclub and we knew that seven might not be good enough against them, but our girls dug in and made all the plays they needed to down the stretch to win the ballgame.”

Palmerton added a run in the second, and then tried to mount an offensive surge of its own in the fifth. The Bombers brought three across on another triple by Baumgardt, an RBI-single from Megan Serfass and a two-run homer by Megan Green that cut the Tigers’ lead to 7-5.

“Sometimes stuff happens so fast in this game,” said Palmerton head coach Robert Hock. “You think you’re in a good spot, with two outs and their nine hitter up, and the next thing you know it breaks loose. They put together some nice hits, some little flares and we made some mistakes in that second inning as well, and they put a seven spot on us.

“I thought we could cover that deficit, but we hit into some bad luck, and they made some great plays on some hard-hit balls and were able to come away with the win.”

The Tigers defense came up clutch in both the sixth and seventh, only allowing one base runner and making some terrific plays on some sharp hit balls by the Bombers. The Tigers added an insurance run in the top of the seventh.

“Everything right now is about jockeying for position at the top of our league, and this was a big win for us,” said Zimmerman. “The defense was just so good at the end, and we always talk about not letting a one- or two-run inning turn into a five-run inning and for the most part this season, we’ve been able to do that.”

Kylie Zentz and Christman led the way with two RBIs each for the Tigers. Izzy Akelaitis also chipped in with two hits on the day. Baumgardt led the Bombers with three hits.

Northwestern (11-1, 10-1) and Bangor are tied atop the Colonial League standings with one loss each, but the Tigers hold the tie breaker over the Slaters. Palmerton (11-3, 9-2) is next in the overall standings with two losses. Northwestern (Class 4A) and Palmerton (Class 3A) are currently ranked No. 1 in their District 11 classes.

Northwestern 070 000 1 - 8 7 2

Palmerton 110 030 0 - 5 10 6

Balliet and Stofflet; Gaffney and Green. W-Balliet L-Gaffney. HR - Palmerton: Green (5th, one on)