Some big offensive production and solid pitching have carried the Northwestern Lehigh softball team to a 4-0 start to the season after a 5-3 win over Palmerton on Tuesday. Izzy Akelaitis had two hits and drove in four runs for Northwestern and Emma Freeman and Peyton Neumoyer ganged up on the Bombers from the circle to follow the script that has played out early on for the team.

As for Palmerton (2-1 Colonial, 3-1 overall), the Bombers were also undefeated coming into the game and hit the ball hard throughout the game and got good pitching, but there were some exceptions to both. The hard-hit balls were generally at a fielder, while pitcher Caley Gaffney had one hiccup on the night that led to three Northwestern runs.

Palmerton opened the game with three singles to load the bases. All three came on hard-hit balls, but the Bombers were unable to find a big hit that would break the game open. In that first inning, Hailey Barry delivered a fly ball to right for a sacrifice fly and an early lead.

While Palmerton was pounding the ball, the first hit for Northwestern Lehigh (3-0, 4-0) came with one out in the bottom of the first inning on a softly hit line drive by Rylee McGinley, who then stole second. Izzy Akelaitis hit a ball hard and it went for a base hit to center field to tie the game, but that would be the only run in the inning for the Lady Tigers.

Northwestern added another run in the second inning with a hard-hit single by Abby Dunstan, who then scored on a triple off the bat of Shelby Mitman to make it 2-1.

While the Bombers continued to swing away, the only time that they found open spaces was when there were no runners on base. They put the leadoff hitter on in both the third and fourth innings but wound up with nothing to show for it and went down in order for the first time in the game in the fifth, still trailing 2-1.

Northwestern was scuffling for hits as Gaffney retired 11 out of the next 12 hitters following Dunstan’s triple. The stretch included opening the bottom of the fifth with two strikeouts before Sage Toman reached on an innocent looking infield single to extend the inning.

Toman stole second and on a walk to Rylee McGinley the ball got away from catcher Kelsey Balliet, allowing Toman to advance to third. McGinley advanced to second on the play. That brought Akelaitis back to the plate and she lifted a long fly ball out to left field for a three-run bomb and a 5-1 Northwestern lead. After another single, Gaffney got out of the inning.

“I wasn’t expecting that first pitch, but it was pretty good, so I went after it,” said Akelaitis. “I was...hoping that it would go out. I knew I hit it pretty well and I kind of watched it hit the bat and thought ‘that one is going over’.”

Peyton Neumoyer had relieved Freeman after four innings and appeared to be in control until Balliet took things off kilter with a leadoff double.

Just when it looked like Balliet may be left out in the cold breeze that blew across the infield throughout the game, Emily Christopher hit a two-run shot that cut the lead to 5-3. Neumoyer got the final out in the sixth and then retired Palmerton in order in the seventh to lock up the win.

Neumoyer and Freeman have been a tag team of sorts in the circle. The two have rotated starts with the other coming on in relief midway through the game. Opponents have scored just 13 runs in four games, while the Tigers offense has pounded away for 42 runs with Tuesday being the first time this season that they were held under 10 runs.

“It’s been a while since we had that luxury (two strong pitchers) here at Northwestern,” said Northwestern Lehigh coach Josh Zimmerman. “There is just enough of a difference in their velocity that it keeps hitters off balance at the plate and so far, that has worked well for us

Over the past eight days, Northwestern downed Northern Lehigh 14-7 and then beat Salisbury 10-0.

Akelaitis has been hot all season and especially in the last three wins when she hit .637 (7-for-11) with a home run and seven RBI for the Lady Tigers. On the season, she is batting .643 and leads the team with two home runs and 10 RBI, while McGinley, a sophomore, is batting .667 with five RBI and six stolen bases, tied with Toman to lead the team.