Lower Macungie made the most out of a little in its regular season finale against Southern Lehigh last week.

The Mustangs had just four hits – all singles – but mixed in four walks and took advantage of two Spartans errors for a 3-0 win. The win was their third straight and sends them into the postseason with a head of steam.

Ironically, the same two teams will meet in the opening round of the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs, which got underway Tuesday.

Lower Macungie (8-5) opened scoring in the first inning when Dan Rholsen reached on an error and quickly stole second base and then moved to third on a passed ball.

Ryan Bennett was hit by a pitch and Dayne Schmidt followed with a fly ball to center field that brought in Rholsen with the game’s first run.

Janssen Brown got settled in on the mound for Southern Lehigh (4-9) and retired nine hitters in a row until Schmidt singled with one out in the fourth and Michael Kernechel followed with a single to put runners on first and second with one out.

After recording the second out of the inning, Brown walked Jack Sparango, loading the bases, but then got a key strikeout to end the inning without any further damage.

Brown danced around trouble in the fourth, but Lower Mac caught up to him in the fifth when Cohen Schadler walked with one out and moved to third on a base hit by Rholsen.

Ryan Bennett reached on an infield single as Schadler scored on the play to make it 2-0 Mustangs. Rholsen later scored on a ground ball to short to stretch the lead to 3-0.

While the offense was struggling, the pitching was right on mark. Shane Ohl started and threw six innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out nine batters. Nicolas Balsamo came on to throw a perfect seventh inning and record the save.

The win came a day after Lower Macungie had downed Southern Lehigh 6-5 behind a big game from Bennett, who had a double and two singles and two runs scored to go with an RBI. Wiley Fleck doubled and drove in two runs for the Mustangs in the win. Sparango threw three shutout innings in relief for Lower Macungie to get the win as the Mustangs scored two runs in each of the final three innings to overcome a 5-0 deficit.

The two teams met three times during the regular season with Lower Macungie winning twice. The LVL playoffs are a double-elimination tournament and Lower Macungie hosted the opener against Southern Lehigh. That game was played after Press deadline. See next week’s issue for results and highlights.