RECAP >> Rivals Lower Macungie and Emmaus both dropped their opening-round games in the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs on Wednesday night, and now the two will face each other with their seasons on the line.
At Church Lane Park, Northern Valley’s Eric Nothstein two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning broke a 4-4 tie as the fifth-seeded Chargers defeated Lower Mac, the No.4 seed, 6-4.
Meanwhile, over at Parkland High School, eighth-seeded Emmaus put a scare into South Parkland as they had the game tied 1-1 in the sixth inning, but the Trojans were able to survive and pull out a 2-1 win.
Both results mean that two rivals fall into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament, and will face off for the third time this season tonight at 5:45 p.m. at Emmaus’ Community Park, with the winner remaining alive while the loser has its season come to an end. The game was moved to Community Park due to the Lower Macungie Youth Legion baseball team playing its championship at Church Lane Park.
LOWER MAC RECAP:
Lower Mac found itself in a back-and-forth affair with Northern Valley for much of the game, but the difference proved to be Nothstein’s two-run shot off reliever Ian Hertzog that cleared the left center field fence.
Nothstein had a big day at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with four RBI, including a two-run single as part of three-run fifth inning that gave the visitors a 4-2 lead.
Lower Mac would respond, however, as they scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game, but Northern Valley pulled it out in the seventh.
“We had guys on base and we had our opportunities, but in the seventh inning they were better than us,” said Lower Mac coach Jeff Smith. “That kid (Ryan King) pitched a heck’va game for them and that kid (Nothstein) hit a shot and it happens. There’s nothing we can do about it except shake it off and get back on the horse tomorrow against Emmaus.”
Lower Mac lost for the second time in the last three games and dropped to 9-8 on the season after falling to Northern Valley for the second time this season. Just nine days ago, the two teams met at Northwestern High School with Lower Mac rolling to a 16-2 win.
Right fielder Justin Holmes and first baseman Luke Eitner each had a hit and drove in a run for the Chargers who improved to 8-9 on the season and face top-seed South Parkland in the semifinals.
For Lower Mac, catcher Shane Martrich had two hits and drove in a run, while first baseman Brian Horoshko also had a pair of hits.
Starter Everett Horton, who hadn’t pitched since June 19, threw well in defeat for Lower Mac as he went 4 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits. Hertzog suffered the defeat in relief.
King picked up the win and improved to 2-2 after his complete-game effort. The hard-throwing right-hander scattered eight hits, struck out 10 and didn’t give up walk.
EMMAUS RECAP
Emmaus, which entered the playoffs with just a 5-10 record, had been 0-2 against South Parkland and was outscored 13-1 in the two regular-season meetings.
But coach Ryan Schaffer’s team gave the two-time defending champs everything they could handle before falling late 2-1.
South Parkland’s Koby Staviecki wound up knocking in the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning with a single through a draw-in infield scoring AJ Palumbo from third with the winning run.
Emmaus had tied the game in the top of the inning on Stephen Bloodnick’s infield single that scored Jimmy Braxmeier, who had reached on an error and moved to third on a groundout.
Bloodnick had just one of the four hits on the day for Emmaus. Matt Madigan, David Cobb and Corby Bennett had the other hits.
Staviecki wound up 2-for-3, while first baseman Michael Morren also had two hits.
Josh Miller picked up the win for South Parkland which will host Northern Valley in one of two semifinals. The other semifinal will pit No.2 North Parkland, a 2-1 winner of Salisbury, taking on Carbon, the No.3 seed, a 11-1 victor over Coplay.
Northern Valley 6, Lower Mac 4
Northern Valley – 001 030 2 – 6-8-2
Lower Mac – 000 211 0 – 4-8-1
Ryan King and Aaron Rudolph. Everett Horton, Ian Hertzog (5) and Jadon Diaz.
WP – King (2-2), LP – Hertzog (0-2)
South Parkland 2, Emmaus 1
Emmaus – 000 001 0 – 1-4-2
So. Park – 000 101 x – 2-7-1
Steve Doddy, Austin McEllroy (6) and John Cherhit.
Josh Miller, AJ Palumbo (3), Alex Oliver (6) and Trent Viola
WP – Miller, LP – Doddy (0-3)