ALLENTOWN - Bulldogs is the perfect moniker for Northern Lehigh.

The softball team is tenacious, and showed just how tough it can be at Patriot’s Park on Wednesday night - even though it came in a 12-8 Colonial League loss to Northwestern Lehigh.

Though the game started 45 minutes late because of a rainstorm that hit just prior to the first pitch, it was looking like it might be a quick night when the Tigers (13-2 overall, 10-2 Colonial) put 10 runs on the board in an epic bottom of the first inning.

Emma Smith started in the circle for Northern Lehigh (9-6, 6-6), but would be unable to finish the opening inning as the first 10 batters for Northwestern not only reached base, but came around to score.

Sage Toman led off with a double, and Rylee McGinley was hit by a pitch. Izzy Akelaitis drove home Toman with a double, and Marissa Christman hit her fourth home run of the season to make it 4-0.

But the Tigers weren’t even close to being finished. A walk to Abby Dunstan, a Josie Wehr single, and a two-run double from Shelby Mitman made it 6-0. Quinn Conrey followed with an RBI single before a walk to Neumoyer and Toman’s second double of the inning brought home two more runs. McGinley’s sacrifice fly then made it 9-0.

Northern Lehigh coach Kate Farber then went to lefty Lilyanah Watt, who surrendered an RBI single to Akelaitis, but then worked her way through the final two outs of the inning after 15 batters came to the plate.

“Honestly, I thought if we just keep going and just keep hitting, we would be fine,” said second baseman Josie Wehr. “We have a good defense, so I thought that even if we made a couple errors we would just pick right back up.”

This is where the tenacious part comes in. Northern Lehigh bunched a double from Candace Peters, and singles from Kaitlyn Stock and Kylee Snyder to make it 10-1 in the top of the second. Admittedly not a big deal, but then Peyton Hoffman singled home Caralena Lewis, who came in as a courtesy runner for Stock, to make it 10-2.

Still not impressed? How about a bases-loaded double from Hoffman to make it 10-5 after three innings?

With ace Emma Freeman coming on to take over in the circle for Neumoyer in the fourth, Northwestern coach Josh Zimmerman thought he might have the answer to shut down the Bulldogs.

Instead, Arabella Heintzelman greeted Freeman by lacing a triple down the right field line, and Hayley Fenstermaker followed with a walk. Both runners scored one out later when Jordyn Hemingway singled to make it 10-7, and Stock singled home Hemingway to cut the 10-run lead down to just two through four innings.

Watt settled in for Northern Lehigh and had retired 12 out of 14 hitters to take the game to the bottom of the fifth with two outs when McGinley worked a walk. Akelaitis followed with a base hit to left and McGinley looked to go first to third, but was nailed at third on a strong throw by left fielder Fenstermaker. Zimmerman questioned the call and after the umpires conferred, McGinley was ruled safe. Singles by Christman and Dunstan made it 12-8 to cap the scoring.

“That first inning was tough, but it became just a matter of how do we dig out of it? We were able to get out of it and stop the bleeding, and we have some big on-base percentage players in our lineup,” said Farber. “Lilyanah came in and gave them that lefty look and did what she needed to do to give us a chance to get back into the game. We got close, but hats off to Northwestern because they were able to eventually put it away.”

The runs provided some insurance for Freeman, but she didn’t need them. After the rough fourth inning, she settled in and allowed just one hit over the final three innings.

“We told the girls coming into this that Northern Lehigh can hit. They hit against us the first time we played them, and tonight was no different,” said Zimmerman. “We were fortunate to bat around and put 10 runs on the board in the first inning. A lot of teams would have folded right there, but not them. They made a great run.”

TOUGH KID

... With runners on first and second with two outs in the fifth, Wehr lined a hard shot right back at Watt, who took the line drive directly in her stomach. After catching her breath, Watt not only stayed in the game, but retired the next hitter to end the inning and then pitched a perfect seventh inning. Watt had pitched in just two games and thrown 49 pitches the entire season before last night when she threw 87 against the Tigers.

LONG DAY

... Candace Peters started her day giving the student-athlete speech at the Colonial League’s Academic All-Star breakfast at Green Pond Country Club. She also received the girls Academic All-Star Award for Northern Lehigh. In addition to softball, Peters also plays basketball.

No. Lehigh 023 300 0 - 8 13 2

Northwestern (10)00 020 x - 12 11 4

Smith, Watt (1) and Stock; Neumoyer, Freeman (4) and Toman. W – Neumoyer, L - Smith.