PHILADELPHIA - Palmerton pitcher Carly Gaffney took over the circle with a vengeance and assured a perfect 3-0 day for Lehigh Valley in the Carpenter Cup Softball Classic Tuesday at FDR Park in Philadelphia.

“We wanted to go out with as many wins as we could, even though we had a pretty high seed already from our first two games, but securing that third one was even more of a confidence booster to come out tomorrow and do some good stuff,” said Gaffney, the winning pitcher in Games 1 and 3.

“I was trying to focus on my spin to get the ball to move and see what the batters would do. I think we were all on our best game, making good plays. (It was a) really good day for the team.”

Lehigh Valley was a 7-5 winner over Burlington in its third of three games after trailing early when Maddyn Rittler hit a two-run inside-the-park home run.

Lehigh Valley took a one-run lead in the third inning on Delaney Troxell’s (Catasauqua) two-run double to right center.

“All I wanted to do was make good contact with the ball and try and hit it in the gap to score those girls,” Troxell said.

Lehigh Valley trailed again, however, before tying the game, 5-5, on Sage Toman’s (Northwestern) bases-loaded RBI.

A follow-up single by Gaffney that dropped in right field put Lehigh Valley ahead, 7-5, in the bottom of the sixth.

“I was a little off-balance, and the pitcher had really good movement to the outside of the plate, so I was trying to make sure my hands were in the right spot so I wouldn’t whiff at her curve ball,” said Gaffney.

Gaffney then recorded three straight outs in the top of the seventh with a strikeout and two ground outs to Troxell.

Lehigh Valley’s second contest of the day resulted in a 12-4 victory over Olympic Colonial.

Karlye Teman’s (Palisades) three-run homer doubled Lehigh Valley’s lead after two innings, and in the circle, Teman held Olympic Colonial scoreless in three innings pitched.

Lehigh Valley opened the tournament with 17 hits and a 10-5 victory over Inter-Ac.

“That’s what this team’s going to do to people,” said Lehigh Valley head coach Brian Fehnel. “Our plan was, let’s not lose a game. Last year, we were 2-1 on the first day, and there was a three-way tie, so we didn’t want to be in that jam this year.”

Lehigh Valley did find themselves behind Inter-Ac by three runs after four innings, which caused some concern for the coaching staff until Lehigh Valley put up five runs in the sixth.

“We gave up some runs in some of those innings, and they still came back in, and they were ready to hit,” said Lehigh Valley assistant coach Kelly Dulaney. “They bounced back. They picked each other up and came back, and they scored.”

Lehigh Valley returns to FDR Park today in their quest for a Carpenter Cup championship. The team would need to win three more games to capture its first title since 2008.

Game 1

Lehigh Vy. 000 225 1 - 10 17 1

Inter-Ac 020 300 0 - 5 10 2

W - Gaffney. L - Pearlstein.

Game 2

Oly. Col. 000 310 x - 4 6 0

Lehigh Vy. 330 204 x - 12 16 3

W - Teman. L - Davis. HR - Teman.

Game 3

Burlington 002 102 0 - 5 8 1

Lehigh Vy. 003 004 x - 7 9 3

W - Gaffney. L - Fontana.