Any course in Baseball 101 will tell you: “Don’t let the leadoff hitter get on base!”

In five of its six at-bats Thursday, Northern Valley got its leadoff man on. In four of those innings, the Chargers scored runs and left the field at Northwestern High School with a 7-3 Lehigh Valley Legion win over the Carbon Monarchs.

The Monarchs put their leadoff man on base in three of their seven at-bats, and he came around to score on two of those occasions, starting with the first inning.

Pitcher Aiden Rarick led off the inning with a walk and Ian Henkles followed with a single to center against starting pitcher Wes George, who quickly rebounded to get the next two batters. Rich Strack then delivered a two-out single to right to bring home Rarick and give Carbon a 1-0 lead.

George helped himself in the bottom of the first when he doubled to drive in Trey Starling, who led off the inning with a single and stole second.

Over the next few innings, George was dominant on the mound, retiring 10 of 11 Monarchs batters, including seven on strikeouts.

The only Carbon baserunner during that stretch was Rarick, who singled with one out in the third, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch, but was stranded there.

Northern Valley took the lead in the bottom of the third when George was hit by a pitch, Shaun O’Donnell single and another hit batter loaded the bases. Nick Buskirk then drew an RBI walk to make it 2-1.

A nice base-running exhibition by Sterling scored another Northern Valley run in the fourth. Sterling delivered a one-out double. George then bounced a grounder to second. As George was thrown out, Sterling never stopped after breaking for third base on the play and he easily beat the throw home to put the Chargers up 3-1.

O’Donnell and Nick Solt opened the Northern Valley fifth with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Hausman then got a fastball over the plate and hammered it over the head of center fielder Lawrence Baldassano for a two-run triple, making the Chargers up 5-1.

Buskirk then ended Rarick’s time on the mound with an RBI single.

“After the first two at-bats, I was looking for fastballs because I noticed he wasn’t throwing too many off-speed pitches,” said Hausman, who had been walked and hit by a pitch earlier in the game. “I was looking for something over the plate in my previous at-bat and didn’t get it. Next thing, he threw a pitch right down the middle and I just took it where it was supposed to go.”

Northern Valley (7-4) again put the leadoff man on in the sixth when Bob Croneberger reached on a grounder to third base and then went to second when Tyler Fenstermaker drew a walk off reliever Evan Murphy. A throwing error on a base-hit to right by Austin Eisenhard, allowed Croneberger to race home and Fenstermaker to move to third. Buskirk’s ground out produced the Chargers’ final run and made 8-1.

Carbon had one last gasp, as Jack Edwards led off the seventh with a ground single to left. The Monarchs (2-9) put on a hit-and-run and Brady O’Donnell singled through the hole at short. With runners on first and third, O’Donnell and Edwards executed a double steal to score a run. A sacrifice fly by Murphy later in the frame made produced the third Carbon run, but relief pitcher Nick Bogert struck out the final two batters to finish off the game.

“We have a lot of intensity, and I think that’s one of the most important things,” said Hausman. “We don’t have one leader for the whole team. One kid may lead for one game, but then there is someone else who leads in the next game. We are like a family, so everyone is a part of it.”

Coach Brad Rauch knows that teams can always do some things better, but overall he is happy with how it is playing at this point in the season.

“We are in a good spot, but we have been up and down,” said Rauch. “We had four games this week and pitching always becomes an issue when you get four or five games in a week, but the good thing is that they are playing well.”

OVERTIME ... In their stretch of four games in four days, the Chargers went 2-2 with wins over South Parkland (8-2-1) and Carbon and losses to Allentown (5-4) and Salisbury (6-5).

Carbon 100 000 2 - 3 5 1

Northern Valley 101 132 x - 8 11 1

Rarick, Craigie (5), Murphy (6) and Henkles; George, Bogert (5) and Hausman, Eisenhard (6). W - George. L - Rarick.