COOPERSBURG — Offense often hasn’t been hard to come by for Southern Lehigh this season.

The Spartans Lehigh Valley Senior Connie Mack team averaged over 12 runs per game this season.

But Craig Sutyak’s club has shown they’re capable of putting up wins without lighting up the scoreboard.

Southern Lehigh came through in clutch situations to capture the league title with a 2-1 win over Northern Valley on Saturday.

One day after securing a two-out, walk-off win in the semis, the Spartans were up for the challenge against the Chargers, making the most of timely hitting, potent pitching and dynamic defense.

“I think it’s good going forward, going to states, for the team to play in two tight ball games in a row,” said Sutyak. “To come back from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning of yesterday’s game (against Nazareth) and to win it 5-4 in the last at-bat. And then to come out here and win a 2-1 baseball game, we’ve been built on hitting the baseball really well, and I think we average something around 10.5 (hits) per game. To win a 2-1 game shows a lot of character of our kids, our pitching staff, our catcher, and the boys playing in the field behind them.”

Southern Lehigh (19-1), which had scored at least 10 runs in 13 of its 19 games entering Saturday, got just two hits against Northern Valley. But they couldn’t have come in bigger moments.

After Ismael Magallanes reached on a two-out error in the bottom of the third inning, Luke Kawczenski delivered a double to left field on an 0-2 count to plate the Spartans’ leadoff hitter and make it 1-0.

A pair of walks to Lucas Sutyak and Jaden Holland sandwiched around a strikeout gave Southern Lehigh a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the fourth inning. Darien Cela didn’t waste any time cashing in on the opportunity, scoring Sutyak to give the Spartans a 2-0 advantage.

No stranger to comebacks, Northern Valley (17-3) – which wiped out a five-run deficit with an 8-6 win over South Parkland in the other semifinal on Friday – pulled a run back in the top of the fifth inning when Watson Church singled to center field to score Jayden Christman, who walked, to make it a one-run game.

But Matt Hoffman worked out of a bases loaded jam, getting a line out to second basemen Jake Burtt to end the inning. The second out of the inning came when Southern Lehigh catcher Cela delivered a strike to shortstop Ismael Magallanes for a caught stealing.

In the top of the sixth, Cole Dynda lined a ball to deep center field that appeared to have a chance of going over the fence or at least ending up in extra bases, but it resulted in a long — and loud — single. Landen Cougle came up next and was hit by a pitch. After Hoffman got a pop up for the second out, Coy Daubert walked to load the bases.

Hoffman, in what would be his last inning of work, got out of trouble with a fielder’s choice at second base to keep the 2-1 lead intact.

“We just didn’t get enough,” said Northern Valley mentor Erich Klein. “We had a couple chances, we tried some stuff, it just didn’t work.”

The Chargers put together one more push with one out in the top of the seventh when Landon Rosado reached on an error and Church walked. Cannon Fitch came through with a single, but Southern Lehigh got the second out of the inning when the runner went past the third base bag and then was tug out trying get back on a bang-bang play.

Church advanced to third and Fitch to second on a passed ball, but the Spartans got the final out when third baseman Jeremy Yeakel-Mendez fielded a ground ball and fired to first baseman Sutyak to get Kaden Moyer on amother close play.

“These kids are resilient,” said Klein. “They’ll take it in stride, think about it for one day and then move on to the next one.”

NOT DONE YET ... Six teams from LV Senior Connie Mack and six from the Bux-Mont league advanced to this week’s state tournament in Limeport. Northern Valley will open Thursday against Hatboro Horsham at 5 p.m.

PITCHING PERFORMANCE ... Church battled on the mound for Northern Valley, throwing 84 pitches with three strikeouts and just one earned run. He allowed just two hits and walked four.

HARD HITS ... The Chargers finished with eight hits and no strikeouts in the game. Fitch (2-for-4) and Brayden Buskirk (2-for-3) each had a double. Church also finished with a pair of hits and a walk.

COACH’S CORNER ... In his 24th season coaching summer baseball — and 17th with the Northern Valley program — Klein knows how hard it is just to reach the championship game. “This is only the second time,” Klein said of reaching the final. “We’ve been the bridesmaid twice. It’s only been two times. It’s an accomplishment. There are 20 teams in the league, and its’ tougher than everyone thinks.”

N. Valley 000 010 0 - 1 8 1

So. Lehigh 001 100 x - 2 2 2

Church and Buskirk; Hoffman, Holland (7) and Cela. W - Hoffman. L - Church. S - Holland.