Those who follow Major League Baseball may have hard about a month ago that Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers was intentionally walked with the bases loaded.

It was just the third time since 1950 that an opposing MLB manager had walked a batter intentionally even though it would force in a run.

That same rare strategy was used Tuesday afternoon in a District 11 Class 4A softball quarterfinal round game at Northwestern Lehigh High School.

Lehighton coach Dave Yob had Northwestern’s Izzy Akelaitis walked intentionally with the bases loaded even though it brought the Tigers to within two runs of a mercy rule victory.

The strategy backfired when Morgan Farthing singled through the middle to bring in those two runs to give Northwestern a 15-0 win over Lehighton.

Tiger senior pitcher Brynn Balliet threw a four-inning perfect game against Lehighton, finishing with eight strikeouts.

The reason Lehighton decided to intentionally walk Akelaitis in that situation was because she was having one of the better days of any player this season, Coming into her fourth-inning at-bat, the sophomore had already belted two home runs, and made a bid for another that was turned into an out when Indian center fielder Anna Laible made a spectacular catch of a ball as she tumbled over the temporary fencing. The catch took away a home run and what would have been two more RBIs for Akelaitis, who finished with two homers and five RBIs on the day.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Akelaitis. “I almost had three home runs, and you want to strategize and give your team the best opportunity, so if I was the coach, I would do what he just did.”

Balliet was in complete command from the circle, striking out eight batters in a row from the first inning through the third and not coming close to allowing a baserunner.

“Coming in, I just wanted to focus on hitting my spots,” said Balliet of her approach against Lehighton. “It (the perfect game) didn’t cross my mind at all. The coaches will say something without fully saying exactly what is going on, but I try not to think about it while I’m out there.”

Balliet contributed offensively with a first-inning double that drove in Olivia Stofflet and gave Northwestern a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Two Lehighton errors contributed to a three-run second inning for the Tigers, as did a bunt single by Rylee McGinley and an RBI double from Marissa Christman.

Another defensive miscue led to an RBI double from pinch-hitter Josephine Wehr just ahead of Akelaitis’ second home run of the day in the third inning. After Farthing singled and stole second, Christman picked up her second RBI with a single to left and after three innings, Northwestern led 11-0.

The Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth when Sage Toman singled to right to make it 12-0, leading to the bases loaded walk to Akelaitis. Farthing followed with a line drive single through the middle of the diamond, sending Northwestern to the semifinals.

Even with all the accomplishments during Tuesday’s game, the most notable may have been how the team bounced back from a disappointing loss to Bangor in the Colonial League finals last week.

“I was thinking coming in today that it could go one of two ways,” said Northwestern coach Josh Zimmerman. “After yesterday’s practice the girls were up in spirit, and it translated over to today, and they were a little bit different than what we have been doing all year.

“We jumped up in the game a little earlier than we usually do, and they came to hit today. The score speaks for itself.”

UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITIES

... Wehr was not in the starting lineup as the designated player, but did get two pinch-hit opportunities and made the most of them with her RBI double and a fourth-inning walk that loaded the bases ahead of Toman’s run-scoring single. Junior Danielle Leto started as the DP. Leto was robbed of a hit by a nice defensive play from shortstop Maggie Pagotto, and then singled and scored a run in the fourth.

UP NEXT ... Northwestern (17-4) will face Blue Mountain in the district semifinals on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. at Pine Grove. Lehighton ends its season with a 6-15 record.

Lehighton 000 0 - 0 0 5

Northwestern 335 4 - 15 14 0

Craig, Nothstein (3) and Bergdahl; Balliet and Stofflet. W – Balliet, L - Craig.