Baseball coaches love to see their team score runs early.

Northern Valley has done that a lot recently, but it hasn’t always been able to take advantage and convert into wins.

Thursday, Northern Valley scored a pair of runs in their first at-bat, and this time made it hold up.

The result was a 9-5 win over Carbon in a Lehigh Valley Legion postseason tournament loser’s bracket game.

“That’s an area where we struggle,” said Chargers coach Brad Rauch. “We would either score a few runs in the beginning and then tail off, or we would get nothing early and then try to make up a bunch of runs late in the game, and it was too late.”

Starting pitcher Tyler Fenstermaker put Carbon down in order in the first and in the bottom of the inning, a two-out error opened the door for Northern Valley (8-10). Shaun O’Donnell followed with a triple, and Wes George an RBI single to give the Chargers a 2-0 lead.

In the second, Carbon got to Fenstermaker when (AS) he gave up a leadoff single to Carter Birnbaum, and one out later gave up back-to-back singles to Evan Murphy and Lawrence Baldassano to load the bases with just one out. Carbon got a run on a walk to Matt Domski, but wasn’t able to take advantage of the situation further.

For the Chargers, Bob Croneberger led off the third with a single and moved to second on a ground ball. George followed with his second hit of the game to bring in Croneberger, and a balk followed by a stolen base moved George to third, before Cole Hausman singled to bring him in to make it 4-1 in favor of Northern Valley.

“We all had good approaches at the plate and put the ball in play,” said Croneberger about the approach of the Northern Valley hitters. “They had a couple errors, but that happens when you put the ball in play, and it leads to scoring runs.”

While Fenstermaker kept Carbon from getting any more runs, the Northern Valley offense continued to just put the ball in play. George added his third hit and third RBI of the day in the fifth when he singled to center to bring in Croneberger. George moved up to second on a play at the plate, and then scored on consecutive pitches in the dirt that got past catcher Matt Domski.

Fenstermaker needed just 54 pitches to get through five innings, but with playoff games every day, Rauch went to reliever Evan Druckenmiller in the sixth.

“Pretty much all of my pitches were working today,” said Fenstermaker. “I was throwing mainly a fastball and slider, but they thought my slider was a curve. I heard them telling hitters to watch for the curveball, and I would come back with a fastball. It’s nice to pitch when you can keep hitters guessing, and not knowing what they are going to get.”

Druckenmiller got tagged for two runs in the sixth after he gave up a leadoff single to Rich Strack, and then hit Garrett Lienhard with a pitch. Both runners moved up with stolen bases, but Druckenmiller got the first out of the inning with neither runner scoring. Jack Edwards plated a run with a sacrifice fly, and a single by Murphy made it it 6-3.

Northern Valley kept its bats hot in the sixth, and used solid baserunning from Trey Sterling, who led off with a walk and then stole second. Ben Vaka entered the game as a pinch-hitter and hit a routine ground ball to second and Sterling moved to third, but never stopped running and got in at home under a tag attempt by Domski. Later in the inning, Hausman delivered a two-run double to make it 9-3.

Carbon picked up an RBI double from Aiden Rarick, before and two walks loaded the bases with one out. Birnbaum was then hit by a pitch to make it 9-5, as Edwards came to the plate as the potential tying run. The Monarchs third baseman hit a sharp grounder to Nick Buskirk at third, and he was able to tag the runner coming toward him and make the throw to first in time for the game-ending double play.

“We had a tough loss to Salisbury (9-7) the night before, but our guys came out today and had the right attitude and were looking to get a win,” said Rauch. “They are a pretty loose group of guys, and they don’t let things bother them.”

GOOD SPOT

… Although they are in the losers’ bracket after a loss to Salisbury (in eight innings on Wednesday), Northern Valley is in pretty good shape. They have pitchers Shaun O’Donnell and Wes George who have not yet thrown in the tournament yet, and are both ready to go on the mound. The Chargers will play Lower Mac in the next round.

BAD SPOT

… The loss eliminates the Monarchs from the Lehigh Valley Legion tournament with two defeats. “We had a tough time getting enough players for games this season, so we didn’t have much flexibility,” said Carbon coach Joe Marykwas. “The guys who were here all got along well, and they never quit in games. It was a great group to coach.”

Carbon 010 002 2 - 5

No. Valley 202 023 x - 9

Strack, Rarick (6) and Domski; Fenstermaker, Druckenmiller (6) and Eisenhard. W - Fenstermaker. L - Strack.