LIMEPORT — Northern Valley reached the finals of the Lehigh Valley League Connie Mack tournament this season and then went on to make a deep run in the Connie Mack PA Tournament at Limeport Stadium over the last week.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, they ran into a team on Thursday that has become their nemesis and were eliminated from the double-elimination tournament with an 8-3 loss to Southern Lehigh..

It was the same Spartans team that knocked off the Chargers in the LVL finals this season as well as in last season’s state championship game at Limeport.

Last night’s loss came down to one bad inning where the Chargers simply didn’t play the way they had throughout most of the postseason. That inning was the fourth when the Spartans scored five runs, using two Northern Valley errors to score three unearned runs.

Southern Lehigh had taken a 1-0 lead in the second against Northern Valley starter Cannon Fitch. The Spartans played some fundmental baseball to push across the run as Jeremy Yeakel-Mendez doubled to center field to open the inning, was bunted to third and then scored on a flyball to right by Jaden Holland.

Having battled from behind in a few tournament games before, Northern Valley continued that trend as it scored two runs in the top of the third to take the lead. Brayden Buskirk was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Fitch smashed a double to left center field to put runners on second and third. Cole Dynda hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Buskirk. Fitch then moved to third on a dropped third strike and scored on an error.

A walk, an error, and an RBI single allowed Southern Lehigh to tie the game 2-2 in its half of the third.

In the top of the fourth, Northern Valley’s Watson Church delivered a two-out triple but was stranded on third.

Southern Lehigh then put together its five-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-2 advantage.

“It really came down to one inning. We made some mistakes and kind of let things get away from us in that one inning and it cost us,” said Northern Valley coach Erich Klein. “Overall though, I’m proud of these guys because they kept coming back at teams and they played hard every inning.”

Northern Valley snapped right back in the top of the fifth using an error, a wild pitch and an RBI single from Coy Daubert to plate a run and make it 7-3. But that would be as close as it would get.

Northern Valley has had a lot of success over recent seasons, and Klein credits the players with putting in the extra work that it takes to win games. Klein and his coaching staff will have to say goodbye to a sizeable chunk of the team who will no longer be eligible to play Connie Mack.

“The guys who have been here over the last three years have won more than 60 games, including the 21 wins we had this season. They can be proud of that, and I know that I am really going to miss having them around because they were so great to coach,” said Klein. “We always preach being high character, and these guys carry themselves that way and I’m proud of them.”

BIG TOURNAMENT ... Daubert had two hits in the game for Northern Valley, and finished the state tournament with six hits in 10 at-bats to go along with four runs scored and seven RBIs.

MOVING ON … With the win, Southern Lehigh keeps its hopes of repeating as state champions alive. It plays Morelanders tonight to determine who will face South Parkland, the only undefeated team remaining in the tournament. Tonight’s winner will need to beat the Trojans in back-to-back games on Saturday to win the state championship.

Northern Valley 002 010 0 - 3 9 6

Southern Lehigh 011 501 x - 8 7 2

Fitch, Rosado (4) and Buskirk; Moscato, Burtt (7) and Cela. W - Moscato. L - Fitch.