The Carbon Monarchs had already experienced the highs and lows of postseason play entering the weekend in the Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball Tournament.

Carbon entered the weekend with a win on Thursday over Coplay and a loss to North Parkland on Friday.

Still alive in the double elimination tournament, the Monarchs found a way to rebound from the latter with an impressive 15-4 win over Emmaus on Saturday to move into yet another win-or-go-home showdown against Northern Valley on Sunday.

But the Monarchs weren’t able to solve Nick Henry and the Chargers. After recording an impressive 11 hits against Emmaus, Carbon was held to only five against Northern Valley in a 2-1 setback that ended its season.

“It was kinda of Jekyll-and-Hyde from Saturday to today (Sunday),” said Monarchs mentor Donnie Rehrig. “Yesterday (Saturday), we took advantage of walks, along with some timely hitting. And, we kind of jumped out early. They scored a run in the first, but then we came back with an 8-spot.

“With today, it was kind of the exact opposite. Northern Valley took advantage of some walks in key situations and got two big hits when they needed them. With us, hitting wasn’t there today like it was on Saturday.”

Over the first three innings, Monarchs’ starting pitcher Drew Frank kept pace with Henry as the game remained scoreless.

The Chargers struck first in the fourth when Eric Nothstein walked, stole second and then broke the 0-0 tie on an RBI-single by Owen Schoch.

With two outs in the fifth inning, the Monarchs answered with their lone run of the game to knot things up.

Jake Taras singled to right field, stole second base and then on a throwing error was able to move to third. Jared Joyce delivered an RBI single to right to plate Taras.

But the Chargers answered, as Derek Holmes led off the sixth with a bloop single to center field, and crossed home plate on another Schoch RBI single to center.

Henry made the lead stick, finishing with eight strikeouts and only allowing one walk.

“They kind of took the momentum there, and we kind of really didn’t recover from that,” Rehrig said. “But, I mean we battled. We were right there. It just was kind of some timely baserunning mistakes and just not coming up with timely hits.

“Their pitcher did a good job of throwing strikes. Pitching to contact. I mean we had five hits, they had five hits. But it came down (to) us putting them in a position where they have a runner in scoring position due to walks and then they got the key hit.”

The Monarchs had just one base runner over the final two innings.

“They’re good kids,” Rehrig stressed. “They came to play all year. They made this season fun. You didn’t have to worry about, ‘OK, you have enough for this game.’ They showed up every day. They came ready to play.

“It stinks to lose the way we did being that close to getting another shot at North Parkland and possibly a shot at South Parkland in the championship. But things didn’t work out that way.”

GIVE CREDIT WHERE DUE

… Rehrig had his homework done following Northern Valley throughout the playoffs. “With playing Northern Valley, I knew they were kind of out of pitching. And, I thought, ‘OK, we’re not really going to see anybody that’s going to overpower us. We should be able to hit.’ It’s just that when we were in those big spots, we didn’t get those hits. It’s just unfortunate because I would say both of our teams are comparable.”

QUIET SUNDAY

… Taras and Frank were the lone multiple hitters against the Chargers’ Taras finished with two singles and a run scored, while Frank recorded two singles.

SATURDAY’S HEROES

… Buzzard led a host of Monarchs that put on a hitting display against Emmaus on Saturday. Buzzard finished with a single, double, two runs scored and two RBIs. Taras and Logan Pagotto both chipped in with two singles, a run scored and two RBIs. Zach Searfoss added a single, three runs scored and two RBIs.

SATURDAY’S GAME

Emmaus 130 00 – 4 3 4

Carbon 825 0x – 15 11 2

Rousenberger, Braxmeier (1) and Cherhit; Ja. Marykwas, Ju. Marykwas (2), Berger (3), Searfoss (4) and Taras. W – Ja. Marykwas. L – Rousenberger.

SUNDAY’S GAME

Northern Valley 000 101 0 – 2 5 2

Carbon 000 010 0 – 1 5 0

Henry and Rudolph; Frank, Taras (6) and Hubbard. W – Henry. L – Frank.