LIMEPORT - Northern Valley looked to ride its wild wave of momentum into Friday's loser's bracket semifinals of the Connie Mack state playoffs against Doylestown at Limeport Stadium.

What did the Chargers have left in the tank? A lot. But Doylestown had just a little bit more.The Chargers searched for more late-game heroics and tallied three runs in the top of the seventh to take an 8-5 lead. But Doylestown found some magic of its own with three runs in the bottom of the frame to send the contest to extras.Northern Valley was blanked in the top of the eighth, and Brady Lott hit a walk-off RBI single in the home-half of the inning to secure a 9-8 victory for Doylestown."Anytime he puts the ball in play it's hit hard," said Doylestown head coach Ray Rudek of Lott, whose walk-off single was hit in the hole to left field. "That's all you're looking for in that situation, especially with the infield up. I had the utmost confidence that he was going to be able to execute as needed."Both teams were knotted at five entering the seventh, when Northern Valley made most of its noise.Aaron Rudolph singled up the middle, and advanced to second on a throwing error. Nate Goodolf hit an infield single, which moved Rudolph to third. Jake Dellicker then entered the game for the first time and laid down a tricky suicide squeeze bunt, which allowed Rudolph to prance home. Derek Holmes then added a sacrifice fly to right, which made the score 7-5. Lastly, Jack Turner's Texas Leaguer down the right-field line was perfectly placed, and his attempt to stretch it to a double led to a Doylestown throwing error, which plated Holmes."We started 5-5 (overall) in the first half of the year," Northern Valley head coach Erich Klein said. "Now we're 19-8. We took a great Doylestown team to the end. I couldn't be prouder. We built this team eight weeks ago ... We're all about the kids succeeding now to be better high school players."But in the bottom of the seventh, Doylestown fired back with gutsy two-out hitting. The Chargers were just one out away from surviving and advancing another day. But with two down and runners on first and second, Danny Loving crushed a double to left-center field that scored Alex Gatto and Nate Bash. Next, Connor Bates roped a double down the third-base line. Dellicker's throw from left field was a good one, but Loving just beat the throw and slid under Holmes's tag to tie the game at eight.Chargers' reliever Eric Nothstein struck out Tommy Webb to end the threat with the bases loaded - and the game was decided in extra innings."We have some veteran guys," said Rudek. "We have an older team and I rely upon them. We're missing some key parts now, but it's next man up. As long as they continue to focus and play within themselves, all good things happen. We'll see how much resiliency we have tomorrow."Despite coming one out short of moving forward, Northern Valley made team history in 2017 winning three state playoff games and placing fourth in the state."I'm sad that it ends, but this is the farthest we've ever gone," said the Northern Valley coach. "This is my 17th season coaching at Northern Valley. We never won more than two games in the state tournament, and this year we won three. We'll try for the next step next year. It was just a great season with great kids and parents."READY TO PLAY ... Bates didn't see much action for Doylestown this season, but he was ready to play. "Connor Bates was not one of my primary players this season. I had him on a lower-level team for a specific reason ... He thrived down there, he was the top hitter down there and was one of the top pitchers. We brought him up here and put him in the right spot. He came through."HIGH PRAISE ... Vinny Castrine started on the bump for the Chargers and gave Northern Valley six competitive frames. "He's our MVP of the tournament. A lot of kids stepped up ... I shouldn't leave anyone out. It was a whole team effort to stay here that far. It was just great, this is why I do it. I know they're sad, but I know they know that they accomplished a lot. They have the heart, and that's why you play baseball."NOPE, NO KIDS ... Klein said that an opposing player from South Parkland gave him kudos on Thursday, and wanted to meet his son that played for the team. "I actually had a kid that we beat yesterday come up to me and say 'Coach, I love how you coach.' He wanted to meet my kid. I told him my kid is 29, almost 30. This has been the 15th year I've been doing this without a kid in this program."No. Valley 002 210 30 - 8 13 1Doylestown003 101 31 - 9 11 4Castrine, Nothstein (7) and Holmes; Gatto, Rudek (5) and Lott. W - Rudek. L - Nothstein.