Dennis Michael thought one of the last places he expected to find his team was in the battle for a top seed for the upcoming Lehigh Valley Connie Mack playoffs.

Tuesday morning, Lehigh Township found itself in the midst of a four-way tie for second place with North Parkland, Catasauqua, and Pocono Mountain East, all of the clubs having an overall 12-5 record. The seeding was expected to be finalized when play in the regular season concluded Wednesday. A best-of-three playoff series format will begin next Monday with the third through eighth seeds as the top two teams receive byes for the state tournament.

Yet, the manager and his club will enjoy the moment.

"We're done right now and waiting to see what happens," said Michael, who is in his 12th year of coaching in the program. "We had a good year and it was better than we anticipated. This is a good league and it is a tough game every night.

"We had some boys back from last year, but we tended to be more cautious about this season. We were concerned about our pitching with the lack of experience, but the boys had a good work ethic and had a very good team chemistry throughout the season."

Michael noted the contributions of pitchers Mason Roberts and Nate Straub, both of whom proved to be anchors for the staff all season.

"Mason (Roberts) was our number one pitcher throughout the season without question," he stated. "He (Roberts) pitched some big games for us. (Straub) has a nice season as well and really came on at the end of the year."

Lehigh Township also caught fire at the right time of the season as they won their last six games in convincing fashion, outscoring their opponents by a 73-24 deficit. Michael didn't want to single out any individual performers with their bats, but he stressed how a true team effort helped mold and shape his club over the past few weeks.

"We had a very good finish to the season," he said. "We really had a solid team effort here. All of our 15 players contributed at same point this season. They all came through for us. I can point to each player at a point this season.

"With everyone coming through, it really gave us a boost especially late in the season."

Michael also recognized the efforts of his coaching staff of Andy Simock, Carl Cavallo, and Tom Onucovich, all of whom played integral roles.

"Without the efforts of these guys, we wouldn't have gotten this far," Michael said. "They all did a great job with the boys and helped them reach their potential."

Michael is glad for a brief break before the playoffs begin and plans to utilize the time.

"We have been working since the end of the high school season with these boys," he said. "We have been fortunate that they have jelled well and formed a solid unit. We'll get into the cages and wait to see who we play.

"We're happy to be here at this point and we'll do our best to take advantage of this situation."