The Whitehall and Northampton baseball teams were locked in a battle Friday afternoon that carried with it a place in history to see who would become the first team to hoist the Cement Belt Champions trophy.

The series, the Cement Belt Challenge, was inaugurated this year by the two East Penn Conference rivals who have a long, intertwined history. It came down to the boys baseball game. The softball win by the Kids that same afternoon put the entire series clincher into the hands of the baseball squads.

It was a close game throughout, with the score knotted 2-2 heading into the eighth. Robbie Lamm got the ball rolling for the Zephs with a sharp single. With one out, he took off for second and the pickoff throw sailed into the outfield, allowing Lamm to round the bases with the go-ahead run.

However, that was all that starting pitcher Kyle Serman allowed. Serman had pitched into the extra frame and had been keeping the Zephs in check, mixing his pitches to allow just five hits over eight innings. Whitehall wasn’t able to square up many balls against him the entire game, hitting mostly ground balls that helped the right-hander win his fourth game of the year.

Northampton started their half of the inning by getting a runner on via an error. Zech Lambert doubled, scoring the runner with a close play at the plate. That tied the score at 2-2. After a deep fly ball, Lambert tagged and went to third. That forced manager Shaun O’Boyle to bring in his outfield to cut down the winning run standing at third. Carson Gantz ripped a ball over the drawn-in outfield to win the game, 3-2, and with it the trophy. They took the series, 14-13.

The Zephs have lost to the Kids by a combined two runs this season. O’Boyle said that Friday’s loss was indicative of many of their games this season.

“It’s crazy, we’re playing with everybody, we just can’t find a way to finish a team off,” said O’Boyle.

Of their eight losses, four have been decided by one run. If you toss out the Emmaus game, the Zephs have lost the remaining seven by a combined 13 runs.

The pitching staff has been solid, but once again the bats have struggled to get the big hit.

“We just haven’t gotten any run support,” said O’Boyle. “We’re not getting blown away.”

They had a hard time getting good swings against Serman. Most of the players knew what was coming, but they couldn’t capitalize. O’Boyle said it’s one thing to know what pitch is coming, but it’s completely another thing to make sure you can do something with it.

“It’s about being selective,” said O’Boyle. “It’s got to be a strike. It all goes back to being selective and aggressive on a good pitch.”

In Friday’s game, starting pitcher Alex Bruneio kept wriggling out of trouble all afternoon. In the bottom of the fourth, Northampton got their first two runners on base, the second on a bunt hit. The next batter was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Bruneio proceeded to strike out the next three batters, preserving the one-run lead.

That seemed small potatoes compared to what transpired in the bottom of the sixth. A hit and a sacrifice bunt put a runner at second. A passed ball on a called third strike put runners at the corners. Once again, the margin for error was slim. Bruneio induced two comebackers on the next two batters, each play better than its predecessor. He leapt to his right to snag the first one for the out, and then knocked down a bullet on the second, falling to his knees, but recovering in time to make the toss to first.

“Those were just two athletic plays,” said O’Boyle.

O’Boyle said that Bruneio has delivered every time he’s stepped on the mound. The southpaw has just run into some tough luck.

“He’s pitched great,” said O’Boyle. “He’s been lights out.”

The Zephs got their first run in the top of the third. Paul Helman doubled and Lamm sacrificed him to third. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Zach Hamscher drove in Helman for the 1-0 lead. That stood until the bottom of the fifth when Northampton’s Matt Hutchins signaled to tie it at 1-1. That inning could have been worse, but Hamscher flashed some outstanding leather, snaring a line drive for the second out. Bruneio struck out the next batter to end the inning.

They followed that loss with a 17-2 win over Dieruff, lifting their record to 5-8. Hamscher had a big day, going 3-4 with six RBIs. Additionally, Hunter Kern was 2-2, including a double, while Aidan Hoderewski was 2-2 with a pair of RBIs.

O’Boyle said that they still need to get a win against a division opponent to gain some steam heading into the last five games of the season. They played ACC on Wednesday.