For any Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup player who fell short of a title this season, they now have a golden chance of redemption

Tuesday morning, after Press deadlines, LV looked to put an end to lost opportunities and bring the Carpenter Cup back to the Valley for the first time since 2011.

Derek Holmes (Northwestern) delivered what turned out to be the game-winning, two-run single in the eighth inning that helped lift Lehigh Valley to a 7-6 victory over Delaware South Monday afternoon.

Tuesday at 10 a.m. Lehigh Valley was scheduled to take the field at Citizens Bank Park against Burlington County, who was a 3-2 winner over Philadelphia Catholic early yesterday.

“Well, I kind of addressed this at our last team workout when I was talking to the team,” said the Lehigh Valley manager Ted Plessl. “I mean … Easton lost out. Emmaus lost out. Liberty lost out. Parkland lost out. Northwestern lost out. … And, I’m looking at a great bunch of ballplayers, and I said, ‘Hey, there’s championships that were not gotten.’

“But, I said, ‘Here’s one more shot for all of you.’ And, it was kind of interesting, as I saw all of them shaking their heads yes. They’re going for it. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I know one thing, the other team is going to have to beat us because we’re not going to beat ourselves. The bottom line is we will fight to the very last out. I feel good about [Tuesday].”

After sitting through a 40-minute rain delay in Citizens Bank Park, it was Delaware South that broke the 5-5 tie with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“Delaware South was playing for one run with that idea in mind. They were able to get that run,” Plessl said about the threat of rain shortening and game. “So, yeah, talk about two outs, two strikes, clutch hit Derek Holmes.”

While it may have been Holmes’ heroics that took the limelight in this one, there were plenty of others that played their part.

J.D. Greeley (PM West) opened the scoring when he crossed on an error in the top of the first.

Then, after trailing 5-1 after four innings of play, it was the likes of Braden Breithaupt (scored on a passed ball), Brandon Robinson (two-run single) and Zack Transue (RBI single) capitalizing on opportunities in a four-run fifth inning.

“Our pitching has been sensational. Our defense has been sensational. Our resilience offensively has been, and again, sensational,” Plessl stressed. “Our kids just keep playing.

“Our pitching has kept it close. Our hitters are staying in the game. Our defense ... it’s often said you win championships with pitching and defense and timely hitting and that’s basically what it has gotten us to this point.”

Ironically, they’ll play the same Burling County program that Lehigh Valley recorded a 7-2 victory over to raise the Carpenter Cup in 2011.

PAIR OF HITS … Ben Piripavel (Liberty) and Holmes came in as pinch hitters and then stayed in to play the field. Piripavel went to center field, while Holmes went to his position at first base. Both ended up collecting multiple hits in the game. Piripavel finished with a single, double and two runs scored. Holmes recorded two singles and two RBIs on the night.

BACK AT IT … Nick Henry, of Northwestern, was right back at it Monday afternoon after receiving a last-minute move from alternate to having a spot on the roster on Saturday. Henry recorded a single and a run scored in the victory.

Lehigh Valley 100 040 020 – 7 8 1

Delaware So. 140 000 100 – 6 10 3

Mahady, Zwolenik (2), Staivecki (4), Waller (7) and Greenzweig, Transue (5); Hilligoss, Reichhold (4), Keene (5), Warrington (7) and McGray, Shockley (5). W – Waller. L – Warrington.

Northwestern’s Nick Henry played a key role as an alternate in Lehigh Valley’s 3-2 victory over Berks County on Saturday at UYA Ashburn and Showcase Fields.

With the win, Lehigh Valley found itself in the Carpenter Cup semifinals for the first time since 2013.

“We always tell our alternates if you come to the game, we’ll try to get them in the dugout and just be prepared to play in case we need them,” said manager Ted Plessl, who found out two minutes before game time that one of his LV players couldn’t play.

After watching Berks County take a quick 2-0 lead after one inning, Lehigh Valley chipped away at the deficit with a run in the top of the fourth.

Blake Barthol (Parkland) singled to lead off the inning. On a wild throw to first on a hit by Quinn Warmkessel (Salisbury), Barthol plated Lehigh Valley’s first run.

It wasn’t until the very last inning of the game, but Braden Breithaupt (Stroudsburg) got things going with a single. Ben Piripavel (Liberty) put down a sacrifice bunt to move Breithaupt to second.

With one out, Henry tied things up with an RBI-single scoring Breithaupt.

Henry’s crossed home plate with what turned out to be the game-winning run on a Ben Stokes (Stroudsburg) sacrifice fly.

Lehigh Valley 000 100 002 – 3 5 0

Berks County 200 000 000 – 2 7 1

Zwolenik, Gustofson (4), Welch (7), McEvoy (9) and Greenzweig, Transue (5); Book, Leverington (4), Laraia (6), Duffie (7), Renner (9) and Rodriguez, Vanderslice (5). W – Welch. L – Renner. S – McEvoy.

Lehigh Valley opened tournament play with an 8-4 victory over Suburban One American/Continental.

Lehigh Valley did the most damage however with four runs in the fourth inning. Then they added some insurance runs with two in the eight.

With winning pitcher Evan Zwolenik (Northampton), Daniel McEvoy (Pleasant Valley), Kyle Mahady, Braden Waller, and closer Koby Staivecki, accounting for only six strikeouts, it left the defense behind them to lend a helping hand in Lehigh Valley securing an opening round victory.

“Our defense played really well today,” Plessl stressed. “I know we had two errors, but one was a pickoff and the other one if anybody else probably doesn’t even get to it, yet I know they called it an error, but in my book it was a tough play to begin with. We played very well definitely on defense.”

Lehigh Valley 110 400 020 – 8 13 2

SOL American 000 004 000 – 4 7 4

Zwolenik, McEvoy (4), Mahady (6), Waller (6), Staivecki (9) and Greenzweig, Transue (5); Valenti, Hamilton (3), Lowe (5), Curran (6), Bitski (8) and Hicks, Reilly (5). W – Zwolenik. L – Valenti.