After playing youth baseball with some of the current members of the Northwestern Lehigh Tigers, Carter Welch played his freshman season as a member of the Allentown Central Catholic Vikings. As fate would have it, he wound up facing his friends in districts, a game that didn’t end well for Welch. Knowing that he would have to eat a little crow served up by his buddies, Welch made the decision to return to Northwestern Lehigh as a sophomore.

“Sadly, I didn’t win that game in districts but it was a great game,” said Welch, who is now a senior at Northwestern Lehigh. “Coming into the game, I knew that I couldn’t make any mistakes because they had a really strong lineup. They talked a little trash to me when I came back, but I knew that was coming.”

Since Welch first appeared on the Northwestern roster, he and the team have enjoyed a lot of wins. Welch helped the Tigers reach the District 11 Class 4A finals, which they lost to North Schuylkill 3-2 in 2019.

Welch’s junior season was lost to the pandemic. He came into this season as the obvious ace of the pitching staff and he didn’t disappoint. After pitching the Tigers to a win over Southern Lehigh in the semifinals, Welch is now 5-2 on the season with a scant 1.09 ERA.

Northwestern Lehigh will play Notre Dame (Green Pond) Thursday in the Colonial League Championship and Welch will be ineligible to pitch after throwing 103 pitches against Southern Lehigh in Monday’s semifinal game.

Tiger head coach Duran Porrino would love to have Welch available but is happy that he will still have his bat in the game, likely hitting in his usual leadoff spot for the Tigers.

“Carter has been fantastic this season and he’s worked really hard for us,” said Porrino. “We’ve had trouble finding someone to put behind him as a starter so he’s had a lot of pressure on him and he’s handled it really well. Offensively, he’s great to have in that leadoff spot and he gets on base for our power guys coming up behind him.”

Porrino has been impressed with how Welch has continued to develop during his days in high school and with how he has handled the pressure of being the team’s ace this season.

“He’s kept getting better and better and hasn’t taken his foot off the gas at all,” said Porrino. “We’ve asked him to pitch a lot and he’s responded well and he wants to have the ball in big games.”

On the season, the University of Delaware recruit is hitting .431 with nine extra base hits and 10 RBI. For his part, Welch enjoys both his role as the team’s pitching ace and the team’s leadoff hitter.

“I think I handle the pressure pretty well and I love pitching in big games and big situations. It feels great that they rely on me and it’s the same at the plate, I feel good in those big spots and look to help the team,” said Welch.

The Tigers are looking for their first Colonial League championship since 2003 and then will start district play next week as they look to become district champions as they were 2018 when they beat Welch and his Vikings teammates. Central Catholic is a potential opponent again in the postseason on Northwestern Lehigh’s quest for a championship and a trip to states. Facing his former Vikings teammates in the postseason would bring his high school career full circle.

“That would be really weird,” said Welch with a slight chuckle. “I just hope that I would be the one that got to pitch the game and that we would be the ones coming out on top.”