Northern Valley’s bid to secure the Lehigh Valley Connie Mack Baseball League title ended last Friday night after a 7-6 loss to Northwest Bethlehem in semifinal playoff action.

Down five runs after two innings, the Chargers launched a three-run rally in the third to close the gap to 5-3. However, the Cyclones responded with two in the frame’s bottom half to increase their lead to 7-3.

Once again the Chargers did not say die, as they plated three runs in the fifth to pull to within one run at 7-6. But that’s all the closer Northern Valley got.

Northwest jumped on Northern Valley in the bottom of the first when Ryan Hoffman belted a 1-0 pitch for a two-run double and a 2-0 Clead. D.J. Millhouse then slapped an RBI single for a 3-0 advantage.

The Cyclones added two more in the second, thanks in part to a Charger error. The game’s back-and-forth nature continued through the top of the fifth, when Northern Valley started what would be its last serious comeback.

Bobby Croneberger and Zack Russo each had one RBI in the frame. Trailing by just one run, Northern Valley could not solve relief pitcher Hoffman, who closed out the Chargers’ season by pitching a scoreless seventh to earn the save.

“Unfortunately, we have been doing a lot of that all year,” said Northern Valley head coach Erich Klein of his team’s tendency to fall behind in games. “We just never give up. We get down by three, we score a few runs. If we get down by three more, we score some more.

“We just came up a little bit short tonight. We just couldn’t get that extra run or two across the plate, but our kids fought all seven innings. We couldn’t be happier about that.”

Two nights before the loss to Northwest Bethlehem, in a quarterfinal matchup at Franklin Township, the Chargers plated three runs in extra innings to claim an exciting 7-4 victory.

Tied at 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Charger Erik Mather ripped a 2-0 pitch for a RBI single and the game’s winning run. Wesley George was the offensive star, going 3-for-4 and driving in runs in the third, seventh and ninth innings.

“I’m extremely happy that we won, and we’re able to move on,” said George. “It was nerve-racking after we lost the lead and they tied it. But I was absolutely confident that we could get the job done.

“I was pleased (with my day at the plate). I was sitting fastballs all the time. I just wanted to hit them to the outfield.”

Chase Moyer, the Chargers’ ace, earned the win in relief in 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out three.

Offensively Northern Valley registered nine hits, with George, Mather and Jackson VanNorman collecting multiple hits each.

Northern Valley ends the 2021 regular season campaign with an 11-6 record. The Chargers are one of six teams from the Lehigh Valley League that will move on to the state tournament.

“We told our kids that we still needed a couple of wins to make the (state) playoffs, and they delivered,” Klein said. “We won a few games that we didn’t expect to win. But, again that’s a credit to our kids.

“We have hit a good stride. We came into this game against an undefeated team, and we had a very close game against a very good team.”

This year’s Connie Mack state tournament will be held at Limeport where teams from the state’s two leagues (Bux-Mont and Lehigh Valley) compete for the crown. Games begin Thursday and continue through August 1.