Two Bethlehem teams posted opening night victories in the District 20 12U Little League All-Stars Tournament on June 26.

North Bethlehem defeated Pennridge, 7-1, and Lehigh defeated Northwest, 15-0.

Northwest’s Teagan O’Connors drew a leadoff walk, and Egypt Webster reached on an error, but O’Connors was tagged out stealing home in the top of the first inning.

In the bottom of the first, Lehigh’s Zane Balaziuk led off with a double, and Lambros Dontas’ single to right field scored Balaziuk, who went 3-for-3.

“It felt good, getting the leadoff double,” Balaziuk said. “The first pitcher (Webster) threw a little bit harder, and the second pitcher (Elias Zimpfer) had a nice curveball. Wherever the pitch is located, you’ve got to wait on it. It’s fun scoring, though. It’s fun winning.”

Northwest centerfielder Parker Heist made a nice catch in center field for Lehigh’s second out of the inning.

Brady Collins’ RBI single put Lehigh ahead, 4-0, and Logan Collins and Noah Domitrovits had an RBI apiece before Mateo Ortiz-Rivera’s catch in left field to end the inning.

Domitrovits delivered three consecutive strikeouts for Lehigh in the second inning.

“I was really excited, but also nervous about how I was gonna do,” said Domitrovits. “I thought I was gonna walk a bunch of batters...but we came out strong and dominated the other team. Fastball...locating it good.”

Brady Collins doubled to the center field fence to make the score, 12-0, followed by Greg Martinez’s single to left in the bottom of the second.

“Top to bottom, [hitting’s] important,” said Lehigh manager Dave Cresci. “Little League has continuous batting order, so you’ve got 12 kids on the team, maybe 13, and all of them have to hit.”

Lehigh also has a handful of possible pitchers, including Jack Cresci, who took over in the third inning and tallied three strikeouts on top of a walk and a reach-on-error.

The game ended in the bottom of the third on Dontas’ RBI to right field.

Lehigh’s team is comprised of seven 12-year-olds and five 11-year-olds, the latter who were members of last year’s 10U regional championship team.

“[They] all have that long summer of experience from last year, going all the way to Providence, RI, and winning the whole thing,” Coach Cresci said. “Really good ballplayers, good kids, and at the end of the day, they’re all really coachable kids.”