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Bears bounce back strong

Chris D'Arcy wasn't going to let Wednesday's loss to Stroudsburg ruin the rest of his senior year.

With three key Mountain Valley Conference games Lehighton, Pocono Mountain East and Stroudsburg still left, the Bears' senior catcher knew it was time to move on.Less than 24 hours later, Pleasant Valley's first Mountain Valley Conference loss of the season was forgotten.The Bears (13-3 overall; 8-1 MVC) did that by rolling to a 10-0 mercy-rule victory over Pocono Mountain West on Thursday."We have a lot more baseball to play," D'Arcy said. "Our season isn't over after the loss to Stroudsburg. We have next week. We even have the Mountain Valley Conference semis."We just have to keep playing hard. We can't let that one loss affect us. We have to rebound and be a better team."For the first three innings, it was hard to decipher who the better team was as a pitcher's duel took place between the Bears' Alex Jimenez and the Panthers' James Iverson.Finally in the fourth inning, the Bears' offense came to life.Jake Chamberlain and Pat Kregeloh got things going against Iverson with back-to-back singles. Chris Kerchner walked for the second time in two at-bats to load the bases. Tim Shea followed with a RBI-single to leftfield to put PV on top 1-0.D'Arcy then delivered the game's key blow, jumping on Iverson's first pitch and drilling a three-run triple down the right field line."Up until that point of the game, it looked like the guys were taking a lot of pitches and falling behind in some counts and letting some good pitches go," D'Arcy said. "So, I just went up there and did what I had to do and jumped all over the first good pitch I saw."It was the wake-up call Pleasant Valley coach Karl Rentzheimer was glad to see happen."I thought the first couple of innings we were in a little bit of a coma offensively," Rentzheimer said. "I thought we were still kind of where we were yesterday at the end. That bases loaded hit was everything for us because it got us going."After that we seemed to get our confidence back and started to swing the bats a little better."Drew Borger provided a two-run single in the fifth for the Bears and Kregeloh notched a two-run triple in the sixth.Kerchner, who fulfilled his duties as the Bears' designated hitter with two walks, two singles, two runs scored and two RBIs, eventually ended the contest with an RBI single in the sixth.I just wanted to get the game over with," said Kerschner, about his second RBI single of the game. "However, this is definitely an important win. I don't think we're going to lose another one. We'll be ready for Stroudsburg next time. So, we just have to keep chugging along."Jimenez and reliever Russel Baldino made it impossible for the Panthers (7-9; 7-3) to stage a comeback. Jimenez retired the side in order in his final inning of work, while Baldino struck out the side in the sixth.Panthers' lead-off hitter James Loua finally spoiled the Pleasant Valley no-hit bid with a single with one out in the final inning.PM West 000 000 - 0 1 0Pleas. Vy. 000 433 - 10 12 1Iverson, New Hook (6) and Argentieri; Jimenez, Baldino (6) and D'Arcy. W - Jimenez. L - Iverson.

bob ford/times news Pleasant Valley's Jake Chamberlain connects for a single against Pocono Mountain West.