Bob Hock is a firm believer in putting the bat on the ball.

His Palmerton softball players have spent plenty of practice time with softball bats in their hands.Even though they haven't had a single practice in days because of a busy schedule, the Bombers continue to thrive off of their ability to put the ball in play.Thursday was no different as the Bombers went on to score a 10-2 Colonial League victory over Northwestern."This team has several strong points and hitting is most definitely one of them," said Hock, who's Bombers haven't seen a day off since last Saturday. "We have a lot of kids that can drive the ball into the gaps and put it over people's heads. When they're swinging the bats well, we do see quite a few of those kind of hits."This week, we struggled to get those runs and those hits at times in several close games, but today the bats definitely came alive."The Bombers were able to push a single run across home plate in the third. After Alyssa Acker laced a triple, the Bombers' lead-off hitter Steph Brinker brought her home on a fielder's choice.It was in the fourth inning when Hock expected the Bomber bats to really come alive And they did.The Bombers' Ashley Lalik was able to record an RBI single off of Tigers' starting pitcher Emily Bennett. Northwestern coach Josh Zimmerman than decided to put the ball in Lydia Danner's hands on the mound."I told the girls that they would make a pitching change at some point in the game and we should be ready for it," Hock said. "We were definitely struggling against the slower pitching. We have issues with that, but after they made the change, which was kinda pleasing to our batters because they do like that speed a little more, they responded very well with a couple of hits throughout the field."Good things happen when you hit balls hard."Darion Jacoby got things started with an RBI single one batter after the switch. Erika Easton drew a walk and then Alyssa Acker collected a single to load the bases.With a single swing of her bat, Brinker drilled the ball to deep center for a grand slam home run..Janel Tracy finished off the Bombers' seven-run fourth inning with a RBI triple into the gap in right-center.While his squad only post a single run in the third off a fielding error by the Bombers, Zimmerman watched his Tigers add an RBI single off the bat of Sunny Greenberg in the seventh."It kinda has been our MO (method of operation) this year," Zimmerman said. "In our losses as of late, we have been given up one big inning. But, up until this point, pretty much the whole time we have been able to battle back. Today, they just had our number. Give credit to Palmerton. They hit the ball. They put the ball in play and made us makes the plays. And, in a lot of instances, we couldn't make the plays."It's tough to win softball games when you have a seven run inning. We have been fortunate to come back from innings like that, but today it just wasn't in the cards for us."Acker led the Bombers (8-1 overall, 8-1 CL) with a perfect 3-for-3 peformance, which included a single, triple, two runs scored and a RBI, while Jacoby added three singles, a run scored and two RBIs.Despite the setback, Greenberg also scored a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate for the Tigers (6-5; 5-4 CL) with two singles, a double and a RBI.Northwestern 001 000 1 - 2 8 2Palmerton 001 711 x - 10 13 1Bennett, Danner (4), Bennett (6) and Wehr; Dugan, Gower (7) and Campbell. W - Dugan. L - Bennett. HR: Palmerton - Brinker (4th, three on).