BETHLEHEM Through three innings of Freedom's PIAA District 11 Class AAAA first round contest against Pleasant Valley, Zak Gagnon limited the Bears to just one hit and issued no walks.

The fourth inning was a different story, as the Bears sent seven batters to the plate and tallied three runs.It was Pleasant Valley's Travis VanHouten who outdueled his counterpart on the mound the rest of the way as the Bears edged Freedom, 3-2Gagnon was on cruise control for most of the game except for the fourth frame.The Bears' Matt Konopke and Nicholas Domenici both drew walks which set the table for the middle of the PV lineup to do some damage. Brett Hardy, Walker Wentzler, and Kieran Kearns consecutively drove in runs to power Pleasant Valley."The more competition we saw this year helped us be prepared," explained VanHouten. "We know what's coming and we came to play. We came in and did what we had to do without much pressure on us. Our team is really young and the seniors we do have are very experienced."The Pleasant Valley senior spun a complete game, giving up just one earned run, while scattering three hits and striking out six."We ran into a very good pitcher today," said Freedom head coach Nick D'Amico. "Zach (Gagnon) did a great job for us. He kept us in the game. We just didn't come up with that big hit. The guys were in the game and we can't fault our defense. They (PV) just happened to bunch some hits in a row."The score was 3-2 by the sixth inning and each team showcased some impressive fielding toward the end of the contest. With the tying run on second base in the bottom of the sixth, Dakota George fully extended in left field and robbed Freedom's Dan Corvino of a base hit to keep the tying run from crossing the plate"We came in at .500 and got in by beating them (Freedom) in the last game of the regular season," George said. "I think the momentum carried over. It was a great game. We've faced quality opponents all year and it helped us become a better team. It feels insane to get this win, I can't even explain it."Momentum seemed like it could have shifted after the top half of the final inning. The Bears' Nichoals Gattuso laid down a suicide squeeze, which was fielded by Gagnon. Gagnon flipped home to Dan Knerr who tug out a sliding Kearns, and then rifled out Gattuso heading to second base for the unconventional, yet thrilling, 1-2-6 double play to end the inning."Our kids play extremely hard," said Pleasant Valley head coach Charlie Inserra. "We have six starters on the field that are either in ninth or tenth grade. We had two seniors on the field today, one being Travis (VanHouten). He almost pitched the same type of game last week against Freedom to get us in (districts). You're going to have some mistakes with a young team like this every now and then, but the experience is great for them."But the Patriots couldn't capitalize on any momentum that double play gave them as VanHouten trotted out in the bottom of the seventh and sat down the Patriots in order to seal the deal."We had all last week to prepare for this," Inserra said. "We have one home run all year. We're an aggressive team that creates runs with all types of plays (hit and run, bunts) and that's the kind of team we are. Our young guys are learning how to win and I'm proud of the effort today."Pleasant Valley (11-10) now meets third-seeded Easton on Wednesday."It's almost preferred to be a lower seed," said Inserra. "Nobody expects you to win there's a lot of pressure when you're a higher seed. Our kids enjoy playing this role (as underdog). Maybe we're young enough to not let that get to us. We'll try to prepare tomorrow for another great team in Easton."Pleasant Vy 000 300 0 -3 5 1Freedom 010 010 0 - 2 3 0VanHouten and Pandolfo. Z. Gagnon and Knerr. W - VanHouten. L - Gagnon.