The Carbon Monarchs showed up on Thursday.

Superb pitching from Anthony Micholik and a few big swings of the bat broke open their Lehigh Valley Legion playoff game against Northern Valley.With their full lineup intact, the Monarchs cruised by the Chargers at Northwestern Lehigh High School, 9-3."Today, we had all of our team here," said Carbon assistant coach JT Keer. "A lot of the season, we were missing our guys for vacations. It just so happened it wasn't during the same week, so we were missing key players each game. Playoffs came around, and everyone showed up."Both pitchers were cookin' early.Ben Cordova started for the Chargers and Anthony Micholik was on the mound for Carbon. Neither pitcher relinquished a hit until the top of the third, when the Monarchs' Anthony Collevechio notched the first hit. He then scored on Micholik's sacrifice fly.The Monarchs struck once in the fourth, but delivered a big blow in the fifth, when Tristan Blasko cleared the bases with an opposite-field double, which extended the lead to 5-0."It was my third at-bat and I was looking for something to hit," Blasko said. "Cordova was throwing a real good game, and he gave me something on the outer half, so I took that one to right."Micholik successfully worked out of trouble in the third when the Chargers left the bases full, and again in the fourth, stranding a pair of runners."I knew of them and how good they hit," said Micholik, who fanned seven across five-plus innings. "I pitched against them early in the season and had trouble with them. Tonight, I threw mostly fastballs, but hitting my spots was the main thing I did."We also got a lot of timely hitting, and the team played awesome defense behind me."Northern Valley head coach Brad Rauch said that cashing in with the bases loaded could have helped his club change the course of the game."When we got bases loaded, I was kind of like 'here we go, we're going to put something together and score some runs," Rauch said. "It didn't work that way. We haven't played well from behind this year."For most of the year, we were able to jump out and stay ahead. We got behind and we couldn't bounce back. Our three losses this year are when we fell behind and couldn't rebound."The Monarchs helped put the game away in the sixth, when Derek Joyce's two-run homer cleared the left-field fence. Carbon added two more in the frame, to make the score 9-0 at that point."I felt pretty good," Joyce said. "I just wanted to hit the ball hard. I saw a pitch down the middle and I just wanted to put a good swing on it."That's a good team we played over there. We were the underdogs, so it feels good to win."BATTLE … Leadoff hitter Jake Haas was the only Charger to reach base twice. Haas' single in the third inning might look typical in the box score, but he faced an 11-pitch battle with the count at 1-2 before delivering his hit.TALENTED TEAM … The Chargers will send seven players to the league's all-star game, which is a Lehigh Valley League record, according to Rauch.UP NEXT ... Carbon will play at Salisbury tonight (5:45 p.m.) as the double-elimination phase of the playoffs get underway. South Parkland and Lower Mac will play in the other semifinal game. The tourney will continue with games on Saturday and Sunday.DUTY CALLS … Carbon head coach Donnie Rehrig missed Thursday's game and will also miss tonight's game because he is attending a wedding, leaving Keer at the helm.LOVE OF THE GAME … Rauch is from the Nazareth area and just completed his seventh year as head coach. "I don't have a tie to Northwestern or Nothern Lehigh," Rauch said. I do this because I love baseball and I love the guys within the Northern Valley organization. It's a good group of guys and we all do it because we love the game. I have the best coaching staff in the Lehigh Valley and they've been with me for six years now. We all have a passion and a love for the game."Carbon 001 134 0 - 9 11 2No. Valley 000 000 3 - 3 3 3Micholik, M. Goida (6) and A. Joyce; Cordova, White (5) and Wiik. W - Micholik. L - Cordova. HR: D. Joyce (6th, one on).