Palmerton softball coach Glen Reimer talked to his team about last year's loss to Northwestern prior to Thursday's game.

Bomber pitcher Martina Herring was thinking about a lot longer time frame than just last season.For the first time in her career, Herring was able to run off the mound in New Tripoli and celebrate a victory with her Bomber teammates.Thanks in large part to Herring's contributions, Palmerton was able to pick up a 3-1 Colonial League win over Northwestern."Palmerton hasn't won on this field in seven years," said Herring, who was in fifth grade when the Bombers posted a victory back in 2005. "Our season has meant a lot to us because we have been experiencing losing over 10 games a season the last three years. My freshman year we only won one game."So this season definitely means a lot to us. Everyone, even the freshmen who weren't part of the struggles the last few years,, are enjoying this feeling right now."Reimer, who still remembers last year's tough 6-5 loss to the Tigers, was thrilled that his players got to experience the victory over Northwestern."We came in here today after getting the game postponed on Wednesday," Reimer said. "This is the day before the prom. A lot of them had dress fittings and they put everything aside. There were field trips today and they put that side. They came to this game without me even having to ask them."The Bombers struck first in the second inning when freshman Steph Brinker poked a RBI single to rightfield, which allowed senior Sierra Miller to score. With two outs, Brinker gave the Bombers a 2-0 lead when she scored on a Steph Buck RBI single.The Tigers answer right back in the bottom of the second. Lyndsay Papp drilled a double to centerfield and later scored on a Nicole Metzger single.While hits were few and far between over the next few innings against Herring and her Tiger counterpart, Emily Bennett, the Bombers were able to collect an insurance run.With one out and Miller sitting on third base in the top of the sixth inning, Brinker dropped a perfect bunt to bring her home.Herring and her supporting defensive cast didn't give the Tigers too many opportunities. After allowing two hits in the second, the Bombers' ace only surrendered a fourth inning single to Ashley Eden. She finished strong, getting her only two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh."In recent years, we didn't have a very good defense," Herring said. "That was one of our biggest problems, but this year our defense is awesome. All of these girls work really hard every single day improving our defense. It's showing in all of the games. I am so lucky to have such a good defense this year."I haven't got as many strikeouts this year so my defense is doing a lot of the work for me."The Bombers' Buck was the only player on either team to finish with two hits."We hit the ball hard and then hit it far," Northwestern coach Jen Horner said. "I thought that was a well-played game. But, the last two games we just missed a clutch hit when we needed one the most. We needed one clutch play to turn the corner and get a win instead of a loss."Palmerton 020 001 0 - 3 7 0Northwestern 010 000 0 - 1 3 2Herring and Campbell; Bennett and L. Papp. W - Herring. L - Bennett.