Before Friday's Mountain Valley Conference game against Lehighton, Pleasant Valley coach Steve Caffrey admitted he was nervous.

The Lady Bears were coming off a critical 2-1 win over a Northampton team that is currently ranked third, one spot ahead of them, in the District 11 AAAA power rankings. And the coach wasn't sure how his team was going to respond against the Lady Indians, a team fighting for their playoff lives.Any anxiety was quickly removed, as Pleasant Valley scored eight runs in the first two innings and cruised to a 12-2 win."I wasn't sure what to expect today because yesterday was such a big win for us," Caffrey said. "I didn't want the kids to have a little bit of a lapse as far as coming in and taking things for granted."But they came out strong and hit the ball really well the first two innings. I think we kind of fell asleep a little bit and didn't play as well as we could have. But for the most part I thought we did okay."The Lady Bears (10-3, 8-0) contributors on offense were numerous, but the catalysts were those at the top of the order.Leadoff hitter Jordan Meckes was at the forefront of the attack, going 4-for-5 with four runs scored and one RBI. The senior narrowly missed hitting for the cycle, needing only a home run to accomplish the feat."It's definitely a confidence booster knowing that we can beat these teams in the league, and play well against the Lehigh Valley schools," Meckes said. "But we were just able to come out today and do what we needed to do."Meckes wasn't the only one who keyed the offense, as Kelsey Miczak and Madison Shaneberger each contributed three hits and multiple RBIs.While the production is nice, Caffrey admits he would like to see a little bit more from the rest of his lineup."We're getting better, we're getting a little more from the bottom of the lineup," the coach said. "But I would like to see them step it up a little bit for us and I would feel a little bit better."But across the board, we tend to pick each other up. If we're not hitting, then we're usually making plays in the field."It also doesn't hurt when your starting pitcher doesn't allow a walk until the second-to-last batter of the game.Pleasant Valley's Kiersten Griesback went the distance on the mound, striking out seven and allowing only five hits."If they can work ahead in the count that's only going help them," Caffrey said of his pitching staff. "Over the last few games, they've been doing that and it's really helped our team."If those strong performances continue, and the offense remains on form, Caffrey and the Lady Bears look primed for yet another deep run into the postseason.But for now, it's still one game at a time."I don't want to take anything for granted, so I would like to make it to the MVC final, and anything but that is going to be a disappointment for us," said Caffrey. "But we also want to make a strong showing in the district tournament as well. And if it's not us, it will be another MVC team in that spot."Lehighton (6-9, 4-5) looked to be able to answer Pleasant Valley in the first, getting a run back when Amanda Louden knocked in Sophia Everett with a triple.But deficit grew larger in the second and the Lady Indians were simply never ably to get into a rhythm.Louden finished 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored on Kelsey Andrew's triple in the fourth inning, which was Lehighton's last run of the game.While Lehighton coach Greg Poremba certainly didn't like the result, he was pleased with the effort he got from his team."We've played a lot of games where we've been outstanding through five innings," he said. "But then things fall apart late."But today we finished the entire game, despite a rough start and tough few innings. Overall, they played well against a quality team that we might see again."Pleasant Vy. 440 010 3 - 12 14 5Lehighton 100 100 0 - 2 5 1Griesback and Caffrey; Bickert, Binyon (2) and Andrews. WP - Griesback. LP - Bickert.