Battle.

It's often an overused word in the sports world, but on Friday both the Northern Lehigh and Lehighton softball squads earned the right to be cliche.Both teams showed numerous times throughout the game that they could battle back when faced with a deficit.In the end, it was the Bulldogs that outlasted the Indians in extra innings, coming away with a 9-6 non-league victory.Early on it was Northern Lehigh that took control, scoring a run in the first inning and two runs in the third. The Bulldogs would keep that lead and held the Indians scoreless until the fifth due to the solid pitching of Kate Ziegler.Ziegler was in and out of jams throughout the game and hit some fatigue in fifth. With Northern Lehigh leading 3-1, the Indians heated up, coming through with five hits and three runs between the fifth and sixth innings. Sage Miller came up with the game tying hit that scored Heidi Greene in the sixth."We started to gain confidence in the later innings and I think that's because our girls are really passionate about winning," said Lehighton coach Greg Poremba. "Once we started to gain a little momentum, the girls really made some plays with the bats and got us right back into the game."The seventh offered up even more excitement.The Bulldogs answered right back with three runs to regain the lead. Sage Hargreaves and Kaitlin Hoffman and Taylor Herman all had hits in the inning for Northern Lehigh, while Paige Hemingway knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly. Two Lehighton errors contributed to the scoring."This team never gives up and we showed that tonight," said Northern Lehigh coach Robert Hicks. "We really hit the ball today. The key was when we had runners on base, we brought them in, and that's a very assuring thing to see early on in the season. What I liked about today was that when we were faced with adversity we responded."Lehighton bounced right back in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs to tie the game at 6-6.Amanda Loudon, Rachel Serfass, Jocelyn Hunsicker, and Emily Greene all had hits in the frame for Lehighton.The eighth turned out to be the decider in this one with Northern Lehigh once again applying the pressure with consistent offense. The Bulldogs sprayed four hits in the inning, but once again two critical errors cost the Indians two more runs. After the dust settled, Northern Lehigh led 9-6, heading into the bottom of the eighth.Lehighton was able to score a run in a last-ditch effort to stay in the game, but couldn't get anything going after that. Bulldogs' ace, Kaitlin Hoffman came into relieve Ziegler in the seventh and ended the game, with a strike out.HITTING STARS ... For Northern Lehigh, Tiffany Yesik had four hits and scored three runs, while Herman had two hits and two RBIs. For the Indians, Hunsicker had three hits and an RBI, and Allison Armbruster came up with two hits and an RBI.OFFENSIVE OUTBURST ... After a combined four runs were scored between the two teams in the first five innings, the late game innings offered an explosion of offense. A combined 12 runs were scored from the sixth through the eighth innings with Northern Lehigh collecting eight hits and Lehighton 10.No. Lehigh 102 000 33 - 9 14 4Lehighton 000 012 31 - 7 13 5Bickert and Hunsicker; Ziegler, K.Hoffman (7), and D. Hoffman. W - K. Hoffman L - Bickert.