Take 10.

This was the number of wins first-year head coach, Rich Evanko threw out in front of his Panther Valley baseball team in the preseason.Winning 10 games in a season is no big deal to many schools who have perennial strong programs, but if the Panthers win three of their last six scheduled games to get to that mark, it will be an incredible feat considering the school has won only 27 percent of its total games played in the past five years.Luck is not the reason for the success of the Panthers, who are battling Marian for first in the Schuylkill League Division 3 standings.With one more division win, Panther Valley qualifies for the District 11 playoffs for the first time since 2010."Outwork our opponents is our team slogan," said Evanko. "We show it everyday in practice. The kids never take a play off. The effort has been fantastic and contending for a title has been the result of their hard work."Evanko, who coached the Panthers' JV team for the past five years, knew from the start he had to take several steps to change the school's losing culture."In the past, the players became content with all the losing," said Evanko. "In the past five years, our seniors won only seven times and lost 15 games by shutouts."Evanko began the turnaround last summer when he coached the Panther Valley Black Diamonds to the championship of the Senior Babe Ruth League. His current team's roster has several key players from that squad. Then, he instituted a fall program in which he invited his players to weight train for an hour a day before they performed defensive drills on the baseball field."We have seven seniors this year and we told them that whatever fall or winter sports they may have played, baseball is their last chance to be an athlete for Panther Valley. Win games. Go out with a good feeling."Evanko needed to preach patience to his team, who were not used to winning. Immediate success did not come early. The Panthers committed too many errors in the field and after three games, PV hitters struck out 14 times, nine on called third strikes."That's when some of our players, especially Sam Stanko, Darren Goida, and Anthony Micholik, showed team leadership. If errors or bad plays happened, there was no head hanging. Get the next guy out. Get a hit to start a rally."Goida pitched a three-hit shutout over Schuylkill Haven (11-2) in late April, a benchmark victory that significantly helped authenticate the Panthers.From the batter's box, Evanko has sold his players on the strategy of small ball. If the situation calls for a bunt, even his No. 3 and 4 hitters will be asked to sacrifice for the good of the team. He also offers praise for productive outs that move runners into scoring position with less than two outs."The great thing for us now," said Evanko, who was a four-year starter for PV in his playing days, "is that every game we play from here on out is meaningful, and that's something we haven't been able to say here for quite a while."He credits his assistant coaches, Mike Turrano, Mike Pascoe, Luke Stawick, Zack King, and Justin Roberts, for their total commitment in teaching the players the fundamentals and intricacies of the game."We will treat the rest of our schedule as a one-game playoff each time we take the field," said Evanko.**********Every Thursday during the spring sports season, the Times News will publish its weekly "Spring Sports Notebook" reflecting back on the week that was, and highlighting both individual and team accomplishments, as well as interesting information that may have occurred in games and matches. This week's notebook will cover baseball, softball, tennis, and lacrosse, and will consist of storylines from the previous eight days (Tuesday-Tuesday). Times News sports writer Jason Boris will be handling the compilation of notes and is encouraging all local coaches to email him with noteworthy information that can be used in this column. Emails can be sent to

jboris@tnonline.com.**********BASEBALLMR. PERFECT... Marian's Teague Schmidt pitched the first perfect game of the season on Tuesday, as he led the Colts to a 10-0 victory over Weatherly. Schmidt retired 15 straight batters, six via strikeout, over five perfect innings to accomplish the feat. It is the second no-hitter for Marian this season, as Schmidt was also one of four Colts pitchers to combine for a no-hitter back on March 24 (a 10-0 victory over Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg). Ironically enough, on the same day that Schmidt threw a perfect game against Weatherly, Marian's Mackenzie Joy tossed a three-inning no-hitter for the Fillies softball team.GOING DEEP... There were only three home runs hit this week among the 10 Times News area teams, but two of those long balls came off the bat of Marian's Daniel Keer. On Friday, Keer belted two homers in the same game, as the Colts rolled to a 6-1 victory over Nativity.PLAYOFF BOUND... Four more Times News area teams secured District 11 playoff berths this past week. Last Tuesday, Marian (12-3) claimed a spot in the Class A Tournament with a 12-7 victory over Williams Valley, while Palmerton (10-6) qualified in the Class AAA field on Friday with a 2-1 victory over Pen Argyl. Tamaqua (11-4) punched its playoff ticket into the Class AAA bracket on Saturday with a 7-0 shutout over Tri-Valley. Meanwhile, Pleasant Valley posted its eighth league victory (8-9 overall, 8-5 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference) to advance into the Class AAAA Tournament with Tuesday's 8-3 victory over East Stroudsburg South. The Colts, Blue Bombers, Blue Raiders and Bears join Northwestern (14-3) in the postseason.SOFTBALLJOY TO THE WORLD... Marian's Mackenzie Joy was all smiles, as she tossed a no-hitter during Tuesday's 16-0 victory over Weatherly. In three innings pitched, Joy struck out three of the nine batters she faced. On the same day that Joy was blanking the Wreckers, Teague Schmidt was busy firing off a perfect game for the Marian baseball team.REESE'S PIECES... Palmerton's Reese Dugan is known for her pitching prowess, but in last Wednesday's 9-8 victory over Catasauqua, Dugan put on an aerial display with her bat. The Palmerton senior belted not one, but two home runs against the Rough Riders. The long balls were Dugan's first homers of the season.AIR WEHR... When Northwestern's Brooke Wehr went deep in last Wednesday's Colonial League game against Southern Lehigh, it marked the fourth time in five games that the Northwestern junior recorded a home run. Wehr currently has five homers on the season, which is tied with Northern Lehigh's Kaitlin Hoffman for the Times News area lead. Tamaqua's Cailyn Joseph recorded her fourth home run of the season this past week (in a 17-2 victory over Jim Thorpe) to remain one behind the leaders.IN GRAND FASHION... Twice this season, a Times News area team has recorded two grand slams in the same game (Northwestern softball and Weatherly baseball); however, Northern Lehigh's Kaitlin Hoffman decided to take matters into her own hands and accomplish the feat all by herself. In Friday's 16-1 victory over Notre Dame of Green Pond, Hoffman connected for two grand slams in the same game. Her first long ball came in the second inning, and the Bulldogs masher delivered an encore in the third inning with a bases-clearing shot. Hoffman, now with five homers on the season, had a Times News-high eight RBIs in the game.GOING DANCING... Northwestern and Palmerton became the latest Times News area teams to qualify for the District 11 playoffs. On Tuesday, Northwestern (10-7) punched its ticket to the Class AAA Tournament with a 4-2 victory over Northern Lehigh, while on the same day, Palmerton (9-7 overall, 9-5 in the Colonial League) secured its spot in the Class AA field with a 2-0 victory over Salisbury. The Lady Tigers and Lady Bombers join Tamaqua (12-3) in the postseason.TENNISDOUBLE TROUBLE... Palmerton's No. 1 doubles team of Jacob Brown and Marc Roselli earned a third-place medal during the Colonial League Tennis Championships held on Saturday, April 23, at Saucon Valley. Brown and Roselli entered as the fourth seed and downed fifth-seeded Salisbury in the quarterfinals. After falling to No. 1 seed Moravian Academy in the semifinals, the Blue Bomber duo bounced back to post an 8-1 pro set victory over third-seeded John Absalom and Chris Csencsits of Bangor in the consolation match.The league held championships at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles and No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Brown and Roselli were the only Palmerton players to medal.LACROSSESTAT CHECK... Pleasant Valley's Savannah Bauman has been stuffing the stat sheets all season long, and the Bears sophomore middle has continued that pace with 16 goals in her last four games. Before Tuesday's 11-10 victory over Freedom, which improved Pleasant Valley's overall record to 7-8, Bauman had accumulated a team-leading 46 goals (on 87 shots on goal), eight assists, eight interceptions, and 19 ground balls. She has a "hat trick" in nine of her team's 15 games this season, and is averaging 3.2 goals per contest for the Lady Bears.