It's not the way any pitcher wants to start a game.

But Northern Valley starter Justin Welsh didn't let it bother him.After hitting the first batter he faced on Saturday against South Parkland, the Chargers' starting pitcher was dominant the rest of the wayWelsh regained his composure, found his control, and received outstanding defensive support on his way to a complete-game three-hitter as Northern Valley posted a 3-0 shutout over one of the Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League's premier teams."Obviously, the first batter didn't go the way I wanted it to," said Welsh, who finished with four strikeouts. "But after that, I found my fastball command and my curveball was really working well for me."It just feels great because we know they're one of the best teams in the league. Great offense. Great defense. And, they do everything well. So, it's always good to pull out a win against one of those teams."Chargers' manager Brad Rauch was excited about Welsh's performance."We don't have a deep pitching staff," said Rauch. "So, to be successful this year, and hopefully contend for another championship like we did last year, our pitchers have to work ahead. So when Justin hits the first batter, it felt like where we left off the night before - a 9-8 Northern Valley win over South Parkland."But he rebounded well. He left the hit batter go and got us ground balls and fly balls."Welsh also played a role offensively for the Chargers, getting the game's initial hit in the bottom of the first inning. That was followed by a Trevor Schreiner single, a South Parkland error, and RBI singles by Ben Cordova and Tyler Wiik that gave Northern Valley a 2-0 lead.That was more than enough offense for Welsh, who retired the next 12 batters he faced following the leadoff hit-batsman.The Trojans didn't get a hit until Tyler Ilgenfritz singled in the fifth inning. But thanks to solid Charger defense, South Parkland couldn't take advantage of the hit. First, Tyler Schreiner caught a deep fly ball to centerfield. Welsh followed with a strikeout. Catcher Wiik ended the inning when he caught Ilgenfritz leading off the bag at second base.Northern Valley added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth when Jacob Haas delivered an RBI single.The Trojans' biggest threat came in the seventh when Ben Trinkle and Ethan Russel picked up back-to-back hits, but Welsh and the Charger defense came up big to preserve the shutout."When it comes to our defense, we have a lot of options," Rauch said. "We have a lot of depth at a lot of positions. We can move guys around. I think that's going to help our pitchers in the long run."I have stressed all year, 'Let the other teams hit the ball. Let us show how good our defense is by letting them hit the ball. It's not always about striking people out.'"EVERYBODY HITS … All but one batter in the Northern Valley lineup had a hit against South Parkland starter Edward Brandt. But not a single Charger recorded more than one hit.CROSSING THE PLATE … Justin Welsh, Trevor Schreiner and Austin Hemingway accounted for the Chargers' runs.SETTING AN EXAMPLE … Rauch was proud of the effort of Welsh. "I'm just hoping the other pitchers take notes from him and build off him. We have a young pitching staff, but I think we have a pitching staff that can carry us if they work ahead in counts and get us ground balls and plays that we can defend. I think we can be very successful."South Parkland 000 000 0 - 0 3 2Northern Valley 200 010 x - 3 6 1Brandt and Russell; Welsh and Wiik. W - Welsh. L - Brandt.