The combination of good pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting is any coach's dream.

On Wednesday night, Donnie Rehrig received that trifecta at the most opportune time.Facing North Parkland in the play-in round of the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs, Rehrig's Carbon Monarchs excelled in every aspect to earn a 4-1 victory and advance to tonight's quarterfinals."If you play well defensively and your pitcher throws strikes ... you're going to be in the game," said Rehrig. "That's what we've told them since day one. And that's what happened today."We didn't have that many hits, but we took advantage of our opportunities. We talked about (the playoffs) being a fresh start. It's win or go home, and now we're fortunate enough to be playing tomorrow."The Monarchs will hope to get another pitching performance like the one they got from Justin Marykwas on Wednesday.The right-hander scattered eight hits but didn't walk a batter. He struck out six and needed just 88 pitches (including 67 for strikes) to complete the seven innings."Justin worked ahead in the count and he pitched well," said Rehrig. "He's been pitching well, and that's why we went with him.""My slider was working, and I was able to locate my fastball," said Marykwas. "I was throwing my fastball high and hoping they'd swing at it, and they did."Marykwas also benefited from his teammates in the field. The Monarchs didn't commit an error and made a couple of run-saving plays.In the top of the fourth, with Carbon holding a 2-1 lead, center fielder David Marino made a sliding catch to end the inning and leave a runner stranded at second. One frame later, with a runner on second and one out, second baseman Derek Joyce kept a single from going into the outfield. A pitch later, the Monarchs turned a 6-4-3 double play."That kind of swung momentum," said Rehrig. "Derek did a nice job of keeping the ball in the infield and that's what we say, if there's a runner on second with less than two outs ... Get down and dirty is what we always say. He did a nice job, kept it in the infield, and then the next pitch they hit a hard ground ball to (Darren) Goida at short. He made a nice feed and DJ (Derek Joyce) made the turn to get us out of the inning. That was a huge play at the time."Aaron Joyce also came up huge for the winners, coming up with the game's biggest hits.After a double by Derek Joyce and an error gave the Monarchs a first-inning run, Aaron Joyce delivered an RBI triple to the right-field gap to plate a second run. With his team still clinging to a one-run lead in the sixth, the Carbon catcher drilled a two-run double to left-center to give his team some insurance runs."I just saw some good pitches to hit and put good swings on them," said Aaron. "I struggled with (hitting to the opposite field) most of the year, and I've been practicing lately so it was nice that it worked out."The pitch (on the double) was right there. I saw it early out of his hand and put a good swing on it ... We just knew that the way Justin's been pitching all year, all we had to do was get a couple of runs and he would hold them."FAMILIAR FACES ... Carbon's battery of Marykwas and Aaron Joyce were teammates at Jim Thorpe. "I called pitches for him in high school, so we've built some chemistry for a whole season and now for this season too," said Joyce. "Everything was working for him."FOUR SCORE ... Marykwas faced exactly four batters in every inning. He allowed at least one hit in every frame.NEXT UP ... The Monarchs (7-11-1) will travel to Northwestern tonight to face Northern Valley (14-3) in the quarterfinals. The Chargers won both regular-season matchups.N. Parkland 001 000 0 - 1 8 3Carbon 200 002 x - 4 5 0Schoch, Fracas (6) and Imler; Marykwas and A. Joyce. W - Marykwas. L - Schoch.