ALLENTOWN — Palmerton hasn’t experienced many losses this spring. The Blue Bombers have lost just four games to be exact.

A common theme in all of those losses is that they came in the final inning. In the seventh inning of Saturday’s Colonial League quarterfinal game against Wilson, Palmerton head coach Robert Hock couldn’t help but think of that.

Instead, Palmerton pitcher Lexi Merkel weathered some late drama to advance the No. 4 seed Blue Bombers to Tuesday’s semifinals. Merkel pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout in Palmerton’s 2-0 victory over No. 5 seed Wilson.

“We’ve lost all of our games in the last inning this year, and I thought, ‘Oh boy, here we go with another one of those,’” Hock said. “I knew Lexi had it in her. I gave her a little breather out there to settle her down. She threw a lot of pitches to that leadoff batter.”

Wilson, trailing by two runs in the seventh inning, opened the frame with Ashley Errico walking on a 3-2 pitch from Merkel. And in the next at-bat, Briana Coyle blasted the first pitch to centerfield that had a chance to leave the yard.

But her flyout a few feet short of the wall kept the Warriors off the scoreboard. A popout to Merkel and another flyout to centerfield ended Wilson’s threat and secured the win for Palmerton.

“It feels great; we’ve been working towards this all year,” Merkel said. “We just tried to stay mentally tough throughout games and pull through the best that we can.”

Merkel finished with 15 strikeouts. The only hit Wilson mustered came in the top of the second when Ashlee Wood led off with a single to left field.

But Merkel responded by striking out the next three batters to strand Wood on first base. Merkel struck out eight of the first nine she faced.

“She’s the ace,” Hock said. “She was obviously in control. It’s the spin and the intelligence. She knows how to pitch a softball game, and does a great job doing so.”

“It’s one of my top (performances),” Merkel said. “Last time we faced them I had 16 strikeouts instead of 15, but it’s one of my best games this season.”

Palmerton’s offense, which has been quiet as of late, came alive a bit in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kailah Altemose led off the frame with a double to right field. Pinch runner McKenzie Silliman, who replaced Altemose at second base, scored after Megan Serfass singled during the next at-bat to make it a 1-0 game.

Serfass advanced to second base on the throw home, then later scored on a Wilson throwing error after Madison Finley recorded an infield single two batters later.

That’s all the offense Merkel would need.

“I believed in myself and focused on switching up my pitches and keeping it moving around the plate,” Merkel said.

WHO’S UP NEXT? ... Palmerton faces top-seeded Northwestern on Tuesday night in the semifinals. In Hock’s six years as head coach at Palmerton, the Blue Bombers have never made it past the semifinal round. “It’s going to take a solid softball game,” Hock said. “I’m sure we’re going to get solid pitching again. We do play nice defense when given the opportunity to do so. We have to find our bats. Our bats are a little quiet right now. All year we were scoring runs by the dozen.”

THE DECISIVE GAME 3 ... Palmerton and Northwestern split the regular season series, as the Blue Bombers were responsible for one of the Tigers’ two losses in league play. Palmerton defeated Northwestern, 6-1, in its second game of the season. Northwestern got revenge on April 17 with a 4-2 win.

Palmerton 000 200 0 - 2 6 0

Wilson 000 000 0 - 0 1 1

Merkel and Frantz; Wood, Smith (5) and Binner. W - Merkel. L - Wood.