LIMEPORT - They say that pitching wins championships.

That baseball axiom made Northwestern Lehigh a favorite coming into the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley High School Baseball Tournament.

Northwestern definitely got strong pitching in the pool play portion of the tournament - allowing just five runs in three games - but it wasn’t enough to give the Tigers an opportunity at a championship.

A pair of close losses to Saucon Valley and Emmaus on Wednesday eliminated the Tigers.

The tournament gave high school players the opportunity to get back onto a baseball field together one last time after the coronavirus outbreak canceled the spring sports season.

The Tigers roster has seven seniors, who all got to take to the field for three games before a sendoff to college.

“We were only guaranteed three games, and even had we advanced, we were only ever guaranteed one more game at a time,” said Northwestern coach Duran Porrino. “This was really exciting though for the kids to come out here and get to play together one last time, and have at least three games from their season salvaged, it was great.”

After opening its pool play against Salisbury on Monday with a 15-1 win, Northwestern had a day off before returning to play its final two games. Each of its last two contests came down to the final play of the game, with both going against Northwestern Lehigh. When the dust settled, Northwestern fell to Saucon Valley 3-2, and then dropped a 1-0 decision to Emmaus, officially ending its tournament run.

Porrino was happy with how his team played overall, and after playing two exciting games at the end of the tournament, was happy that it was able to be in big situations in front of an excited crowd.

“I hope they all took just a minute to look around and appreciate what was going on here,” said Porrino. “Even with everything going on, there was a crowd here that was really into these games and was cheering and yelling for them. You don’t always get these opportunities, and with everything going on, it really was a great thing.”

HITTIN’ WEATHER … Rafe Perich played tournament ball in Georgia and Florida, facing top-notch pitching this spring. His bat still had some heat from down south left in it as he finished the three games 8-for-11 with a home run, four runs scored and seven RBIs. He also threw five shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk. A ball that he hit off a light pole in Monday’s game was initially scored a triple, but a review of the ground rules forced a scoring change to make it a home run.

WELCOME BACK … Part of the excited crowd included a number of former Northwestern Lehigh players who were in attendance for both games on Wednesday cheering on the current team. “That’s the type of culture that we’ve been able to build in this program where guys are always a part of what we do, and they still play a role after they leave,” said Porrino.

GOOD LUCK … Emmaus finished 3-0 to advance to the knockout stage of the tournament, which begins Friday. Saucon Valley advanced with its 2-1 record even though it was outscored in its three games by a 17-14 margin.

Saucon Valley-Northwestern

Northwestern trailed 3-2 coming into the bottom of the seventh. Reliever Cole Curtis got the first two outs of the inning, before walking Vinny Castrine. Carter Welch then roped a double into right-center field and Castrine was waved home, but Saucon Valley executed a perfect relay from the outfield to nail Castrine at the plate for the final out of the game.

The Panthers took advantage of two first-inning errors to grab an early 1-0 lead. Saucon Valley put runners on second and third with one out in the fifth and looked to grab a run on a ground ball to short by Brandon Binn. Perich threw a perfect strike to catcher Ryan Kensinger to nail the runner at the plate. Saucon Valley was still able to push two runs across in the inning to go up 3-0.

Nate Goodolf drew a one-out walk in the sixth and scored on a double by Perich, who was later driven in on Justin Holmes’ RBI single, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Joe Frey started for Northwestern and allowed three runs - two earned - over 5 2/3 innings.

Saucon Valley 100 020 0 - 3 6 0

Northwestern 000 002 0 - 2 6 2

Klotz, DiRusso (4), Curtis (7) and Werkheiser; Frey, Boyer (6) and Kensinger. W-DiRusso. L-Frey.

Northwestern-Emmaus

Center fielder Nick Henry had to know that the odds of catching up to a sinking fly ball to center were against him. Knowing the game was on the line, he did everything possible and dove for the ball, which landed just ahead of his outstretched glove and bounced away from him. The all-or-nothing play allowed Matt Madigan to score from second on what would be a walk-off hit for Wyatt Henseler in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Perich and Emmaus’ Vince Petrizzi had locked themselves into a pitcher’s duel that kept the game scoreless through five innings. Castrine came on for Northwestern and put down an uprising in the sixth with a strike out of Joel Freeman to get out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam.

After a walk to open the seventh, Tyler LePage hit a ball that had third baseman Nate Goodolf diving far to his left with the ball going just off the edge of his glove for an infield single. Henseler then followed with his game-winning hit.

Perich finished with five strikeouts, and at one point retired 11 of 12 hitters, with just a walk to Henseler putting a blemish on the streak. Petrizzi threw a complete game for the Hornets.

Northwestern 000 000 0 - 0 7 0

Emmaus 000 000 1 - 1 4 0

Perich, Castrine (6) and Kensinger; Petrizzi and Diaz. W-Petrizzi. L-Castrine.