NAZARETH - Pleasant Valley head coach TJ Murphy knew about the ace Emmaus had up its sleeve for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title game.

He wasn’t surprised when one of the best pitchers in the league made his first appearance of the season in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s game. But there was little his team could do.

Senior Braden Waller returned from injury when his team needed him most. He retired the Bears’ final eight batters in order to help the No. 3 seed Hornets come away with a 4-1 win and the league title.

“I heard he was throwing bullpens,” said Murphy. “I give the kid a lot of credit. He came out and he was gutty. He threw strikes, and he kept us off balance.”

Waller - who was the Hornets’ top pitcher in 2019 and would have been their ace this season had an injury not slowed him down - relieved teammate Luke Deschenes with one out and two runners on base in the fifth inning.

Waller struck out the first batter he faced, despite inheriting a 2-0 count, and fanned the next one to get out of the jam in front of a rowdy Pleasant Valley student section.

“I knew the pitcher couldn’t care less what was going on over there,” said Emmaus head coach Jeremy Haas. “[Waller] has a big-game personality, and he did big things for us today.”

Deschenes wasn’t bad either. Struggling with his command, the junior walked three batters and hit four others with pitches, but he allowed just two hits over 4 1/3 innings.

He pitched out of some jams thanks to an error-free game that included two double plays by Emmaus (18-5).

“That’s the story of the game,” said Murphy. “When you have a kid throwing like Deschenes, who can overpower you, when he’s a little wild you have to take advantage of it and we didn’t.

“We couldn’t get that timely hit that we’ve been so used to getting throughout the season, especially in the playoffs.”

The Bears (14-5) left runners on base in three of Deschenes five innings, including leaving them loaded in the fifth.

Pleasant Valley starter Brandon Ratti pitched all six innings, allowing eight hits and three runs while striking out nine Emmaus batters and walking just one.

“I thought he pitched a really good game, throwing 90 pitches on three days rest,” said Murphy. “I think you give credit to Emmaus. They put the ball in play. They were finding gaps and finding holes, and that’s what good teams do. I thought Brandon pitched well. We didn’t hit. We only had two hits, and that’s the difference in the game.”

Emmaus took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Waller line drive to center field that scored Blake Schantz, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.

The Hornets made it 2-0 in the third inning when Tyler LePage brought in Schantz (1-for-3, two runs) on a fielder’s choice.

The Bears made it a one-run game in the fifth. Matt Guzman hit a one-out single and came around to score on Ratti’s line drive to center field. When Deschenes started with two balls to the next batter, Waller came in to close the door.

WHAT’S HAPPENING ... Emmaus earns the top seed in the District 11 tournament. Pleasant Valley will likely be the No. 4 seed for the Class 6A playoffs and host Easton in the first round next Tuesday. “We’re going to reset. We’re going to refocus, and we’re going to talk about what we need to do as we move into districts. We battled, and we’re going to continue to fight when we get to districts.”

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT ... The win was Emmaus’s seventh in a row, and sixth straight by three runs or less. The Hornets beat Parkland 9-6 in the semifinal, and topped Bethlehem Catholic 4-3 in the quarters. Their final three games of the regular season were a 2-1 win over Nazareth, and a pair of one-run wins (2-1 and 1-0) over Whitehall.

Pleasant Vy. 000 010 0 - 1 2 0

Emmaus 101 002 x - 4 8 0

Deschenes, Waller (5) and Chiego; Ratti and Meitzler. W - Deschenes. L - Ratti.