Under a hot July sun, Carter Welch sat in the stands at Citizens Bank Park waiting to pitch in the semifinals of the Carpenter Cup for Lehigh Valley. His senior season of baseball was going to end at the home of the Philadelphia Phillies one way or another.

He had been the ace of a Northwestern Lehigh baseball team that had high hopes which were dashed in the finals of the District 11 playoffs. Welch was now pursuing a tournament championship with his Carpenter Cup team - where he again served as the ace.

Welch had been a workhorse for Northwestern, starting 10 games, including all the key contests that he was eligible to pitch in down the stretch. He finished the season with a 9-3 record and 2.06 ERA, striking out 73 batters in 48 innings. Opponents hit just .160.

For the Carpenter Cup team, Welch started the first two games that brought them to the semis. Now, he was waiting to pitch his third game in a week where temperatures were in the mid-90s and the heat index was over 100 degrees.

“I just sat in the stands before the game thinking about being able to pitch there and how great it was going to be. It was a great experience, and a great way to finish my season.” said Welch. “I made sure to kind of take it all in while I had the opportunity.”

Unfortunately, Lehigh Valley lost to Mercer County, and Welch was victimized by some defensive miscues early in the game and exited after two innings, allowing two earned runs. Overall, the Delaware University recruit threw seven innings in the Carpenter Cup tournament, allowing five hits and striking out 10 while posting a 3.86 ERA.

“I really wasn’t tired at all during the tournament or during the season. I love to pitch and especially when there’s a big game, I want the ball,” Welch said about his long season. “It was a great experience to pitch for that team and we had a lot of talent, so to get that chance was great. It’s something that I will remember forever.”

Kids as talented athletically as Welch is often play multiple sports in high school. When he was younger, Welch did play several sports, but discovered that baseball was the one he wanted to focus on, and he made it a priority. The plan worked, as he developed into one of the elite players in the area.

While it’s his pitching that draws the attention, don’t sleep on the fact that Welch hit .420 for Northwestern this season while serving as the team’s leadoff hitter. While he’s not a home run guy, he did bang out eight doubles and produced a 1.236 OPS in his senior year.

“It’s important to me to hit well. I always wanted to be a complete player and help the team any way that I can. I work on my hitting a lot, and the same with my defense,” Welch said. “I love to compete in every phase of the game.”

Welch not only competed in every phase of the game, he excelled in every phase. The performance earned Welch the 2021 Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Player of the Year award.

Duran Porrino, Welch’s coach at Northwestern Lehigh, confirmed Welch’s competitiveness, and believes that the young left-hander has a lot of great experiences ahead of him.

“We had an inter-squad game late in the year and I was umpiring at first, and he was arguing calls with me. He’s just that competitive that he wants to do well every chance that he gets,” Porrino said. “He’s a great kid and works hard at everything that he does. He doesn’t go after anything with a half-effort, it’s always full throttle, no matter what it is.”

Welch’s baseball exploits through his four high school years - three at Northwestern Lehigh and one at Allentown Central Catholic - got him noticed by college scouts. Among the schools that pursued him, Welch chose Delaware University.

“It’s a great school and it’s fairly close to home, so my family can see me play a few times a season,” said Welch. “I really liked the school when I visited, and I talked to (former Northwestern quarterback) Devin Bollinger and he loves it there. It just felt like a great fit.”

While Welch didn’t get to pitch in states this season, or get a return trip to Citizens Bank Park for the Carpenter Cup finals, he can look back on his season and his high school playing days fondly as he enters the next phase of his athletic career.

“It’s not just friendships that you develop; there really is a family atmosphere that develops among players on a team. We had a great group of guys at Northwestern, and we were all good friends and grew up playing sports together. I have a lot of great memories of those guys, and I think we’ll remain close, and I’ll have a new group of guys to bond with at Delaware,” said Welch. “I just love to play baseball, and I think that Delaware is going to be a great experience for me to get a good education and continue playing.”