The results were the same, but the game took on a different feel than the first time these two teams met.

On Monday, Northwestern defeated Palmerton, 7-2, to sweep the home-and-home two-game series on Monday, April 25.

Two weeks before, the Tigers jumped out to an 8-0 lead after just two innings on their way to a 10 -2 win. This time, the Blue Bombers trailed 2-1 heading to the top of the fifth, and 4-2 after five to stay within striking range.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the visitor’s third. Sage Toman raced all the way to third base on a throwing error - the first of five miscues the Bombers committed in the game - and scored when Isabelle Akelaitis lined the first pitch she saw for a base hit to right field.

Palmerton (10-5, 6-5) answered in the home half. With one out, Sydney Frantz cracked a long triple to left field and was driven home on a ground single up the middle by Carly Gaffney.

The tie was short-lived as the Tigers plated a run in the fourth when Quinn Conrey singled, moved to second on a walk to Isabella Teprovich and scored on a throwing error.

The Bombers threatened to score in every inning except the second, leaving the bases loaded in the first and fifth innings and stranding two runners in the third, sixth, and seventh. All together, Palmerton stranded 13 runners. After the game, head coach Bob Hock lamented his team’s failure to push across more runs.

“We have had timely hitting in most of our games, but today was not one of them,” Hock said. “We put some nice swings on the ball, but not in the clutch. I thought we should have jumped on more first-pitch fastballs in the zone when we had several chances to score, but that wasn’t the case.”

On the other hand, Northwestern coach Josh Zimmerman was pleased with his team’s timely hitting, especially in the fifth and sixth innings when his team scored a total of five runs.

“We were able to draw some walks, bunt runners over and be big in the clutch,” Zimmerman said.

In the Tiger fifth, Olivia Stofflet led off with a single to left and advanced to second on a walk to Brynn Balliet, then to third on a wild pitch. Stofflet scored on a sacrifice fly by designated player Summer Hammack. Conrey, who had singled to right, came around to score on an error.

“We had too many miscues in the field,” said Hock, “but we still played them better this time than the first time we met.”

The Tigers added three more runs in the sixth. Singles by Stofflet and Rylee McGinley, and an RBI triple by Balliet fueled the rally.

Tigers pitcher Brynn Balliet went the distance for the win, which was one of the goals for Zimmerman.

“We stayed together and played together for Brynn today, and our defense backed her up,” Zimmerman said. “We set out to get her to pitch a complete game and win the game for her, and we did. Give her credit for making the pitches when she had to make them to keep them from big innings.”

Palmerton center fielder Mikayla Pengelly, who had two hits in the game, also made two outstanding diving catches. In the first, she ran in and dove to the ground with an open glove to snare a short fly ball and in the fifth, she made another diving grab of a well-hit ball to the gap in left center.

With starting lineups, designated players, flex players, pinch hitters, designated runners, and pinch-runners, both coaches got most of their players in the game. A total of 29 players saw action - 15 from Palmerton and 14 from Northwestern.

Northwestern 001 123 0 - 7 8 1

Palmerton 001 001 0 - 2 9 5

B. Balliet and Stofflet; Gaffney and K. Balliet. W - B.Balliet. L - Gaffney.