For the Palmerton Senior Connie Mack squad on Tuesday evening, it wasn’t how the Blue Bombers started, it was how they finished.

Palmerton saved its best for last, erasing a five-run deficit in the seventh inning to tie Palmer Township, 12-12. The game did not advance into extra innings because of darkness.

Out of the gate, both teams were able to generate runs as the game sat knotted at 4-4 after the first inning.

Palmer showed its batting prowess early -and a sign of things to come - as in the first, and throughout the game, it was effective from the plate with runners in scoring position.

Palmer collected four hits in the first, while Palmerton’s Ashton Solt came through with the big hit of the inning in the bottom of the first for the Bombers with a two-run single that he poked over the right side of the infield.

“Today was a very good game. But I think you could see today, and throughout the league, that everyone is struggling for pitchers, because we’re playing a ton of games in a short amount of time,” said Palmer Township head coach Neal Talijan.

“But we wanted to come in and be very aggressive on the bases and swing the bat and we did do that. Like I said, tonight was just a good baseball game.”

Palmer continued to be aggressive throughout the game, leading for almost the rest of the way. The visitors extended their lead to 7-4 after the top of the fourth, but the Bombers did stay within striking distance - closing within one after a three-hit fourth.

However, it looked as if Palmer would close out the Bombers after it scored a combined five runs between the sixth and seventh innings to lead 12-7.

But in the bottom of the seventh, the Palmerton bats came to life.

After an error and two walks loaded the bases, Derek King blasted a pitch to center field, which went over the center fielder’s head to score two runs and cut the Palmer lead to three.

A single from Trey Sterling loaded the bases again with no outs, and Nate Steinmetz kept the rally going for the Bombers with a three-run double that tied the ballgame.

Palmer got out of the jam - like it did on a few occasions earlier in the contest - with a nice play to tag a Bomber out at home, a strikeout and a ground out.

“I wish we would have been driving in guys like that when we had opportunities earlier in the game, but sometimes that’s baseball,” said Palmerton head coach Matt Solt.

“But I’m really proud of the kids for digging down and putting together a rally like that to tie the game. We were able to still get a point for playoffs too, when it looked like we might not get a point at all from the game, so that’s a nice part about coming back to tie the game as well. Also, we had two junior Connie Mack kids come up and fill in tonight and they played well for us, so it was good to see that.”

LEADERS … Steinmetz led the way with three RBIs and King and Solt added two RBIs apiece for the Bombers. King also led the way with four hits. Steinmetz, Solt, Sterling and Nate Stroup had multiple hits on the evening. “Cha-cha” Rodriguez led Palmer with three RBIs. Nic Barone and Rowan Tom each had two hits apiece for Palmer.

Palmer Twp. 421 002 3 - 12 13 1

Palmerton 400 201 5 - 12 13 7

Rodriguez, Wagner (4), Garcia (6), Gruber (7), Tom (7) and Howell, Wait (2), Rodriguez (5); N. Stroup, Sterling (3), King (6), Solt (7) and T. Stroup.