The Carbon Monarchs hit the ball hard in play to come away with an elimination game win over Northern Valley in the Lehigh Valley Senior Legion playoffs on Wednesday.

The Monarchs’ first-inning effort, which included four hits coupled with two Chargers errors, got them out to an early three-run lead, which they were able to convert into a 9-5 victory.

Randy Bongiorno, Aiden Rarick, Michael Yeakel and Austin Greene all got the bats going for Carbon. Bongiorno also came through with the lone RBI of the frame.

“You put pressure on the defense, and put the ball in play, and usually good things will happen,” said Carbon head coach Joe Marykwas. “When we’ve not performed well in the past this season, it has been when we didn’t put the bat on the ball, and we had too many strikeouts. But the guys hit the ball hard today too, even on our outs, and that definitely helped us come away with the win.”

The Monarchs’ offense then continued to stay consistent as it scored four runs over the next two innings to take a commanding 7-1 lead after three innings. During that stretch, Bongiorno, Rarick, Yeakel and Garrett Lienhard all came through with hits, with another throwing error from the Chargers on a leg-out single from Rarick in the bottom of the third, helping to get a run across.

And while the Monarchs bats were doing their thing, starting pitcher Richie Strack kept the Chargers off the scoreboard. Strack pitched six strong frames, allowing just one run and struck out four. Even when the Chargers were able to get a few base runners, Strack did a nice job of keeping hitters off balance and getting key outs.

“Richie pitched a great game for us tonight. He was able to really hit both sides of the plate, and he threw good pitches,” said Marykwas. “That’s the kind of pitcher Richie is. He’s going to throw strikes, and he’s going to make the right pitches at key times, and he’s mentally tough out there.”

Northern Valley finally found itself some offense in the top of the seventh to make things a bit more interesting after Carbon controlled the game throughout the night. After two chargers hitters were able to reach on walks, a triple from Cole Hausman brought in two runs to cut the Monarchs’ lead to four. But Thorpe was then able to retire the next two Northern Valley hitters in order to clinch the win and stay alive.

BIG MAN BONGIORNO

… Carbon’s Randy Bongiorno was hot from the plate in this one with four hits and two RBIs. Greene, Yeakel and Rarick also all had multiple hits. Hausman led the way for Northern Valley with two hits and two RBIs.

NEXT UP

… Carbon will look to continue to stay alive as they play tonight against Salisbury at home at 5:45 p.m.

Northern Valley 010 101 2 - 5 8 4

Carbon 322 110 X - 9 13 2

Chamberlain, Bogert (5); Strack, Murphy (6). W - Strack. L - Chamberlain.