EASTON - Many times in baseball, it’s not how many hits you get - it’s when you get them.

Lehighton continuously put runners on base Sunday during its District 11 Class 4A semifinal contest against Bethlehem Catholic, but could never come up with a clutch hit.

The Golden Hawks, meanwhile, delivered time-and-time again with men in scoring position and pulled away for an 11-1 victory.

“I thought we hit the ball well,” said Indian head coach J.C. Dietz. “We had base runners. We just couldn’t get that one big hit.

“(Their pitcher) threw strikes, but he wasn’t overpowering. Like I said, we got everything we wanted the first couple innings. We just couldn’t get that big hit.”

The first inning was especially telling of the game’s outcome.

The Rarick brothers, Ian and Aiden, opened the game with back-to-back singles for Lehighton, but Ian was thrown out trying to go to third by right fielder Jamel Clements. Adam Bastone followed with another hit, but the runners ended up being stranded as Becahi’s Adam Boyer worked out of the jam.

“Their right fielder made an absolute perfect throw,” said Dietz. “It would have been first and third, and it could have been a different game. I would send him on that 100 straight times. I didn’t second-guess that at all.

“Then we made too many mistakes in (the bottom of the) first inning, and the game just got away from us there a little bit.”

Second-seeded Bethlehem Catholic also opened its first with back-to-back hits. A walk loaded the bases, and an error on a grounder plated the first run. Two more ground outs resulted in two more runs, while RBI singles from Bryce Blawn and Boyer upped the margin to 5-0.

“That throw set the tone,” said Hawks mentor Matt Corsi. “We talked about jumping on them early. We didn’t know much about Lehighton. We knew they were 13-8, and they were a playoff team. So that means they’re a good team. In our experience in the EPC, when you get up on teams you find out if they’re going to battle or if they’re going to fold.

“They did battle. They had guys in scoring position multiple times and put guys on base, but we were able to make a pitch or make a play in the field when we needed to. We put good swings on the ball, and we also did a great job on the base paths.”

Lehighton managed to put more runners on the base paths in the second inning, hoping to cut into the deficit, but two runners were again stranded when Boyer registered a strikeout to end the frame.

“He’s become our No. 1,” said Corsi, whose top two pitchers coming into the season have dealt with injuries. “Adam has really stepped in and become the ace of the staff from Day 1. And today, he did what he does. He throws strikes, pounds the zone. He’s not overpowering, but he hits spots, and we play good D behind him.”

He also received a ton of support from his teammates.

Becahi added a run in the home second on Braydon Rader’s RBI single, while Jeremy Fryer delivered a two-run hit in the third to push the score to 8-0. Blawn’s double in the fourth chased home two more runs.

After leaving two more runners on base in the fourth, Lehighton finally pushed a run across in the fifth on Bastone’s ground out.

The Hawks (14-8) ended the game in the sixth on an RBI hit by Phil Taylor.

“Our goal was to get to 10 wins this year,” said Dietz. “And this year we finished with 13 wins - the most Lehighton has had in baseball in about 10 years. I couldn’t be more proud of my staff, and I couldn’t be more proud of what these kids have done the past two years in this program.”

SENIOR FAREWELL ... Three Lehighton seniors played their final game with the Indians. They include Ian Rarick, Talan Sensinger and Austin Greene.

TITLE GAME ... Bethlehem Catholic will now play in Wednesday’s championship game against top-seeded Blue Mountain, which won its semifinal contest against Wilson 6-0.

HITS GALORE ... Of the 20 hits in the game, 19 of them were singles. Aiden Rarick and John Light both had two hits for the Indians, while Blawn had three for the Hawks. Becahi had six hits with runners in scoring position, while Lehighton didn’t have any.

Lehighton 000 010 - 1 7 2

Bethlehem Cath. 512 201 - 11 13 3

I. Rarick, Albert (3), Keiser (5), Lewis (6) and Light, Lawrence (5); Boyer, Kaczor (5) and Richards. W - Boyer. L - I. Rarick.