OREFIELD — Just as quickly as Northwestern Lehigh’s offense went missing, it returned in the Colonial League semifinals against Saucon Valley.

The Tigers banged out 11 hits in just four innings and defeated the Panthers 13-3 Monday afternoon at Parkland High School in a game shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule.

Starter Cole Dynda worked his way through a tight strike zone in the early going and finished with a complete game. Dynda walked three and allowed two singles in the opening inning as Saucon Valley put two quick runs on the board.

“He did a great job adjusting and really focused on his command and threw strikes,” said catcher Cannon Fitch of Dynda’s performance. “He did a really good job and didn’t get frustrated early. He knew we could score some runs, and he just stayed calm and got guys out.”

Cole Hubert, who has been a nemesis on the mound against Northwestern the past couple of seasons, had pitched the quarterfinal game and was unavailable to pitch against the Tigers. The ball went to younger brother Noah Hubert, who has shown the same promise as his older brother in just two seasons of ball.

The fact that they were down two runs and facing a pitcher with a 1.33 ERA failed to faze Northwestern, and it got right to ending the Panthers lead when leadoff hitter Eli Zimmerman punched a triple to left field to open the Tigers’ half of the first inning.

Cannon Fitch quickly drove him home with a line drive up the middle to make it 2-1. Dynda singled, and a sacrifice bunt by Watson Church put runners on second and third. Nolan Fitzgerald then grounded a ball through the middle and both Fitch and Church raced home to give Northwestern a 3-2 lead.

“Eli started us out with that triple and really got us charged up. We were able to feed off of that energy the rest of the game, and we never let down offensively and just kept tacking on runs,” said Dynda.

Saucon Valley loaded the bases against Dynda in the second, but the sophomore calmly got Carter Bidwell to ground into an inning-ending double play, the second in as many innings for the Northwestern defense.

“I knew I just had to throw strikes and let the guys behind me make plays,” said Dynda. “Our infield turned two double plays in two innings to get us out of tough spots, and I just rely on those guys so much and they did their job to back me up.”

Hubert issued a walk and hit a batter to start the second and a fielder’s choice grounder by Fitch left runners on first and third with two out when the hit parade went into full gear.

Five straight batters drove in runs, starting with Dynda who singled to left to score both runners. From there, Church and Josh Farber delivered back-to-back doubles to make it 7-2 leaving Fitzgerald and Aidan Freeman to follow with RBI singles, and Northwestern quickly had a commanding 9-2 lead after two innings.

The Panthers went down in order in the third with Dynda picking up his first strikeout when he caught Jake Eshelman looking. The only issue Dynda would have the rest of the way came in the fourth when he lost his command momentarily and Cole Hubert’s sacrifice fly made it 9-3.

Meanwhile, the Northwestern offense that lost its final two regular season games and scored a total of three runs in its final three regular season games was nowhere near finished taking out its frustrations against Saucon Valley.

Bidwell, who had come on in relief of Noah Hubert, had a rough start to the third, opening the door for some more hot bats to drive in runs.

A walk and a hit by pitch put two runners on and Fitch drove a ball into the left center field gap to score two runs. Dynda then drove a single to right to score Fitch for an 11-3 lead.

Zimmerman then stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before Fitch walked and stole second, setting up Dynda for more offensive heroics.

The sophomore delivered a line drive to left and both runners came home for a 13-3 edge.

“We’re all competitors and we always fight our way back. We have a lot of confidence in each other and if one of us doesn’t get the job done, someone else will,” said Fitch.

Dynda retired the side in order on just six pitches in the top of the fifth to lock up the win.

ON TO DESALES … The Tigers will face Southern Lehigh, who defeated Palmerton in the other semifinal game by a 9-2 score. The two teams faced each other on March 27 at Northwestern with the Tigers winning 10-9 when they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh for the walk-off win. The title game is Thursday night at DeSales University.

Saucon Valley 200 10 - 3 4 1

Northwestern 362 2x - 13 11 0

N. Hubert, Bidwell (2) and Male; Dynda and Fitch. W - Dynda. L - N. Hubert.

Records: Saucon Valley (14-6); Northwestern (18-4).