Sometimes it’s not about the end result but rather the lessons learned.

This can be true for both Palmerton and Southern Lehigh Blue’s junior Connie Mack baseball squads as they faced off on Thursday at Palmerton high school.

What originally began with the potential for a lopsided affair for the Bombers eventually turned into a tale of two different games as they had to hold the fort against a Solehi comeback attempt, edging out an 8-7 victory.

The defense for the home club was clean and crisp through the first three frames, which allowed the offense to do its job.

One run in the first, two in the second, and three more in the third — capped by a two-run single from Cade Serfass — saw Palmerton lead 6-0 and sit comfortably in the driver’s seat.

The poor start by Southern Lehigh did not sit well with head coach Mike Magazzu, as he took time after the game to let his ball club know about his disappointment.

“We started out incredibly sloppy,” he said. “We can play better defense than that. We should play better defense than that. We preach not giving our opponents extra outs and we gave them way too many extra outs early in the game.

“And then we had a couple of really bad base running miscues. What I told the guys is, ‘You can’t play that poorly in the field and then have those types of mistakes in the base path and expect to win baseball games against any team.’”

After allowing Southern Lehigh to get on the board in the fourth on an error, Palmerton responded with two RBI ground outs to make it an 8-1 score in the bottom half — not knowing just how significant those runs would eventually become.

As if one game was over and a new one was underway, it was all Southern Lehigh during the fifth and sixth frames.

The Spartan Blue squad made the most of its at-bats, walking and singling its way to a four-run fifth that included a two-run hit by Thomas Roth.

The sixth saw more of the same as Roth and Jayden Ney each picked up RBI singles to make it an 8-7 score.

With the game completely turned on its side, it seemed like it was a matter of time before Southern Lehigh would pull ahead.

However, Palmerton’s Connor Walterick shut the door when it mattered most by getting the final three outs in the seventh to seal the win.

Surviving the late push from Solehi and earning the win has its importance, but Palmerton head coach Steve Mertz is taking this season game-by-game and making sure his team is showing positive signs of progression going forward.

“We’ve had a little bit of a rough season, so we’re getting ourselves adjusted, starting to make more plays and getting more consistent on the mound,” he said.

“We’ve done a lot of work on discipline in the field, discipline at the plate, and discipline on the mound. Definitely a team win today. Everybody contributed in some way, whether it was coming in and throwing the last inning and a half or two RBI groundouts that if we don’t get those, we don’t win the game.”

NEXT UP … Palmerton will travel to Moore Township on Saturday for its next matchup. Solehi will also be on the road Saturday as they face Williams.

So. Lehigh Blue 000 142 0 - 7 6 4

Palmerton 123 200 x - 8 4 4

Zanders, Brunner (2), Johnson (5) and Roth; Serfass, Zelinsky (4), Rivera (5), Walterick (6) and Ivancich. W - Serfass. L - Brunner.

Records: Southern Lehigh (1-10); Palmerton (3-9-1).