Northern Valley manager Ben Schaffer isn’t asking for much.

All he wants is for the strong defense and pitching that the team started the season with to return, and for the offense to show some consistency.

Tuesday wasn’t the day that Schaffer’s request would be fulfilled.

The pitching was the best part of the game for Northern Valley as three pitchers scattered eight hits over seven innings. The three errors committed by the team led to four unearned runs, and the offense collected just six hits.

Then, there were mental errors — including two players picked off first base by starter Ryan Hummel. The result was an 8-0 loss to Lower Macungie, a team looking to make a late-season run in the Lehigh Valley Legion League.

“The rain took away a lot of our time to work on things, but you can’t make excuses because the rest of the teams were in the same situation and they’re hitting the ball,” said Schaffer. “We have a ton of good hitters on this team, but a lot of them aren’t putting the work in with the wood bats right now, and they need to.

“It’s a big difference and a big, big jump, and a lot of them are still swinging their metal on the weekend, so it’s a tough transition.”

The Chargers fell behind early when two walks and an error in the first inning put Northern Valley down 2-0 with Cole Dynda on the mound. Dynda quickly rebounded and retired the Mustangs in order in the second before they slowly started to pull away.

A two-out RBI double in the third made it 3-0, and an error and two singles made it 4-0 through four innings of play. Hummel allowed some base runners here and there but limited the damage by getting key outs or picking a runner off first base.

Things really started to get away from the Chargers in the fifth when Aaron Fleetwood walked to open the inning and stole second. Another Northern Valley error allowed Fleetwood to score, and one out later Hummel singled on a pop-fly that fell among three players leaving runners on first and third.

Dayne Schmidt doubled to right to bring in one run, and a sacrifice fly made it 7-0 in favor of Lower Mac.

Hummel defied the hot temperatures and breezed through the fifth, and his offense added a final run in the top of the sixth to give the Mustangs an 8-0 advantage.

The Chargers got a leadoff single in the sixth, but the next three batters went down in order.

In the seventh, Northern Valley did mount its best scoring opportunity of the game when with one out Chris Vargas reached on an error and Braedon Dougherty was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Hummell regained control to get the second out on a fly ball and then ended the game with a strikeout.

“They came in hot and wanted to play,” said Schaffer of the Lower Macungie team. “From what you could see, we were not ready. The heat definitely got to us and beat us today. Attitude wise and physically wise, we also were not ready, and they played a heck of a ball game.

“Our last two games have been absolutely horrendous defensively and offensively. Most of the year our pitching and defense had been an absolute bright spot, but you would never tell that from the last two games.”

Catcher Brayden Buskirk collected two hits to lead the Northern Valley offense.

CALL IT A SEASON … The league started with six teams but is now down to just five after Southern Lehigh folded its team. Northern Valley had three games remaining against the Spartans and has been credited with wins by forfeit in those games. With those wins included, the Chargers are now 5-4 this season.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END … The LVL regular season ends next week, and the Chargers have games remaining against North Parkland (6-4) on Thursday before a Monday doubleheader at Whitehall-Coplay (6-4). The season ends with a game at South Parkland (10-1) on July 1.

Lower Mac 201 131 0 - 8 8 2

Northern Vy. 000 000 0 - 0 6 3

Hummel and Schmidt; Dynda, Unrath (5), Freeman (5) and Buskirk. W - Hummel. L - Dynda.

Records: Lower Mac (5-5); Northern Valley (5-4).