All it takes is one hit at a key moment that can make the difference in the playoffs.

The Colonial League baseball quarterfinals opened up on Friday with fourth-seeded Palmerton hosting fifth-seeded Northwestern. The two rivals split contests during the regular season, setting the stage for a postseason rubber match.

The Tigers entered with concerns regarding their ability to maintain a consistent offense and were tasked with generating one against the Blue Bombers’ senior ace Cameron Pengelly.

To Northwestern’s credit, a four-run frame was all they needed as Cole Dynda kept Palmerton in check just enough to escape with a 4-3 victory.

The Bombers opened the scoring in the first with a run on an error but failed to add on, which would prove to become a costly to the home team.

When the second frame began, Pengelly retired the first two batters and looked to be cruising. However, a hot shot from Lucian Sterling got a piece of Bombers’ shortstop Jason Carrelli, knocking the defender out of the game temporarily.

The Tigers took advantage and managed to keep the train going, scoring four runs, including a crucial two-run single from Cannon Fitch, to take a 4-1 lead.

“We’ve been looking for that two-out hit the whole season, and it was nice to finally come through and get one for the team,” Fitch said.

“Fitch hasn’t had the year he wanted to, but that doesn’t bother me,” said Tiger head coach Brian Polaha. “He’s been there for me for the last two years and I expect nothing different. He was the guy I wanted up there with the bases loaded with two outs because he’s going to show up in the postseason. I wasn’t surprised at all to see him get a base hit.”

Palmerton responded in the third with an RBI-double from Greyson Ahner to cut the deficit to 4-2. Unfortunately for the Bombers, they couldn’t take advantage of having two men in scoring position in the fourth. By this point, Palmerton had left seven on base, allowing Dynda to escape each jam he was faced with.

“I feel like a big part was keeping our positive energy all the way through,” Dynda said. “When somebody made an error, we just picked them up and kept playing. You can’t look at the past; that’s what really affects teams when they go downhill.

“My slider was working a lot today, hitting my spots. Defense made their plays when they needed to, and that’s pretty much it.”

Dynda finished with seven strikeouts through six innings of work, leaving the final frame to Jessie Neupauer to close things out.

Things got interesting, as the Bombers took advantage of a walk and an error as Pengelly cut the deficit to 4-3 with an RBI single.

The Tigers responded by putting the rally to rest with a double play to get out of one last jam and advance to the league semifinals.

Pengelly did his part for Palmerton, striking out nine batters through a full seven, but couldn’t get the offensive support he needed.

“I think the problem today was we just had some real bad at-bats early on, and we had some opportunities to score and we didn’t take advantage of them,” said Palmerton assistant coach Matt Solt. “(NW) scored when they had the opportunities, and they took advantage of that and we did not.”

After taking Palmerton down 7-3 in the first regular season match-up, the Tigers struggled to produce in the second meeting and fell 7-1. Coach Polaha believes that this was a moment of redemption, getting the offense when his team needed to; both now and later into the playoffs.

“The last time we were here, we walked nine times, had six hits, and scored one run,” he said. “That’s hard to do with 15 base runners in a seven-inning game. We just have to cash in our opportunities, and that’s the difference. With two outs, bases loaded, if they get out of that, we probably only score one run all game today.

“It would be nice to see us score a little bit more and get on more of a roll offensively, but we know pitching and defense has kind of been there all year long. If we can hang four-run innings like that, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

THORN IN THE SIDE ... Northwestern will go up against Lehighton in its semifinal matchup on Monday, a team who shut the Tigers out in back-to-back games 1-0 and 9-0 earlier in the season. The Indians upset top-seeded Saucon Valley 7-5 in their quarterfinal to advance.

Northwestern 040 000 0 - 4 4 2

Palmerton 101 000 1 - 3 7 1

Dynda, Neupauer (7) and Fatzinger; Pengelly and Ahner. W - Dynda. L - Pengelly.

Records: Northwestern (13-8); Palmerton (12-9).