Northwestern Lehigh battled its way through the District 11 semifinals against North Schuylkill, but got bruised along the way – literally.

Spartans starter Steven Minahan hit five batters with pitches, but the Tigers took it all in stride on their way to a 4-1 win at Blue Mountain High School in Schuylkill Haven on Monday.

The reward is a trip back to the district finals.

Both Minahan and Northwestern starter Cole Dynda had a tough first inning, but each would go on to settle in.

In the top of the first, Northwestern loaded the bases on two hit batters and a walk, but Minahan bounced back to record two strikeouts and get a ground ball to end the inning.

“I told these guys that I’m so proud of them because our pitching has been consistent and our defense has been great all year, but getting those big hits were what hindered us this year,” said coach Brian Polaha. “We just had to keep our heads up.

“Their pitcher got a little rattled and then he started to settle in, so we were going to have to earn it a little more. I’m just glad that we didn’t get into a funk. I’m so proud of them because they just battled and battled.”

In the bottom of the first, North Schuylkill had its bats working and put runners on second and third with nobody out, but the Tigers’ defense made a pair of big plays to take runners out of scoring position.

Catcher Evan Fatzinger fired a throw down to third and caught Aaron Brayford off of the bag for the first out. After Chase Slotcavage doubled to drive in a run, a ground ball in the hole by London Smith was fielded by Cannon Fitch going to his right. Slotcavage made an ill-advised attempt to get to third and Fitch threw to Rex to record the second out of the inning.

Dynda then struck out Seth Hubler to get out of the jam with just one run scoring.

“Who knows how that game goes if they get a couple more runs there. Fatzinger back-picked that kid on third, and that was huge to get him in that spot,” said Fitch. “The ground ball, I saw the runner go right in front of me and I just knew that I had to go to third with it.”

Minahan had retired six straight before Fitch walked to lead off the third. Ethan Konyak dropped a picture perfect bunt to move Fitch, and an infield single by Dynda left runners on the corners for Rex.

After his defensive plays in the first, Rex laced a ground ball through the hole to left to tie the game 1-1. Tanner Fronina took his turn getting hit by a pitch to load the bases and Lucian Sterling stayed patient at the plate and drew a bases-loaded walk for Northwestern to take its first lead of the day at 2-1.

“We know that hit batters get to go to first base and baserunners lead to runs, so you just have to take that,” said Fitch. “It’s just part of the game, and it’s just what we do.”

Dynda put himself on cruise control, and retired 13 of the next 15 hitters he faced and kept his pitch count low in the process.

Minahan again got wild in the fourth, and Northwestern was right there to take advantage of it.

Fitch singled and stole a base and Konyak worked his second walk of the day. Dynda then grounded a single to left and Fitch was waved around third. The throw went just far enough in front of the plate for Fitch to make a nice slide to the back part of the plate for a 3-1 lead.

Pinch-hitter Brandon Gonzalez grounded a ball to second and the Spartans threw home to get Konyak at the plate, but catcher Kole Rollenhagen attempted to turn the double-play and threw wildly to first, allowing Dynda to come home for a 4-1 advantage.

“On that pitch, I was sitting slider, which is what I got, and I was able to put a pretty nice hit on it,” said Dynda of his RBI single.

While wildness was an issue for Minahan, Dynda showed great command with no walks or hit batters. He struck out seven and needed just 87 pitches — 62 strikes — to get through.

Five of the seven hits he allowed came in the first three innings. After that, Dynda allowed just a leadoff single in the sixth and a two-out double in the seventh.

“In big games like this, you can’t let that early stuff affect you because you know there’s a lot of the game left to play,” said Dynda. “We had six full innings for our offense to pick up runs after that, so we didn’t worry about it too much. We got the job done, and that’s all that matters.”

THEY MEET AGAIN ... The seniors have played in districts every season of their high school careers. This will be the third time in those four seasons that they will face Saucon Valley. The Panthers beat the Tigers 4-2 in the semifinals in 2023, and then downed them 5-0 the next season in the quarterfinals. In both of those seasons, the teams were 3A schools, and Saucon Valley went on to win the District 11 championship. The two teams meet on Wednesday at DeSales University at 3:30 p.m. to decide this year’s district champ. Only the district champion gets a spot in the PIAA tournament this season.

TOP IT OFF ... The first four hitters in the lineup — Fitch, Konyak, Dynda and Rex — finished a combined 4-for-8 with three runs scored, two RBIs, three walks, a stolen base, and were hit by pitches four times.

N’western 002 200 0 - 4 6 0

N. Schuylkill 100 000 0 - 1 7 1

Dynda and Fatzinger; Minahan, Slotcavage (7) and Rollenhagen. W - Dynda. L - Minahan.

Records: Northwestern (15-9); North Schuylkill (13-7).