ORWIGSBURG — A baseball season can feel like a roller coaster ride.

The same can be said for individual games.

On Monday, in the semifinal round of the District 11 Class 4A baseball playoffs, Jim Thorpe experienced both the highs and lows. Unfortunately for the Olympians, the contest ended on the down side as Saucon Valley pushed across two eighth-inning runs to pull out a 4-3 victory and a trip to Wednesday’s championship game.

The Panther win spoiled a Jim Thorpe comeback in which the Olympians tied the game while down to their final strike twice before taking the lead in extra innings.

“My kids have done that all year,” said Olympian head coach Joe Marykwas. “They’re a resilient bunch. They never think they’re out of a game. They fight to the end.

“That’s a really good baseball team over there. They do everything well. They pitch well. They got the clutch hits and made one more play than we did, and basically that’s why they won.”

It was Thorpe that got the clutch hits in the seventh inning to extend the game.

Trailing 2-1, Lee Edwards hit a slow one-out grounder down the line that third baseman Matt Chaffier got to but had to make a long off-balance throw that didn’t connect with his first baseman. After a second out on a fly to center, Cole Lazorick kept the Olympians alive when he lined a single to left.

Thorpe’s next hitter, Noah Pastor, also worked the count to 3-2 before drilling a pitch up the middle to plate pinch runner Phillip Garner with the tying run.

After Kaden Hess retired Saucon in order in the bottom of the seventh, his fourth straight scoreless inning, Thorpe took its first lead in the top of the eighth.

Michael Antignani led off with a single to right and moved to second when the right fielder’s throw trying to retire Antignani at first was wild. A ground out moved Antignani to third from where he scored when Tyler Hoherchak’s chopper up the middle was slowed by pitcher Chaffier, allowing Hoherchak to beat the throw and give the Olympians a 3-2 advantage.

“Basically we did the situational things we needed to do there,” said Marykwas. “You have to get the ball in play when you have to, with a runner on third base. I’ve been telling them that all year. You can’t strike out in those situations, and they came through. We’ve played sound baseball now for a little while. Early in the year, though, we had our ups and downs.

“When you play these good teams, you’re not going to string together four or five hits in a row so you have to figure out a way to score runs ... You’ve got to do that in games like this when you’re facing good pitching.”

The excitement Jim Thorpe felt after tying the game late and then taking the lead was short-lived, as the top-seeded Panthers came through with their own rally.

Facing elimination, Chaffier singled to open the home eighth off reliever Lazorick. After a force play, consecutive walks loaded the bases. Jacob Eshleman then hit a fly ball to right-center field that Thorpe’s outfielder nearly caught, but the ball dropped for a game-winning double that scored two runs.

“Jim Thorpe is a great team, they’ve been all year,” said Panther mentor Mike Kiak. “They’ve had their ups and downs, obviously ... credit to them. Hess pitched a hell of a game, in command, just did an awesome job of keeping us honest.

“Our at-bats and bats finally came alive in the last inning there, which was great, but you have to have these wins to help you move forward. No matter what it is at this point, a win is a win.”

EARLY SCORING ... The Panthers scored a run without a hit in the first on a hit batter, a walk, a wild pitch and a ground out. They added a second run in the third when Hubert doubled, his courtesy runner Julian Lopez advanced on a fly out and scored on a wild pitch. Thorpe’s first tally came in the fifth when Hoherchak doubled and came home on an error.

PITCHING PROWESS ... Starters Hess and Hubert were both strong. Hess allowed just three hits in his seven-inning performance, while Hubert gave up just one earned run in the same amount of innings. “When he’s on, he moves the ball well and can throw three, four pitches for strikes,” said Marykwas of his hurler. “He’s been one of our better pitchers all year. He’s thrown shutouts for us. So, he doesn’t normally get hit very much. I was pretty happy with his performance, especially since he wasn’t feeling well. It was a gutty performance by him to come out here and give us that today.”

SENIOR FAREWELL ... Five Olympians played in their final game, including Monday starters Antignani, Lazorick, Pastror and Edwards. “My senior class, I can’t say enough about the stuff they’ve done and the way they set the tone, especially since we had six freshmen this year. They showed them how it’s done, how to work. They come to practice every single day ready to go. If I say practice is until 5, they’ll want to stay another half hour or 45 minutes because they want extra (time), that’s just the way they are. And they never quit.”

Jim Thorpe 000 010 11 - 3 7 1

Saucon Valley 101 000 02 - 4 5 2

Hess, Lazorick (8) and Murphy; Hubert, Chaffier (8) and Banonis. W - Chaffier. L - Lazorick.

Records: Jim Thorpe (11-11); Saucon Valley (17-4).