There were slight drops of rain during the final game of the season between rivals Palmerton and Northern Lehigh, but when all was said and done, Palmerton coach Mike Svetik looked like he had been caught in a downpour. A cold, icy downpour.

Zach Buck danced around behind his coach, holding a half-full water cooler, complete with ice and struck at just the right moment to douse his coach after Palmerton locked up a spot in the District 11 Playoffs with a 6-5 win over Northern Lehigh in eight innings.Nate Dekorte scored the winning run on an error in the top of the eighth inning and reliever Zach Svetik locked down the win in the bottom of the inning for the Blue Bombers (7-10, 10-10), who came up short on reaching the Colonial League playoffs, but snuck in under the wire for districts."It's all about these kids," said coach Svetik after his unexpected ice bucket challenge. "I have to tell you that these guys never quit, they made this happen and I couldn't be more proud of them."Senior Ben Weber got the start for Palmerton and threw six strong innings, leaving with a 5-3 lead. The big right-hander lobbied for one more inning, but Svetik lifted him in favor of Garrett Perschy, who gave way to Svetik in the bottom of the seventh."I really wanted to stay in and go out there for the seventh, but coach wanted to go to the other guys. Even when they scored to tie the game, I knew we were going to pull it out, but I really wanted to be out there to help," said Weber, who allowed eight hits, all of which were singles.The game featured 11 errors, four by Palmerton and seven by Northern Lehigh. The key error came in the bottom of the eighth. Dekorte reached on a fielder's choice and went to second on a groundout by Ian Silfies. Jared Mooney then singled to center and Dekorte went to third and stopped as he was rounding the bag. When the ball was bobbled in center, Dekorte headed for home and scored easily."They tried to give us some runs early on, with errors, but we wouldn't take them," laughed Svetik. "It wasn't an easy one today, but a lot of our games wind up that way."Jon Schwartz and Toby Sander each stole two bases and scored twice for Palmerton. Schwartz led off the third with a base-hit and a stolen base, scoring on a close play at the plate when Sander singled to left. Kole Rodrigues reached on an error that allowed Sander to score and after stealing second, Rodrigues scored on an RBI single by Buck, giving the Blue Bombers a 4-1 lead.Northern Lehigh (3-14, 4-16) did what they could and chipped away at Weber, with single runs in the second, third and sixth innings. Down 5-3 going to the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs weren't ready to let their season end. Pinch-hitter Carlos Figueroa opened the inning with a base-hit and promptly stole second, moving to third on a single by Austin Hemingway. Figueroa scored on a groundout and Hemingway tied the game when Austin Lancsek drove him home with an RBI single.Palmerton 103 010 01 - 6 10 4N. Lehigh 011 001 20 - 5 10 7B.Weber, G.Perschy (7), Z.Svetik (7) and J.Mooney; A.Lancsek and J.Kistler. W - Svetik. L - Lancsek.