When Northwestern scored a run in the top of the fifth inning of Saturday's Class AAA District 11 softball quarterfinal, it served as just the wake up call Palmerton needed.

The Blue Bombers asnwered with a two-run fifth inning, spurred by RBI hits from Steph Brinker and Janel Tracy. The added another in the sixth to earn a 3-1 win and a rematch with Bethlehem Catholic in today's semifinal."I think they knew their season was on the line," said Palmerton head coach Bob Hock. "They weren't ready to have the season end so they picked it up a level or two and off they went."Facing their first deficit of the game, Palmerton's batters wasted no time getting runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth inning. Megan Peck drew a lead-off walk and was bunted to second by Lauren Campbell. Pekkurny singled to left field and stole second base, putting runners at the corners with one out.Steph Brinker singled to left field to drive in one run. Janel Tracy singled up the middle to bring across the game-winning run before Northwestern's Lydia Danner was able to pitch out of the inning.The No. 4 seed Bombers (13-8) got five of their nine hits in the last two innings, after Northwestern put a run on the board."It's good our bats woke up," said Brinker, who went 3-for-3 in the game. "We needed to hit and we realized that."The No. 3 seed Tigers (11-12) got their run on a courageous call by head coach Jen Horner.With two outsa nd runners on second and third, Horner called a suicide squeeze.Northwestern senior laid down a nearly perfect bunt and teammate Lydia Danner got around the tag of Palmerton catcher Campbell to take a 1-0 lead."That's a great call," said Hock.The play gave Northwestern momentum, but only briefly."I knew we had three turns at bat," said Hock. "And we have a pretty resilient bunch with a lot of offensive firepower. You're always concerned when you're behind in a game, but I was confident we could make some things happen with our big bats and our speed."The Bombers added another run in the sixth when Jordan Boyer led off the inning with a double, got to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored in Campbell's two-out single to left field.Cambell went 2-for-2 in the game, while Tracy was 2-for-3 with an RBI.The offense came just as the game looked like it could turn into a pitcher's duel.Northwestern's Danner pitched out of a jam in the first inning, when the Bombers had runners on first and second base with not outs, but failed to score. The Tiger defense helped get Danner out of a tough spot in the third inning. Campbell belted a ball to deep left field to start the inning, but she was thrown out trying to make it to third base on the play. Northwestern's Kylee Bennett tracked down the ball, Brooke Wehr cut off the throw and fired to Katie Bowers who gut Campbell out at third.Palmerton's Pekurny scattered five hits and struck out four in the game. Even when Northwestern took the lead, she had confidence her team would make sure one run wasn't be enough."It woke us ip a little bit," she said. "We realized we needed to get going. It was late in the game and we needed hits."Pekurny and Palmerton's solid defense only allowed one Northwestern runner past second base in the game."I'm pretty happy with the way I pitched," said Pekurny. "It could have been a little better but it was good enough to hold us in the game."The Bombers move on to face top-seede Bethlehem Catholic today at 4:30 p.m. at Moravian College.The Golden Hawks graduated some key players from the district championship team of last year, which beat Palmerton 9-0 in the Class AAA title game."I think we need to redeem ourselves a little bit," said Pekurny. "I think it should be a good match up."The Tigers end their season. They got to districts with a win in their final regular season game. The young team will graduate four key seniors, but it also returns a very solid nucleus next season."I'm really proud of the way that they played," said Horner. "Their enthusiasm to get into the postseason, they wanted it really bad. They played a very respectable game."Northwestern 000 010 0 - 1 5 1Palmerton 000 021 x - 3 9 2Danner and Greenberg; Pekurny and Campbell. W - Pekurny. L - Danner.