Area athletes turned in strong showings at a pair of invitational track meets on Friday.

TRACKAllen InvitationalSeven athletes from the TIMES NEWS area took home gold medals from Friday's Allen Track & Field Invitational at J. Birney Crum Stadium.Palmerton boasted three winners as Austin Shupp grabbed gold in the boys' 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.5 and first in the boys' 300 meter hurdles as well.Jarred Sacks took first in the boys' triple jump with a height of 46-2. Also, Darris Rodrigues grabbed gold in boys' pole vault with a height of 12-6.The Lehighton Indians also boasted a few athletes who resided on the top pedestal of the medal stand. Kyle Whiteman took first in boys' shot put with a toss of 48-11. Gwen Remaly won the girls' shot put with a toss of 42-4. She also finished second in girls' discus.Northwestern's boys' 400 meter relay team of Austin Weiss, Cole Miller, Harry Hall and Cam Richardson finished first with a time of 43.51.Pine Grove InvititionalThe Jim Thorpe boys rolled to the championship at the Pine Grove Invitational.The Olympians scored 127 1/2 team points with Mahanoy Area second picking up 55 points.On the girls side, Hazleton was first with 150 points. Jim Thorpe was third and Tamaqua fourth.Khalliq Lynch finished first in the 100 and 200 with times of 11.76 and 23.61 respectively and the long jump with a leap of 20-11. He was also part of the winning 400 relay team with Samuel Gilkes, Deonte St. Hill and Randy Sanon with a time of 46.17.Other winners for the Olympian boys included Jacob Saxon in the 1600 (4:41.43), Jonathon Condley in the 3200 (10:03.13), St. Hill in the triple jump (42-4) and the1600 relay team of Mike Malatak, Rayan Green, Zachary Nace and Gilkes (3:42.52).The only other local first in the boys meet was won by Tyler Hope with a 171-1 throw in the javelin, a new TIMES NEWS Area Best.Jim Thorpe's Courtney Capper took a first in the 1600 in 5:28.41 and teammate Devon Matz won the 300 hurdles in 48.63.The lone other girls first place finisher was Tamaqua's 3200 relay team made up of Chelsea Frantz, Victoria Labar, Rachael Jones and Monika Shimko.BASEBALLNorthwestern-CatasauquaNorthwestern rallied from a five-run deficit to gain a 6-5 Colonial League win over Catasauqua.The victory clinched a district playoff berth for the Tigers (9-6; 8-4).Trailing 5-0, Northwestern tied the game with a five-run fourth inning. Taylor Breininger had a two-run double in the frame while Jacob Augustus and Austin Yanek added RBI hits.The Tigers pushed across the go-ahead run in the fifth on an Augustus run-scoring single.Jordan Storm, who came in relief during the third inning, pitched 4 scoreless innings for the mound win.Northwestern 000 510 0 - 6 11 4Catasauqua 302 000 0 - 5 10 2Eden, Storm (3) and Breidinger; Schiffer and Pacchioli. W - Storm. L - Schiffer.Pleas. Vy.-ES SouthEast Stroudsburg South exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to defeat Pleasant Valley, 15-5, in a Mountain Valley Conference game.For the Bears (4-6; 4-4), Travis VanHouten had three hits and knocked in three runs. Brendan Keans added two hits and a couple runs scored, while James Shank chipped in with two hits.Pleas. Vy. 001 31 - 5 9 3ES South 132 18 - 15 15 1VanHouten, Aruta (3), Pierce (5), Wentzler (5) and Shank; Nazario and Hennessy.Tri-Valley-WeatherlyChase Schaeffer and Hunter Bordner both slugged three-run homers to help power Tri-Valley to a 12-5 Schuylkill League win over Weatherly.Schaeffer ended the contest with three hits and four RBIs. Teammate Billy Wagner, who earned the pitching win, added two hits and knocked in two runs.For the Wreckers (1-11; 0-9), Brett Kelly had a double and three RBIs. Adam Capone added a hit and two runs scored.Tri-Valley 301 041 3 - 12 8 4Weatherly 020 030 0 - 5 7 5W - Wagner. L - Lash.No. Schuylkill-No. LehighNorth Schuylkill scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to rally for a 6-5 non-league win over Northern Lehigh.For the Bulldogs (1-11), Josh Hamm had two hits, one a double, and knocked in two runs. Matt Egan added a single, triple and scored a run while Travis Nelmes chipped in with a hit, run and RBI.No. Schuylkill 000 105 - 6 7 1No. Lehigh 201 011 - 5 6 5Smarkanic and Balkiewicz; Hamm, Pender (5), Quigley (6) and Rex. W - Smarkanic. L - Quigley. HR: No. Schuylkill - Steinhilber.SOFTBALLSo. Lehigh-TamaquaThe Spartans scored eight runs in the fifth inning and held off a Raider rally for a 9-6 non-league win.Sassaman had a single and RBI double for the Raiders. Joseph also added two hits.So. Lehigh 100 080 0 - 9 7 4Tamaqua 100 003 2 - 6 6 7Herr and Siffel; Pederson and Sassaman. W - Herr. L - Pederson.Lehighton-StroudsburgStroudsburg exploded for 10 runs in the sixth inning to defeat Lehighton, 12-4, in a Mountain Valley Conference battle.Trailing 3-2 entering the home sixth, the Mountaineers sent 15 batters to the plate, banging out seven hits and taking advantage of six Indian miscues to grab the lead.For Lehighton (4-3, 5-7), Jocelyn Hunsicker had a home run and a single and knocked in three runs. Sophia Everett added three hits, an RBI and a run scored.Lehighton 003 000 1 - 4 8 7Stroudsburg 101 00(10) - 12 10 0Bickert and Andrews; Kress and Molinero. W- Kress. L-Bickert. HR - Lehighton: Hunsicker (3rd, two on).Jim Thorpe-No. SchuylkillNorth Schuylkill outslugged Jim Thorpe, 10-6, in Schuylkill League action.For Jim Thorpe, Bryanna Kehri had a big game with a single, a double and a triple. Britteny Marzen and Talia Valentini added two hits apiece.Jim Thorpe 220 000 2 - 6 7 2No. Schuylkill 323 110 x - 10 16 1Day, Holloway (4) and Kehrli; Hutira and Peleschak. W-Hutira. L-Day.Northwestern-No. LehighThe Tigers led the Bulldogs by a 4-1 score in the top of te fourth when the game was suspended at Pates Park. It will be completed on Monday, April 28 at 4 p.m. at Northern Lehigh's softball field.TENNISPalmerton-Pen ArgylPen Argyl rolled to a 5-0 Colonial League win over Palmerton.The lossd dropped the Bombers to 0-16 overall and 0-14 in the league.Pen Argyl 5, Palmerton 0SINGLESPierce Blasi (PA) def. Rich Roselli 6-1, 6-0; Oliver Blasi (PA) def. Seth Andress 6-0, 6-0; Nick Fairchild (PA) def. Jordan Cressman 6-1, 6-1.DOUBLESTyler Minnich/Mason Hudnell (PA) def. Jacob Brown/Sal Melo 5-7, 6-1, 10-6; Bryce Bartolacci/Russell Hoover (PA) def. Alex Hummel/Kristen Ahner 6-4, 6-2.