A 3-0 day has already assured Lehigh Valley of Top-3 finish in Softball Carpenter Cup

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER was away for most of Monday night after monitoring the news from Philly for most of the afternoon, and even after I left, the good news kept coming from our Lehigh Valley team in the Softball Carpenter Cup. John Eyer, the Emmaus and Lehigh Valley coach, felt he had one of the best teams this region has ever taken down to FDR Park, and so far, he has been very accurate. Lehigh Valley swept its three games on Monday to set itself up as a final-three team. Lehigh Valley will have the day off on Tuesday as the other eight teams in 16-team field get into action in the double-elimination format, including Berks County which features several kids from Brandywine. Lehigh Valley is back in action at 1 p.m. Wednesday against whoever comes through the other bracket unscathed on Tuesday. Win or lose in that 1 p.m. Wednesday game, Lehigh Valley will play in the final-three on Thursday. It's just a matter of whether it will have to win one game or three to become champs for the third in the tournament's eight-year history. So, obviously, Wednesday's game is super crucial. The local team defeated Delaware County 6-0, Delaware South 7-2 and Chester County 5-2. In Game1, Joelle Morey and Olivia Marcks (Emmaus) combined on five-hit shutout. Morey worked the first four innings, allowing three hits with strikeouts. Marcks worked the final three. Morey also had a run-scoring double and knocked in two runs overall. Arastina Barry (Saucon Valley) had two hits and two RBIs and a leaping catch at shortstop (no surprise from her) and Morning Call player of the year Mariah Kondravy of Liberty had a two-run double. Lehigh Valley 150 000 0 -- 6 8 2 Delco 000 000 0 -- 0 5 2 In Game 2, Lizzie Deutsch (Nazareth0 knocked in three runs, including two on a triple and Tiff White had a two-run single to back the combined pitching of Olivia Marcks and Marly Laubach, who combined on a seven-hitter. Marcks got the win. LV 121 010 2 - 7 10 2 Del So. 000 200 0 - 2 7 0 In Game 3, Lehigh Valley left a lot of runners on base, but still delivered enough offensively to back the solid pitching of Marly Laubach (Northampton) and Morey. Laubach became LV's third winning pitcher of the day. Lizzie Deutsch's bases-loaded walk scored the first LV run in the top of the first. A RBI double by Kondravy made it 2-0 in the fourth and LV put it away with three runs in the fifth. Megan Tiwold singled in a run and Kondravy's two-run smash single through the first baseman's leg capped the scoring. Lehigh Valley 100 130 0 -- 5 7 3 Chester County 000 020 0 -- 2 7 3