Lehigh Valley gets swept by Suburban One; comes up a game short in Softball Carpenter Cup

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER All of the timely hitting, flawless defense and shutdown pitching that Lehigh Valley had used to win its first four games in the Softball Carpenter Cup vanished on Thursday. And so did the team's title hopes. Suburban One/Bicentennial proved to be the comeback kids, winning its first game of the day 7-6 over Berks County after trailing 4-0 and 6-2 and then whipped Lehigh Valley twice -- 7-2 ane 4-0 -- to claim the franchise's first Softball Carpenter Cup title. Lehigh Valley had outscored its first four foes 22-4 in the 16-team, double-elimation tournament and looked like a lock to win its third title in the event's eight-year history. Lehigh Valley came to Philly Thursday morning with a 25-7 lifetime record in the Carpenter Cup, needing to win just one of two potential games to become the first frachise to win three titles. But the second-inning was the No. 1 culprit in both games as Suburban One scored six times in the second inning of the first game en route to a 7-2 victory and then scored all four of its runs in the second inning of the championship game. Lehigh Valley was held to just six hits in each game. Perhaps destiny was the deciding factor for Suburban One as the team played with extra motivation after one of its coaches, Rick Torresani from North Penn, appeared to be severely injured when he took a line drive off the face while coaching third base in the team's first game of the day. Torresani left on a stretcher and went to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital for tests but returned to FDR Park to loud cheers and just in time to see the final three outs of the championship-clinching victory. Arastina Barry of Saucon Valley was one of the most consistent performers throughout the week for Lehigh Valley. She had seven hits in the four games, including a pair of bunt singles in Thursday's doubleheader. She also scored one of Lehigh Valley's two runs on the day and actually gave Lehigh Valley its only lead at 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when she scored on Cassidy Sullivan's RBI single. Lehigh Valley's only other run came in the seventh inning of the first game when Lizze Deutsch (Nazareth) delivered a RBI single. Game 1 Suburban One/Bicentennial 060 001 0 -- 7 11 6 Lehigh Valley 100 000 1 -- 2 6 0 Alden, Tumasz (4) and J. Schoenewald; Morey, Marcks (2), Laubach (5) and Bortz, Deutsch (5). W: Tumasz. L: Morey. Game 2 Lehigh Valley 000 000 0 -- 0 6 1 Suburban One/Bicentennial 040 000 x -- 4 6 2 Laubach, Marcks (5) and Deutsch, Bortz (5); DeCew, Alden (5) and J. Schoenewald. W: DeCew. L: Laubach.