Souderton

but obviously that worked out for us. We put together more than one big inning. It was definitely a good feeling to start off the tournament.”

Post 234 scored in all four of their at-bats — five runs in the bottom of the first inning, two in the second, two in the third and two in the fourth.

In the first, Bolton singled home Kyle Lennon to tie the game at one. Moses Clemens gave Souderton the lead, singling to score Barnum and make it 2-1. Dan Knechel singled in Bolton and Blaise Sclafani hit a two-run single to plate Clemens and Luke Shank.

Barnum led off the second inning with a single and Bolton followed with a two-run home run blasted over the left-center field fence.

“It was a curveball I hit on the barrel,” Bolton, who went 3-for-3 with four RBIs, said. “It went a little bit. I knew it was gone. It felt good.”

Barnum hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning to score Sclafani and Bolton hit an RBI single to bring home Zack Brown and give Post 234 a 9-1 advantage.

Souderton made it a 10run game in the bottom of the fourth. Tim Robinson got hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Lennon single. Lennon stole second and scored on a Barnum single to make it 11-1.

Lennon, Clemens, Shank and Sclafani all finished with two hits. Lennon added a pair of runs and an RBI, Clemens one run and one RBI, Shank a run and Sclafani a run and two RBIs.

While the offense was lighting up the scoreboard, Souderton’s pitchers were keeping Northampton quiet.

After a tough first inning that saw one run score on four hits, Dan Knechel settled in on the mound. He went 2 2/3 innings and exited before exceeding 60 pitches, striking out two batters to one walk and allowing one run on six hits.

David Gulibon came on in relief and threw 2 1/3 perfect innings while striking out two batters.

“Saving pitching is huge,” Bolton said of a benefit to winning in five innings. “We have a lot of guys that can throw, but if we can save as many pitchers as possible it’s what we want to do most. It was good to save our pitchers and get out of here early.”

Souderton, which returns a handful of players from last year that reached the Region 2 winner’s bracket final, faces West Lawn — in the second round Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

“It was good to come back today and just to make ourselves known in the first round that we’re here to play — we’re here to win,” Bolton said.