Baseball has a way of tearing your heart out.

When Jacob Meyers laced a single to right, the Whitehall faithful at Coca-Cola Park stood in anticipation, holding onto that glimmer of hope that their title hopes were still alive.

His hit was delivered in the bottom of the seventh with Whitehall trailing 5-2. It was the Zephyr's last chance to rally against Parkland High School in the District 11 4A finals, but after two quick outs their prospects looked dim.

But Meyers, who represented the tying run, battled fireballer Connor Higgins, fouling off a number of pitches to stay alive and keep the Zephs hopes in tact. And when he took the pitch the other way for a sharp single, that glimmer started to grow.

The ball was hit so hard that the relay throw got back to Trojan shortstop Chris Rabasco very quickly, catching Zach Delp, who had earlier singled, in a rundown.

Delp initially broke back toward third, but teammate Ryan Bonshak was hot on his heels, so he took off for home. That's when the glimmer faded, as Delp was ruled out at home, even though catcher Damin Muth dropped the ball.

The call was explained to manager Shaun O'Boyle as Parkland began their celebration.

"You can't run over the catcher," said O'Boyle. "You can't drop the shoulder."

That play ended the game and their season, and while it produced a slice of history, the disappointment of not being able to continue onto the state tournament was etched across their faces.

The game began with starter Jacob Wloczewski having to battle through some early jams. While he surrendered runs in each of his first three innings of work, the senior hurler only gave up four hits through six innings on the mound. Walks and errors led to some of the runs, putting the Zephyrs in a 4-1 deficit through three.

In the pivotal third, the game once again demonstrated its ability to turn in a instant. Parkland loaded the bases with no outs. Wloczewski got Zach Merkle to hit into a 1-2-3 double play. After getting two quick strikes on the next hitter, the feeling that they may be able to survive the inning without yielding any runs took hold. But a little dunker behind the mound that Elliot Mortimer had to charge gave the Trojans an infield hit as he throw was just a little late. That paved the way for another run as Parkland opened up a two-run lead once again.

However, the Zephs kept chipping away, scoring another run in the bottom of the third to draw within two, capitalizing on a bases loaded walk to Delp to force in a run. Their first run was scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Meyers.

"It was a good game," said O'Boyle who led the Zephyrs to a 22-3 record this season. "We played a little shabby in the field in the beginning, but you expected a battle with these guys, and we battled down to the last out."

O'Boyle said he was proud of the effort, playing hard until the 21st out.

"They hung in there until the last out," O'Boyle said. "That's what this team was all about all year."

O'Boyle said it was their first time facing Tyler Duff. While he wasn't blowing them away with fastballs, he was effective through his 4 1/3 innings of work.

"He hit spots, he threw well, and we had a hard time adjusting to it," said O'Boyle. "We were chasing curve balls, he was getting ahead of us, and he was throwing strikes."

They managed just five hits against the Trojan pitchers, two of those coming in the seventh. Still, they weren't about to go quietly and demonstrated why they were one of the best teams in the Lehigh Valley this season.

"This team played hard all season," said O'Boyle. "Tonight was no different."