With a league playoff spot secured, the Zephs now look to defend their title when the Lehigh Valley Conference championship gets underway this week.

Whitehall locked up a wildcard spot last week, reeling off four consecutive wins to finish the year at 17-4. Parkland High School won the North Division and the two teams will now meet in the semifinal game set for May 13 at Hackett Park in Easton.

Getting back in the LVC Championship to defend their title was certainly on their radar this season. Even after losing nine seniors, manager Shaun O'Boyle said returning to the playoffs was one of their goals.

"It was definitely one of the goals we set at the start of the season," said O'Boyle. "It's always the same. We want to play for a league championship and a district championship."

Those outcomes are now in their hands as they meet a familiar for to begin the tournament. O'Boyle said he expected Gabe Mosser to get the ball for the Trojans.

Mosser got the win the last time these two met, shutting out the Zephs 4-0 at Coca-Cola Park. Parkland is responsible for two of the Zephs four losses this year.

The Zephs will counter with Jeff Charles. The tall righty is 5-2 this year and will look to avenge those prior losses and put Whitehall back in the championship game.

O'Boyle believes his team is ready for the challenge.

"We're excited to play Parkland again," said O'Boyle. "We're getting hot at the right time. Everyone looks good going into this game."

Senior Ryan Bonshak is also looking forward to defending their title. The opportunity to play for consecutive championships was a product of a shared goal. It's what brought them together.

"I really believe the key was how close we were as a team," said Bonshak. "We have a core group of guys that really love to play baseball."

Bonshak is a rare breed: a catcher who leads off. He's currently batting .391 with a .500 OBP. He said his job is to get on base any way he can, and then use his speed, and base-running skills to get into scoring position.

After suffering back-to-back losses, beginning with the Parkland game at CCP, and then coming out flat before registering a come-from-behind win against Allen, O'Boyle said they weren't playing their best baseball as the season was heading into its final week. However, they righted the ship, winning three close games to close out the season.

A key component to that run was their offense. They scored 12 runs during that span and were productive at the plate.

"They've been hitting that ball really well," said O'Boyle.

He also believed they reignited a spark in that final week. As a veteran team, they are pretty even keeled, but as the prospect of making it back into the playoffs sat squarely in their own laps, they made sure they were going to be in that mix.

"They have a little fire under their tails right now," said O'Boyle.

That fire will continue to burn as the face their archrivals. O'Boyle said they'll be facing Mosser for the sixth time, and the key to beating the senior will be in their approach at the plate.

In his first outing, Mosser allowed only two hits while striking out nine. In his second stint, the Zephs were able to collect seven hits, but couldn't cross the plate. O'Boyle said the key will be going with the outside pitch. He said they'll need to take the ball the opposite way when Mosser decides to paint the outside corner. Otherwise, they'll need to lay off that pitch and force him to come inside.

Bonshak knows they are capable of tagging Mosser for some runs. They squandered those chances the late time they played. It boils down to execution.

"When we have the opportunity at hand, we just have to take full advantage of that," he said.

He also knows they have a statistical advantage on their side.

"It's hard to beat a time three times," said Bonshak. "We have to be clutch in those situations and come out with some runs."

Their line-up is capable of producing. O'Boyle believes that if the bottom of the order can do some damage, the top of the order will do its part.

"If we can get our 7,8,9 hitters on base and get to the top of the order, we can score a lot of runs," said O'Boyle.

He said they made a minor adjustment to their batting order, moving Jake Meyers into the three slot and sliding Charles and Matt Melosky into four and five, respectively.

With a strong group of vets leading them, the Zephs are set for this stage again.

"We're ready for it," said O'Boyle. "We just have to come up with big hits."