The Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup announced their roster last week as the team gears up to open the tournament on Thursday against Burlington County at Richie Ashburn Field.

Parkland leads the roster with five players featuring seniors Zach Merkle, Gabe Mosser and Chris Rabasco. Juniors Connor Higgins and Jeff Strisovsky round out the Parkland faithful.

For the first time in tournament history, the tournament restricted rosters to a maximum of 12 seniors, which made for some tough decisions for general manager J.F. Pirro.

"We had to let a good number of quality seniors who were dedicated to the tryout process go," Pirro said.

Joining the roster of 25 players also included seniors Anthony Rodriguez (Wilson), Nick Oyer (Pen Argyl), Devon LaBarre (Pen Argyl), PJ Van Orman (Stroudsburg), Chris Burke (Pleasant Valley), Dan Lloyd (Central Catholic), Pat Mergel (Bethlehem Catholic), James Shank (Pleasant Valley), Ryan Hunt (Pen Argyl) and Bruce Breithaupt (Stroudsburg).

The junior class of players is comprised of Jon Cintron (Wilson), Nick Domenici (Pleasant Valley), Jacob Meyers (Whitehall), Mike Mittl (Liberty), Phil Pierfy (Wilson), Luke Hohenstein (Pocono Mountain East), Zach Luke (Notre Dame) and Logan Steidinger (Liberty.

Two sophomores made the final cut as well, as Jake Kochmansky (East Stroudsburg South) and Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall) are the youngest players on the team.

The Lehgh Valley squad hopes to reach the finals, as they did a year ago before falling in the championship, which will be held on June 20 at Citizens Bank Park.