North Parkland was by far the best team in the Lehigh Valley Legion regular season, winning the league with a five-game cushion over second-place Southern Lehigh.

The Buffaloes were equally impressive in last week's LVL playoff tournament, going 5-0 over the four-day, double elimination event to capture another league crown.

"It must be our 24th or 25th," said long-time head coach Terry Stoudt. "We've won quite a few of them in a row now.

"This is a good group of kids. Hopefully we have a shot to go further."

North Parkland beat Southern Lehigh, 10-2 in Sunday's tournament final to earn a berth into this weekend's Region 2 Tournament at Muhlenburg.

The Buffaloes opened the LVL tournament last Thursday with a 7-2 win over West Allentown. They beat Northern Valley, 5-2, on Friday and then knocked South Parkland from the winners bracket on Saturday.

The Buffaloes ousted Fullerton from the tournament early on Sunday afternoon and then faced Southern Lehigh in the evening, needing just one win in two games to eliminate the Spartans and seal the title.

North Parkland took away the need for a second game early on, scoring eight runs against in the first two innings against Southern Lehigh.

"We knew we had two games to play with and it was nice we could jump on them and not waste any time," said Parkland starting pitcher Walt Roland.

Roland has pitched the clinching game in the team's last three LVL tournaments, including a 13-inning outing in 2012. He's also pitched the first game of the tournament in two of those years.

He earned just one run in Sunday's title game and gave up just two hits in five innings. He was happy with the win, but was a bit disappointed with the five walks he issued.

"It definitely wasn't my best start, but I've got a great defense behind me," Roland said.

Right fielder Jordan Jones made two fine defensive plays in the game, including throwing a runner out at first base on a hard ground ball to the outfield in the first inning.

Roland and Jones are part of a group of four veteran legion players that have been the team's leaders this season. Also in that group are Aiden Flynn and Nick Helfrich.

"There's a lot of senior leadership here," said Stoudt. "There's a group of 19-year old kids and they really lead the team. I don't have any trouble with them. They just come to play. Those four kids are the leaders."

The entire line up contributed to the win over Southern Lehigh on Sunday. Three players had two hits each in the game, including Justin Afflerbach (2-for-4, 2 runs), Brett Kosciolek (2-for-4, 3 RBIs), Jones (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) and Evan McAndrew (2-for-2).

Lead-off hitter Jeffrey Strisovsky went 1-for-3, but reached base four times in five plate appearances and scored three of the team's runs.

Afflerbach was named tournament MVP after the game.

"It feels pretty good," said Afflerbach. "It was probably between me and Dan Zaccaro, our catcher."

Zaccaro was one of three other North Parkland players that each had one hit, including Strisovsky and John Amato. Eight of the Trojans' nine starters reached base at least once in the game.

The Buffaloes head into the Region 2 Tournament where they've had difficulty getting past the top teams from the Berks and Bucks-Mont regions. This year's team feels ready for the challenge. With a deep pitching staff and a potent offense that could be peaking at the right time, North Parkland heads into regionals with a positive outlook.

"I think we're just as deep as we have been the past couple years," said Flynn. "As long as our pitching shows up, throws strikes and our defense fields behind them, I think we're a good enough hitting team that we can compete with anyone.

"This is my last chance at playing competitive baseball, unless I play Blue Mountain League or something."

For Flynn and the other 19-year olds, this is the last season they'll wear any type of Parkland uniform. And it's a uniform they've all worn so proudly and successfully for so many years.

"I've been on a lot of successful teams here," said Flynn, who will be a sophomore at Temple University in the fall. "We're friends on and off the field. We all grew up playing together and we've got a camaraderie here that can't be matched."