It was only a year ago that the South Parkland Legion team finished in last place, three games below the next team in the Lehigh Valley Legion standings.

Despite the struggles in 2013, the Trojans bounced back this season to finish in fifth place. They headed into last week's LVL Tournament with hopes of reaching the title game.

South Parkland came up a run short, falling to Southern Lehigh, 5-4, in what amounted to a semifinal game Sunday afternoon at Limeport.

"We expected it, absolutely," said South Parkland head coach Tommy Kahn. "We expected to go further than this.

"I've seen them all year. These kids hit. They play real hard and never quit, a very together team."

The Trojans went 9-9 in the regular season and headed into the double-elimination playoff bracket as the No. 5 seed. They beat No. 3 seed Fullerton in the first round and downed Southern Lehigh in the next round to earn a date with top-seeded North Parkland, which beat the Trojans 7-5.

That set up South Parkland's second meeting with Southern Lehigh at Limeport within three days. This time it would be an elimination game.

The Trojans jumped out to a quick lead as Mark Reinert led off the game with a single, Tyler Bruno followed with a double and Hudson Rabenold drew a one-out walk to load the bases.

Harrison Rabenold came through with a two-out, line-drive single that drove in a pair of runs for a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

But it was the first of three innings in which the Trojans scored in their half, only to see the Spartans get some runs back in the bottom of the inning.

Southern Lehigh used a pair of walks, a passed ball and some heads-up base running to get a run back in the bottom of the first inning.

The Trojans made it 3-1 in the third inning when Ryan Dumbach doubled to the left-field fence to drive in Zach Miiller.

But the Spartans tied the game in the bottom of the third on a walk, two hits and one error.

When Parkland took the lead back on an error in the fifth inning, Southern Lehigh answered again, scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good, 5-4.

The Trojans loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning, but didn't score. They left a total of nine runners on base in the game.

"We left the bases loaded in the sixth," said Kahn. "We got a runner thrown out at the plate. Little things. We give up too many passed balls. We give up too many bases that way. We've done it all year."

While he and his team were disappointed they didn't get one more shot at rival North Parkland in the finals, they were also proud of the progress that was made over one season.

"South Parkland had two wins last year and we had 11 this year," Kahn said. "We expected to. We expect bigger things. I have two coaches with me and we're going to build a program."