The last time a team from Lehigh County won a Region 2 Legion baseball championship, the current group of North Parkland Buffaloes hadn't even been born yet.

That was nearly three decades ago when Coplay earned the Region 2 title in 1985.

Last week, the Buffaloes made history as the first North Parkland squad to win a Region 2 championship, and the first LV team in nearly 30 years to win one.

After seeing a 6-1 lead disappear in the top of the fourth inning, as Norchester scored six runs in the bottom half of the frame, the Buffaloes responded with two in the sixth to regain the lead. North Parkland added four more in the final two innings of a game that included a nearly-two-hour rain delay to capture the American Legion Region 2 title, 12-7, last Wednesday at Muhlenberg Middle School's Gochnauer Field.

"I really don't even know what to say," said Alex Flynn, who pitched the final four scoreless innings for North Parkland. "I'm so happy that we could do it for the whole team. We've been together for so long. I'm happy that we did it for coach [Terry] Stoudt."

"It's an honor," Brett Kosciolek said. "He [Stoudt] has been working for it for a long time. He is a living legend. It feels great."

When play was called before the start of the ninth inning due to lightning, teams were forced back to their respective dugouts while heavy rains began to invade the area.

Despite sitting through the long delay, the Buffaloes picked up in the ninth with a heavy explosion offensively. Three more runs pitted Norchester against a five-run deficit with three outs to spare. It seemed fitting that Flynn, who struck out eight batters in his four innings, recorded the last out with a swinging miss from Norchester's Dylan Gallagher.

"My mindset was just to hit my spots," Flynn said. "I pitched two or three days ago, and I hit my spots and did well."

Norchester scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth, five of which came after a Buffalo infield error, to take a 7-6 lead into the fifth.

But after starting pitcher Walter Roland allowed just one hit in the bottom of the fifth, Jordan Jones' RBI-single scored Aiden Flynn and tied the game back up. Two batters later, Kosciolek, who finished the day with four hits, scored the game-winning run on Evan McAndrews' groundout to the pitcher.

"Essentially the game was reset," Alex Flynn said. "I felt like it was still early in the game. We had a lot of life in us. We knew that as long as we put the ball in play, good things would happen."

Roland picked up the win after pitching five innings and striking out two, while Flynn recorded the save.

The Buffaloes watched as five of their first six batters reached base in the fourth, which was capped off by a Kosciolek three-run triple that seemingly gave North Parkland all the momentum with a 6-1 lead.

"I was seeing the ball well, and I was making good contact," Kosciolek said. "I struggled a little bit in the first couple of games, but I was just making good contact today."

The state legion tournament began on Tuesday, with the Buffaloes squaring off against the Region 7 champion in the first round.

"He [Stoudt] said he just wants one thingfor us to win it at states," Flynn said.