While the Lehigh Valley was digging out from a spring snowstorm last week, the Whitehall softball and baseball teams were enjoying a little fun in the sun.

The two teams kicked off their 2015 season at Myrtle Beach, part of their annual trek to the Ripken Experience, a sprawling complex of ball fields in the resort town of South Carolina that's been the site of their opener the last few years. They each got in a few practices, two scrimmages, and a game.

While they weren't subject to freezing temperatures and a blanket of the white stuff, they still had to deal with some bad weather. O'Boyle said that Thursday's scrimmage was played through a steady downpour, but the team battled both the elements and their opponent to register a come-from-behind victory.

Trailing by five runs in the bottom of the seventh, they rallied for six runs to win the game.

That late rally was a precursor to Saturday's game as they once again needed late-inning heroics to defeat Conwell-Egan Catholic High School, 6-5 in extra innings.

The Zephs trailed 2-1 heading into the top of the fourth, but quickly tied the game after Jacob Meyers walked. With Bryce Crum replacing Meyers as a courtesy runner, Crum advanced to second on an errant pick-off attempt where he was brought home by an RBI single by Nicholas Delp, drawing the Zephs even.

The Zephs weren't done, however, as Alex Bruneio walked to keep the rally going. That was followed by a D. J. Laky sacrifice bunt that turned into a single, loading the bases.

That set the table for Javy Rodriguez who laced a double, scoring two runs.

The Zephs tacked on a run in the top of the seventh when Gianni Sinatore walked. He later advanced on a passed ball, and then moved to third on David Gonzalez's sacrifice bunt. Gonzalez was also safe at first, and then took second after Meyers walked to load the bases. After Delp struck out, Laky walked, forcing in Sinatore, giving the Zephs the 5-3 lead

However, the Eagles plated two runs in their half of the seventh, sending the game into extra innings.

The game stayed that way for two innings until Sinatore sent a double off the wall to bring home Will Loy with the winning run in the 10th.

O'Boyle said games like that aren't easy on the heart, but he learned just how resilient this group is, coming back multiple times during their two wins.

"For a young team to come back like that, that was probably the most impressive thing," said O'Boyle.

"That was a good first win. We battled hard, and won after being down."

Meyers started the game and served notice he's ready to head north and start mowing down the opposition in the EPC. The senior hurler pitched six innings, fanning nine, while not allowing a walk.

"He looked really good," said O'Boyle.

He was relieved by Brunei, who after surrendering two runs that tied the game in the seventh, shut the door on CEC, tossing three scoreless innings to notch the win for the Zephs. He finished with six Ks and one walk.

"Through the eighth, ninth and tenth, he didn't allow anybody on base," said O'Boyle.

O'Boyle said he learned that they have a deep pitching staff during their stay at Myrtle. With Meyers and Bruneio in place, he's confident the remaining staff, including Tyler Kline, Laky, Zach Gilbert,

He also learned that they still need to clean up a few areas, most notably making the routine play consistently so they don't give an opponent extra outs.

He also said that some of that could be attributed to it being their first time on a field. Still, it's something they have to work on, he said.

Good pitching and solid defense are going to be the formula this year for success, and Saturday's win was an indication.

"If we score a couple of runs, make the routine plays, and get strong pitching, we'll be all right," said O'Boyle.

The softball team wasn't as fortunate, losing a tough one to Elizabeth Forward High School, 2-1.

The Warriors scored both their runs in the bottom of the third and then held on as the Zephs got a homerun from starting pitcher Kay Solderitch in the seventh to get on the scoreboard.

However, that would be all the scoring for the Zephs as they dropped their opener in South Carolina.

Head coach Alexis Berg-Townsend said that while losing a close game was difficult, the mere fact they finally got onto a field after being cooped up in a gym since practice began, was a welcome relief.

"There are 19 more games left in the season to achieve our goals," said Berg-Townsend. "We will continue to build and learn from our first game and look to increase our offense behind our solid pitching and defense

"Hopefully we get into some sort of rhythm soon given we are right back in the gym practicing."