The Whitehall baseball team qualified for the District 11 baseball tournament in rip-roarin' fashion last Friday.

The Zephs wasted no time in securing a spot in the postseason dance, scoring runs in the first two innings to build a 4-0 lead over visiting Northampton. And by the time the fifth inning rolled around, that lead swelled to 10 runs, triggering the mercy rule, giving the Zephs another D-11 berth in which to vie for a district championship.

With a postseason berth at stake, manager Shaun O'Boyle said they weren't about to be denied.

"They came out with a chip on their shoulder," said manager Shaun O'Boyle.

They also came out with bats a-blazin' on senior day.

In the bottom of the fourth, Zachary Hamscher led off with a single. Gianni Sintatore followed with a single, and both runners advanced following a wild pitch. Matt Dobeck hit a flare to left, plating Hamscher, and bringing Jake Meyers to the plate. The senior delivered with a single to left, scoring Sinatore. Meyers wound up with two hits and three RBIs on the day. D.J. Laky kept the inning alive by getting hit by a pitch, his second plunking on the afternoon. Senior Nicholas Delp hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Dobeck, opening the door for Javy Rodriguez's two-run single to left that widened the gap to 9-0.

Rodriguez finished the day with two hits and two RBIs.

Gianna Sinatore was the table-setter in their 10-hit, 10-run barrage over the Kids, a team who had beaten them 2-1 earlier in the season which ended their four-game winning streak to start the season. The leadoff hitter had three base knocks and scored three runs to help propel them into the district playoffs.

While they were tagging the ball at the dish, sophomore Zach Gilbert was dealing on the mound. The lanky lefty was in complete command throughout the game, allowing just three hits en route to the complete-game shutout.

"He's a 6-3, 6-4 lefty with a lot of movement on the ball," said O'Boyle. "Very few batters get solid contact on him because his ball moves so much."

O'Boyle said the southpaw has a natural cutter and tailing fastball, and when he can command the strike zone with his repertoire, he's difficult to beat.

"If he can control that, he's very tough to hit," O'Boyle said.

That was certainly the case against Northampton as he stayed around the plate, only walking two batters the entire game.

"He had control of three pitches, and pitched his way out of a few jams, one of those was in the second," said O'Boyle. "He pitched a great game."

With that home win, the Zephs said good-bye to seniors Will Loy, David Gonzalez, Tyler Kline, Delp and Meyers.

The Zephs then headed to Coca-Cola Park for their annual Play Day, squaring off against Parkland who were riding a three-game winning streak against the Zephs at the minor league venue. The last time they defeated the Trojans at CCP was when Elliot Mortimer tossed a 1-0 gem in 2013.

Meyers nearly duplicated that feat. He held the Trojans scoreless through seven innings. However, he couldn't keep the Trojans (18-1, 14-1 EPC) off the scoreboard in the eighth, surrendering a gapper to Chris Rabasco to give Parkland a 1-0 win.

O'Boyle said that Meyers only allowed five hits and pitched a whale of a game against a team that's ranked third in the state.

"He does what he did for us all season," said O'Boyle.

That game was defined by their inability to come through with runners in scoring position. O'Boyle said they were 0-14 in those situations, something they're going to work on as they prepare for the postseason.

"We're going to go through the process on what your job is, and doing your job in those situations," said O'Boyle.

Some credit goes to Trojan hurlers Evan McAndrew and Connor Higgins who combined for the shutout. Both pitchers were able to work out of jams, sometimes with runners on first and second with none out, but the Zephs were never able to advance a runner past second.

A number of times this year, the Zephs have been on the plus side of the box score in the hitbox score, but haven't been able to win. Correcting that will be the focus this week.

The Zephs still had an outside shot to make the league playoffs as well, but Tuesday's 10-0 loss to Emmaus ended their hopes for a chance to play for an EPC Championship.