A long weekend of baseball for South Parkland came to an abrupt end Sunday with an 8-5 loss to Lower Macungie. The loss kept South Parkland from advancing in the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs, leaving the Trojans one win short of a trip to regionals, which begin this weekend.

Sunday night's game against Lower Mac was the second game of the day and the fourth in three days for South Parkland.

First came a 2-1 win over Fullerton on Friday, followed by a 2-1 loss to Lower Macungie in their first game of the day on Saturday. Next came a win over Northern Valley, which eliminated the Chargers from the postseason and putting South Parkland into another elimination game later in the day when it faced Lower Macungie again.

Lower Macungie had lost a 10-inning battle to North Parkland earlier in the day, but responded well against South Parkland and starter George Hambel.

The South Parkland defense didn't help much when it made two first-inning errors, which combined with the two hits, a walk and a hit batter that Hambel gave up, led to four runs, three of which were unearned.

"That wasn't the start we were looking for," said coach Tom Kahn. "We had a double-play ball that we didn't get two on and it definitely hurt.

"That's not a way to start a game, down by four, but we thought we could still win and we battled back. We just didn't get it done. It was disappointing and it wasn't our best effort, so we were disappointed."

Lower Macungie picked up another unearned run in the second to stretch its lead to 5-0 before South Parkland started to mount a comeback. Michael Jenkins led off the third with a double to center field and later scored on a groundball by Kyle Novobilsky, cutting the lead to 5-1.

Lower Macungie again added a run in the fourth, but South Parkland went back to work at the plate, looking to cut into the deficit. Back-to-back singles from Tyler Bruno and Ryan Horvath put runners on the corners and a walk to Harrison Rabenold loaded the bases with no outs.

Jenkins then gounded out to drive in the first run and a hit by Mark Reinert coupled with a Lower Macungie error made it a 6-4 game.

Lower Mac tacked on a run in the fifth, but South Parkland again battled back, scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to stay within two runs of the Mustangs.

A potential turning point came in the top of the sixth when Lower Macungie put runners on first and third with nobody out. Rabenold came on in relief of Hambel to get the next two hitters and catcher Zach Miller threw out a runner attempting to steal to keep the 7-5 score intact.

"It was big," said Kahn of his team keeping it a two-run game. "We had planned on starting him [Rabenold] tomorrow and he was a little tired after playing third, so it was big that he got out of that inning.

Unfortunately, South Parkland wouldn't work out of a jam in the seventh and gave up another run, making it an 8-5 game and putting that much more pressure on them in the bottom of the inning. Lower Macungie starter Joel Bartoni shut the door, throwing a perfect seventh to end the game and eliminate South Parkland.

"I think that last run that they scored was a killer," said Kahn. "I had every confidence that we were going to score two and come back and win this thing, but when they got that eighth run, I think that took the wind out of us pretty well.

"We have a lot of respect for them. They're a really good team. They play well. They hit the ball. They have good defense. That's a class group over there. We didn't play our best game, we kicked it around a bunch, but I've got a lot of pride in these guys and a lot of respect for them."

South Parkland finished the regular season 14-4 and finished 16-6 overall.