While the pitching depth for North Parkland garners most of the attention, a storyline that doesn't always get noticed is the guy catching the ball from all of those pitchers.

Buffalo catcher Dan Zaccaro has played somewhat of an under the radar role for the Buffaloes, but he stepped to the forefront Sunday when he launched a three-run home run against West Lawn to give North Parkland a 3-2 win that put them into the Region 2 Tournament winner's bracket final.

As the number five hitter in the Buffaloes lineup, Zaccaro is given the task of protecting clean-up hitter Brett Kosciolek, which is exactly what he did on Sunday.

After Evan McAndrew delivered a one-out single and went to second on a wild pitch, Justin Afflerbach walked to set the table for Kosciolek, who was also the North Parkland pitcher.

West Lawn starter Ryan Brunner got Kosciolek to pop out to second, bringing Zaccaro to the plate.

If the Owls thought they were out of the inning, they were wrong. Zaccaro hit a line shot to deep left-center field that easily cleared the 323-foot marker to put North Parkland up 3-0.

While he's known for helping offensively, the home run was the first out-of-the-park shot that Zaccaro had ever hit in his baseball career, including legion games, high school games, even Little League.

The first one of his career came at just the right time.

"That's my first over-the-fence home run in baseball, ever," said Zaccaro. "I just had a good pitch to hit. He got a fastball up high, a hitter's best pitch. I knew I hit it well and then I looked up and saw it go over the fence."

Kosciolek and Brunner would take turns setting down their opponents through the sixth inning, until Kosciolek ran into some seventh inning trouble.

After striking out the first two hitters in the inning, Kosciolek, who struck out 12 batters in the game, gave up a base-hit and a walk before exiting in favor of Nate Kern.

Kern got the final out of the inning and breezed through the eighth before he was the one in trouble in the ninth.

With one out in the ninth, Kern issued a walk and a passed ball put a runner on second. Jamie Anundsen then doubled to left to give the Owls their first run of the game.

Kern rallied to strike out the next batter, but Jake Barczynski made it interesting when he tripled to center to make it 3-2. Again, Kern regrouped and got the final out of the game to record the save.

Zaccaro's home run came at the perfect time, because as he reported, Brunner - who threw a complete game - got tougher to hit against as the game went on.

"He really picked up throughout the game. He was throwing a knuckleball, breaking balls, keeping us off balance. I tip my cap to him," said Zaccaro of Brunner's effort.

The day after the win over West Lawn, North Parkland ran into a buzz saw in the form of a Hellertown team that has played impressive ball all season long.

Hellertown, which scored 36 runs in their first three games of the tournament, pounded out 18 singles and one double in a 14-2 win over North Parkland Monday night to remain the only undefeated team in the Regional 2 playoffs.

Hellertown beat Pine Grove Tuesday night to stay undefeated, while the Buffaloes rebounded to beat Muhlenberg 10-5 to reach the championship against Hellertown.

Since it's a double-elimination tournament, North Parkland will have to beat Hellertown twice to repeat as Region 2 champions.

Only one team from the region moves on to the state tournament, which will be played at Wilson West Lawn this season.

Jeff Strisovsky came up big both at the plate and on the mound for North Parkland in the win over Muhlenberg as he threw two shutout innings to get the win in relief and drove in five runs.

Zaccaro again contributed, with two more RBI in the win over Muhlenberg.