Parkland’s quest for a fourth straight District 11 Championship went unfinished last week. Instead, the Easton Red Rovers picked up their first division title since 1993 with a 6-4 win over the Trojans.

A couple of errors made the day much longer for starting pitcher Ryan Giovenco, who lasted three and a third innings, allowing just two unearned runs. Braeden Duff came on in the fourth, looking to go the rest of the distance for the Trojans, who were short on pitching options for the game.

Duff did finish the game, but appeared to tire a little in the later innings and wound up allowing four earned runs as Easton battled from an early 2-0 deficit.

“We felt pretty comfortable with him [Duff],” said Parkland head coach Kurt Weber. “He’s done the job all year; both those guys have done the job and I thought they deserved the chance.

“The next guy we might have been able to try was Harsha [Bollu], but he’s been hurt all year.”

Parkland went on the attack in the third when a base-hit and two walks loaded the bases for Kyle Friebolin, who came through with a two-run single ending the day for Easton starter Nick Zenga.

Easton loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, but Giovenco got Ryan Greene to pop harmlessly to short to end the threat.

The next inning though, Giovenco wasn’t as lucky.

An error and a sacrifice bunt attempt that turned into an infield hit put runners on first and second, but catcher Austin Mueller erased the lead runner on a perfect pick-off throw.

A walk then put runners back on first and second with one out and ended the day for Giovenco. Duff allowed a base-hit and a sacrifice fly as the Red Rovers tied the game 2-2.

Parkland loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but couldn’t push across a run. Easton capitalized in the bottom of the inning with two more runs to take a 4-2 lead.

The Trojans got single runs in the sixth and seventh, both scoring off the bat of Andrew Roth, who hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth and had an RBI single in the seventh.

Roth finished the day 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Easton, however, cushioned their lead on a two-run single from Greene in the bottom of the sixth.

Parkland battled through some adversity this season, having lost Bollu for the year due to an injury and losing other key players to injuries early on, as well.

They opened the season with a 12-0 loss to Easton and were 1-2 after three games, when things appeared to be bleak. The Trojans were able to regroup and finish the season 17-9.

“Definitely, early on, there were some doubts there as to whether we could get the job done,” said Weber. “But they worked pretty hard and we pushed them pretty hard. They responded and we got on a hot streak.

To get to the district final is a heck of an accomplishment. We’ve been here four years in a row and it’s not easy to get here. I’m proud of these guys. They worked hard and got better as the year went on and that’s just what we wanted to do.”