It was a tough couple of days for the Coplay-Fullerton Legion team whose season ended at the hands of Lower Macungie last week.

After winning the regular season, the Coplay-Fullerton team looked to repeat that feat in the playoffs. They won their first game, defeating Southern Lehigh 10-0, but ran into a little trouble when they faced Northern Valley last Thursday evening.

That game was tied 3-3 heading into extra innings, but a bloop hit, an error, a walk, and a blast helped put Northern Valley up by three. Ben Cordova supplied the double that gave the Chargers some breathing room heading into the bottom of the eighth.

Coplay-Fullerton managed to put two runners on with two outs in their half of the inning, but left them stranded, falling 6-3 to the Chargers. Copay-Fullerton got their three runs in the third inning when Alex Bruneio doubled, scoring Matt Miller and Gianni Sinatore. Austin Dreisbach followed with a line drive single to put Coplay-Fullerton up 2-0. That lead got extended to 3-0 on an error to close out the scoring.

With one loss in the double elimination format, they needed to win their next game against Lower Macungie the following evening. However, they couldn’t silence their bats, losing 12-10.

Surrendering 18 runs over two games was out of character for Coplay-Fullerton. They had one of the best pitching staffs in the league. By comparison, an eight-game stretch from May 29 through June 15, yielded the same amount of runs (18) as their final two games.

Manager Jim Murphy said that got down 9-0 to Lower Macungie. In danger of getting eliminated by the 10-run rule, they fought back, scoring eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to draw closer. Murphy said that inning was highlighted by an Alex Bruneio double.

After yielding three more runs in the top of the seventh, Coplay-Fullerton once again needed to rally. Murphy said that they managed to load the bases, but a nice play in the outfield off a line drive ended the game.

“We didn’t get that last timely hit,” said Murphy. “We had a chance. We just ran out of gas.”

That loss ended their season.

While it may have ended prematurely, Murphy said it was a good year that produced 14 wins and a Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League regular season championship.

“The boys played well all year,” said Murphy.

They performed well throughout the season, with a number of players hitting over .400 for the season. That list includes Alex Berrios (.484), Bruneio (.446), Dreisbach (.404), Zachary Hamscher (.407) and Sinatore (.450). Additionally, Alejandro Monteverde hit .385, while Matthew Miller and Zachary Gilbert both hit .267.

On the mound, the Zephs were led by Bruneio with four wins. Gilbert and Dakota Schiffer each won three. Schiffer was also among the league leaders in strikeouts and innings pitched, while Gilbert was among the top in ERA.