North Parkland went up against a team on a mission recently when it faced Lower Macungie on Sunday. Lower Mac was fighting to avoid having to make the playoffs through a play-in game.

The Buffaloes knew that it was going to have to be win a play-in game for the playoffs, but was looking to send a message as the postseason approached.

Lower Macungie was able to figure out pitcher Carson Fracas early, getting three first inning runs. Fracas wasn’t helped by his defense, which committed two errors in the inning as Lower Mac went on their way to a 7-2 win over the Buffaloes at Church Lane Park in Trexlertown.

After taking the early lead, Lower Macungie grabbed two more runs in the third inning against Fracas and again, an error led directly to one of the runs scoring.

“We threw the ball around a little bit today,” said North Parkland coach Terry Stoudt. “We have some young kids and I think they tried to make some plays and we got into trouble. Our kids played all right, but we weren’t able to get much going against them. They’re a good team.”

Down 7-0 going to the sixth inning, North Parkland showed that it wasn’t going to go quietly.

Will Algard led off the inning by reaching base on a throwing error and Nick Iannotta followed Algard with a double to center field to plate the first run of the day for the Buffaloes. One out later, Dylan Miller singled to right and North Parkland had cut the lead to 7-2.

Lower Macungie pitcher Matt Lanzone was able to regroup and strike out the next two batters to end the inning. North Parkland put two runners on in the seventh, but couldn’t push across any runs.

Fracas was lifted after three innings, but collected two infield hits on the day for North Parkland. In addition to reaching on the error, Algard also singled in the seventh, but was later erased on a fielder’s choice. The bottom third of the order had a tough day, going 1-for-9 and striking out seven times.

“We got some hits, but we couldn’t bunch them together to really get anything going,” said Stoudt. “Overall though, with the young kids that we’ve got, we’re playing well.”

The Buffaloes finished the season 5-12-1, finishing ninth in the Lehigh Valley Legion standings, meaning that they need to win a play-in game to reach the first round of the league playoffs. Salisbury won the regular season title, which guarantees the team a spot in the Region 2 Tournament, which begins next week. The winner of the LVL Tournament will also gain a spot in the regionals.

Shortstop Alex Konya was the lone member of the Buffaloes to be named to the LVL All-Star Team, which will play a team of all-stars from the Schuylkill-Berks League at FirstEnergy Field in Reading on Tuesday.