Just as most coaches are after a loss, Emmaus Legion manager Tom Cichocki was admittedly not feeling too great after a 4-1 loss to South Parkland in the regular season finale on Sunday.

The loss brought out more frustration than anything in Cichocki, because of how the team lost, thanks in part to bad calls from umpires early in the game and an uninspired performance from his team.

On back-to-back plays in the second inning, the field umpire missed two obvious calls and refused to ask the home plate umpire for a second opinion when asked by Cichocki.

For his part, the home plate umpire also wasn’t willing to inject himself into the plays. The calls helped South Parkland to two runs in the inning and set the tone for the game.

“We didn’t come to play,” said Cichocki. “They [the calls] were bad, but we didn’t come to play, so I don’t know that it mattered because we had six hits and left nine on. We have to be better. That’s on us, not on them.

“They were two big calls and they scored two runs. The disappointing part is that they were obvious calls. If the calls weren’t so obvious, it wouldn’t have been so disappointing. It shouldn’t affect them, but you have teenage kids and all year we have had a problem getting excited.

“A lot of them care, but I just told them that there are some that don’t and they kind of bring the whole team down.”

Emmaus finished in a three-way tie with Lower Macungie and West Allentown, with the two East Penn teams grabbing fifth and sixth in the seedings, leaving West Allentown to have to win a play-in game on Wednesday in a fight for one of two remaining spots in the postseason.

In the loss to the Trojans, Taden Gery had two hits, a walk and an RBI for Emmaus. The only run of the game came in the third when Eric Cichocki reached on an error with one out and Gery doubled to drive him home.

Emmaus and South Parkland will now meet in the first round of the double-elimination playoffs on Thursday, with the game being played at Parkland High School.

Coming into the tournament, manager Cichocki isn’t happy with how his team has approached the season, but believes that it could also turn things around quickly if the players make the decision to do so.

“Momentum is a funny thing,” pointed out Cichocki. “Momentum is a game away, whether we had won four-out-of-five, we could still lose the first playoff game. If we play well in the first game, we could certainly win and then all of a sudden, momentum is on our side, so it’s a little disappointing.”

Cichocki was unsure of who would pitch for his team in the playoff opener.

The designated hitter, which can be used to replace any player in the batting order during the regular season, can now be used only to bat for the pitcher in the playoffs. That brings up an interesting scenario for Emmaus, since Eric Cichocki is playing hurt and can only DH and Logan Foley and Zach Schrader, two of Emmaus’ best pitchers, are also two of the better hitters on the team.

Manager Cichocki was pretty clear about what his team has to do better now that the playoffs are ready to start and crunch time is here.

“Make plays and come to play and have a better attitude,” said Cichocki. “We’ve been hitting the ball better so that’s exciting, although tonight we didn’t. I just think play better and come to play and that’s momentum.

“We’re just as good as – when we play – as good as anybody and when we don’t, we can lose to anybody and that’s been the last two years. This year especially, the lack of enthusiasm has been pretty constant and to me. That’s the worst part.”

Over the weekend, Eric Cichocki was named the starting DH for the Lehigh Valley Legion All-Star team for their game at FirstEnergy Field against the Schuylkill-Berks All-Stars. Catcher Zak Zgura was also named to the team, but won’t be starting.

By virtue of winning the regular season title, Salisbury will gain a spot in the Region Two Tournament, which gets underway next week. The winner of the postseason tournament (or the runner-up should Salisbury also win the tournament) will also receive a bid to the regionals.