One might say that the Emmaus Legion team limped into the postseason after going just 4-6 in its final 10 games of the regular season. That, plus a history of playoff frustration over the years, left a difficult task ahead of the Hornets as they played a single-elimination game at South Parkland in the first round of the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs.

Some early miscues and the lack of being able to get a big hit at the right time led Emmaus to a 6-3 loss, ending the Hornets’ season.

Emmaus got a run in the top of the first, giving the team the quick start that it was hoping for, but South Parkland came firing back in the bottom of the inning, getting to starter Zach Schrader for four runs in the frame.

Those runs could have easily meant the end of the day for Emmaus, but the Hornets didn’t allow Trojans starter Adam Mellinger to shut them down. Instead, they fired right back in the top of the second for two runs, making it a 4-3 game.

“I really was pretty happy with how we played, overall,” said manager Tom Cichocki. “We had some problems defensively, but the attitude and the approach of the team was very good.

“They’re a good team and in the end, they had a little more than we did today. But it wasn’t for lack of effort, which was good to see.”

The defensive shortcomings led to five unearned runs against Schrader, who threw six innings, surrendering 10 hits and striking out three.

Offensively, Emmaus was able to get plenty of runners on base, but three South Parkland pitchers were able to work out of jams and strand 12 Hornets on the basepaths.

Joel Sanchez led Emmaus’ offense with two hits and designated hitter Eric Cichocki scored two runs for the Hornets.

“They have so much pitching,” said coach Cichocki. “It makes it hard to really bunch a lot of hits, because they sort of bear down with runners on base, and as we saw today, they have other arms that they can mix-and-match with.”

The Trojans had starter Mellinger go just two innings before giving way to Nate Leaswitch, who was the LVL Pitcher of the Week. Dylan Peiffer, a pitcher now on Widener University’s staff, came on to close out the game.

Almost the entire season seemed like an up-and-down affair for Emmaus.

After starting 2-1, the Hornets went on a three-game skid that included losses to Carbon and North Parkland, two teams that struggled throughout the season. They rebounded from that to win three straight, including an impressive 2-1 win at South Parkland, leaving the Hornets at 5-4 heading into the toughest stretch of the schedule.

Losses to Coplay and Salisbury, two teams that hung around the top of the LVL standings all season, dropped Emmaus to 5-6 before a double-header split with rival Lower Macungie and a loss to another top team, Northern Valley, put them at 6-8.

Another big rebound saw Emmaus knock off Coplay 9-8, but losing two of their last three games had the Hornets finish the regular season at 8-10.

“We just never really got a lot of traction this season,” said Tom Cichocki. “It’s tough sometimes in this league because players have so many distractions and you have guys coming and going. In the end though, it was a good season. So many of our guys really showed a lot of progress and they’ll continue to get better with the high school team and then we’ll have them back next year. We’re also losing a lot of good kids though, kids that have worked hard for us and have done well in this league.”

South Parkland went on to win the LVL tournament and along with regular season champ Salisbury will represent the league in the Region 2 Tournament which begins Saturday at West Lawn.