The Parkland softball team avenged its only loss of the season by downing Northampton 5-0 on a windy Saturday night.

The Trojans were powered by a dominating performance by Kelly Dulaney. Dulaney was perfect for 4 2/3 innings and finished with nine strikeouts and allowed just two hits.

On flirting with a perfect game, Dulaney said, “I try not to think about it during the game. I just focus on my job and working with my defense.”

Offensively, Parkland (16-1 overall; 12-1 in EPC) was able to scratch out a run in the first inning using small-ball tactics. Renee Snyder drew a leadoff walk.

Nicole Klass then laid down the sacrifice bunt, and the Trojans received a bonus when an errant throw left them with runners on first and third base with no outs.

A one-out Kylie Hlay groundout was deep enough to plate Snyder for the 1-0 lead.

Once the lineup turned over to the bottom of the third inning, Parkland loaded the bases on a walk, a hit by pitch to Klass and another walk to Dulaney. The Trojans were unable to capitalize on their way to going hitless over the first four innings.

Parkland, however, broke the game open in the fifth inning.

Klass led off with a bunt single for the Trojans’ first hit of the game, and Dulaney helped her own cause by lashing a triple into the right center field gap to make the score 2-0.

Hlay then ripped a double off the wall in right field to drive in another run, while Megan Fenstermaker recorded the fourth straight hit of the inning with an RBI-single to push the lead to 4-0.

In the sixth inning, Caroline Rivera brought the crowd to its feet as her slicing line drive down the left field line got by the Northampton outfielder. By the time the relay was on its way to the plate, Rivera was already half way down the third baseline for an inside-the-park home run.

“I’m proud of the way the kids played,” head coach Barry Search said. “Every night we come out it’s a battle. That’s a good team over there. To come out and play like that, my hat’s off to our kids.”

The Trojans followed up their win over Northampton with a 9-0 victory over Central Catholic on Monday. The win clinched Parkland’s berth into the East Penn Conference (EPC) playoffs as they look for their fifth straight conference title.

Despite closing the regular season with three tough Skyline division foes in Nazareth, Emmaus and Whitehall, Trojans are poised to lock down the division title and the top seed in both the EPC and District 11 Class 6A tournaments.