It’s hard to blame the Parkland softball team for the early-season hitting slump that they encountered this year.

The Trojans went to play in the warm sunshine of Florida and returned to cold, windy conditions at home and their offense shivered in the cold weather.

The season opened with a 2-0 loss to Northampton, which would prove to be one of the tougher teams in the East Penn Conference throughout the season.

At the time, Parkland head coach Barry Search worried that his team wasn’t just adjusting to the cold weather, but that it may have trouble scoring runs throughout the season.

The offense did prove to be on a roller coaster throughout the year, but it found just enough hitting to pair with the pitching of Kelly Dulaney and rattle off a 14-game winning streak. The Trojans showed themselves to be the class of not just the EPC, but of District 11 softball.

The streak included a 5-0 retaliation against Northampton and impressive wins against Freedom, Whitehall and Nazareth, who all proved to be good teams throughout the season.

The streak ended against rival Emmaus in the penultimate game of the regular season. The Hornets beat Parkland 3-1, looking to send a message that they were going to look to be the team to knock off Parkland’s postseason plans down the road. The Trojans responded with a 13-0 shellacking of Whitehall to end the season.

The postseason proved to be one in which the Trojans would exact some revenge. A 4-0 win over Northampton in the EPC final game Parkland the conference championship, their sixth straight. Next up were districts where Parkland got revenge on Emmaus for their regular season loss by downing the Hornets 10-0 in the semifinals. A 6-0 win over Whitehall gave Parkland the District 11 championship, their fifth in the last six seasons. Parkland won six postseason conference and district games by a combined margin of 39-5.

“I thought we really found our offense there and we were definitely on a good run coming into the playoffs,” said Search. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy to return to the finals, but we knew we had a chance and that we were just about as good as anybody out there.”

In states, the Trojans dismantled Conestoga 8-0 in the first round before running into Spring-Ford, the third-place team from District 1. Ironically, Spring-Ford also opened the season in Florida and while the two teams didn’t meet, Search did see the Rams play and knew how good they were.

Spring-Ford’s sophomore pitcher, Brianna Peck, impressed Search in Florida. She shut down the Parkland offense in the state playoffs as the Rams used a big second inning to advance with a 4-1 win, ending the Trojans season with a 25-3 record.

Parkland will again need to reload because of the loss of nine players to graduation. Hailey Druckenmiller, Kelly Dulaney, Megan Fenstermaker, Madolyn Fernandes, Camryn Fritsch, Molly Gillette, Kylie Hlay, Olivia Ondrejca and Renee Snyder all graduated, leaving plenty of openings for next season.

“This has been a great group of players,” Search said about his seniors. “They always worked hard and never really needed reminding about what they needed to do to win. They were the ones helping the younger players to learn the game and become better players and they definitely left their mark on the program.”

Dulaney, who was the EPC Player of the Year, finished the season with a 23-3 record and a 0.86 ERA, compiling 205 strikeouts in 163 innings. Next season, Dulaney will be a member of the Kutztown Golden Bears team, but figures to be somewhat of a familiar face around Parkland.

“I’m so grateful to be able to have this experience,” she said. “I’m going to miss my whole team and my coaching staff, but I’ll be back to visit next year.”