Trojans reach tournament final
The Parkland baseball team won its first two games of the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley High School Baseball Tournament by a score of 39-2. The Trojans knew things would get tougher as the tournament went on and they ran into teams that had similar success in pool play and were battling for a spot in the tournament finale.
Even though things did get more difficult at times, the Trojans put together a relatively easy run to the championship game, but finished as the tournament’s runner-up after a 7-5 loss to Emmaus in the tournament championship game Monday at Coca-Cola Park.
One of the tougher battles came in the quarterfinal matchup with Easton. Parkland put together a five-run top of the sixth to seemingly break the game open with an 11-4 lead. Luke Meehan and Andrew Sorrentino each drove in runs in the big inning for Parkland. Meehan and Andrew Keller both finished the game with three hits, while Sorrentino and Bo Barthol both finished with two hits in the game. The Red Rovers came back with six runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh, but ultimately came up short, falling to the Trojans 11-10.
Parkland again used a big inning - a nine-run sixth inning - to beat semifinal opponent Notre Dame 11-2. Blake Barthol drove in four runs on the day, including hitting a three-run home run in the sixth for Parkland. Josh Miller threw six innings, allowing two runs while he struck out nine batters for the Trojans. Joe Algard gave Parkland a scoreless inning of relief out of the bullpen.
The loss to Emmaus was a back-and-forth battle. The Trojans picked up two first-inning runs when Jack Giovenco and Meehan each delivered sacrifice flies to plate a run. Emmaus bounced back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run from Wyatt Henseler, knotting the game at 2-2.
Parkland got to Emmaus starter Vincent Petrizzi for another run in the third when Giovenco singled with two outs and scored on a double down the third base line by Meehan to put Parkland up 3-2.
“We knew that it was probably going to take more runs than that,” said coach Will Algard. “Emmaus has some guys that can hit and it was just that type of day where guys were putting the bat on the ball.”
Algard’s prediction came true pretty quickly when Emmaus put six straight batters on base with one out in the bottom of the third. A Jadon Diaz double and a two-run single from Braden Waller were the big blows in the five-run inning as the Hornets took a 7-3 lead as pitching appeared to take over for the next couple innings.
“That inning made it tough because it was a close game all along and now we were down,” said Algard. “We knew though that we have the potential for big innings because we saw it throughout the tournament, so we weren’t hanging our heads and we still believed we could put something together.”
Again, Algard was right. Sorrentino was hit by a pitch to start the seventh and Bo Barthol came up with a base-hit on a well-placed bunt, putting runners on first and second before a wild pitch allowed both of them to move up a base. Keller appeared to deliver another hit, but a diving catch by center fielder Matt Madigan was the first out of the inning.
Still not done, Jeremy Piatkiewicz delivered an RBI single on a grounder to left and Blake Barthol’s sacrifice fly to right made it a 7-5 game. Giovenco reached on an error before Meehan hit a hard liner that was snagged at third for the final out of the game.
Parkland finished 6-1 in the tournament and outscored their opponents 82-31 through their seven games.
“It was a great tournament,” said coach Algard after the loss. “Our guys really battled and we were fortunate to be able to have everybody back on the field for one last time with the seniors.”