The battle between Army and Navy in football has been referred to as The Civil War.

If Lehigh Valley Legion baseball has such a thing, it would be the battles between North and South Parkland.

The teams met early in the legion tournament after each team won its opening-round game.

From there, South Parkland went on to meet Northern Valley in a battle to see who would stay alive and who would see its season end.

South Parkland was the team to beat all through the regular season, but things can change in the postseason. By virtue of being the regular season champion, the Trojans were already assured a spot in the Regional 2 playoffs, which get underway Friday at Boyertown High School.

That change came about when the Buffaloes knocked off South Parkland in the second round of the LVL playoffs by a score of 8-6.

Three players – Grant Damweber, Brady Derr, and Jack Streeter – collected six of the seven hits for South Parkland with Derr and Streeter collecting a double and a single, and Damweber getting two singles.

Streeter’s double came with North Parkland leading 4-0 and the Trojans batting in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on first and second, Streeter lined a double to center to score one run and put runners on second and third with nobody out.

A walk to Julian Santiago loaded the bases and Andrew Klotz picked up an RBI when he was hit by a pitch to force home a run and make it 4-2.

Another walk, this time to Derr, made it a one-run game and even though Mack Parsell hit into a double play, the tying run scored for South Parkland.

North Parkland went up 8-4 in the top of the seventh, but the Trojans rallied in the bottom of the inning.

Down to their final strike with a runner on first, Damweber reached on an infield single to put two runners on base with two outs. The Trojans were again down to their final strike before Streeter singled to right to make it 8-5.

Santiago was hit by a pitch and Klotz walked to force home another run and leave the bags full. Carter Wanamaker hit a grounder to short and Tsubasa Magota elected to throw home where he nailed Streeter for the final out of the game.

Northern Valley-South Parkland

In an elimination game against Northern Valley, Derr was on the mound and was able to shut down the Chargers to gain a 2-0 win.

While South Parkland made three errors, Derr allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out nine batters on the day. With the bases loaded and one out in the second, Streeter grounded to second with the first run of the game scoring on the fielder’s choice.

With runners on first and third, Damweber launched a fly ball to left field that was deep enough to score an insurance run and give South Parkland a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. The rest was up to Derr, who cruised through the final innings and kept the shutout intact.

“I felt good on the mound, really good actually,” said Derr of his shutout performance. “I just was trying to stay ahead in the count and work hitters and that’s what worked today.”

Connor Gerhart singled and reached on an error, putting him in position to score both runs in the game. He also played a strong defensive game at second base.

“It felt good to bounce back after that loss to North Parkland,” said Gerhart. “We had a lot of quality at bats and showed good plate discipline and hit some balls hard. We played well today; it was a good day.”

The win sent South Parkland to the finals and another showdown with their rivals to the north.

“We had a couple of errors to open the game, which is not our M.O.,” said SP head coach Will Algard of Northern Valley putting runners on second and third with no outs to start the game. “As a coach, you’re hoping to get out of it with just a run, even two, but to get out of that without a run scoring was big. It was a real pickup for our team.”