Whitehall earned its way into the EPC championship with a 1-0 win in the semifinals over Parkland Monday at DeSales University behind a five-hit shutout from Nic Cristman.

Cristman struck out three and walked one in the complete game, retiring nine out of the final 10 hitters he faced after working out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the fourth inning.

Parkland loaded the bases after Ben Weninger walked, Jack Streeter was hit by a pitch and Luqkai Dickson singled. However, Cristman got Ben Taylor to hit a ground ball to Kolby Miller, who threw Weninger out at home. Then, Henry Weikel lined out to Donato Brigidi at second, who doubled Dickson off of second base to retire the side.

“Nik has an uncanny knack of getting out of those situations,” Schmitt said. “He throws a ton of ground balls. He just seems to get soft contact. If there was anyone who was going to get out of that situation, it was him.”

Schmitt was proud of Cristman’s performance, he said and noted that Cristman has a lot of experience in big games.

The key was getting ahead in the count and throwing strikes, especially in the bases loaded situation, Cristman explained.

“You cannot be scared at that moment,” Cristman said. “You just have to go out there, attack and trust your defense. I have an amazing defense behind me, so it is very easy to trust them.”

Whitehall scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Kolby Miller walked with the bases loaded and two outs, scoring Sudge Hoderewski, who had reached on an error to lead off the inning.

“Kolby is one of our most patient kids at the plate,” Schmitt said. “If you asked me before the game who is going to get a bases loaded walk to score a run, it would be Kolby. He is not afraid to hit with two strikes and he has a great eye. He was the perfect guy to have up there at that time.”

Jack Lloyd had two hits for Whitehall against Parkland, and Cristman also had a hit.

The Zephyrs earned their way to DeSales with an 8-2 quarterfinal win over Northampton on Thursday (May 7) at home.

On the mound, Lloyd pitched a complete game against the K-Kids, allowing just two runs and striking out ten.

“Lloyd has done it all year,” Schmitt said. “He has done it for the last three years. He is a great kid, great competitor, great leader. This is a very good Northampton team, but when we are playing well, we are pretty tough.”

Tyler Sanders paced the Zephyrs offensively, hitting a two-run homerun, knocking in three runs total and scoring two runs.

“Sanders has been red hot,” Schmitt said after the Northampton game.

Jules Alatzas, Brigidi, and Hoderewski each also had RBIs for the Zephyrs, who enter District XI play with a record of (add record).