Taking the mound with the tying runs on base and one out in the sixth, Whitehall-Coplay’s Nik Christman had one thing on his mind.

“They (South Parkland) saw me in the high school season a lot and I was just trying to let the defense do the work because they saw me and I had to be in lockdown mode,” Christman said. “So I trusted my defense and tried to throw a lot of strikes.”

The defense did come through as Whitehall-Coplay defeated regular season Lehigh Valley Legion champions South Parkland, 5-4, on Tuesday at Parkland High School.

After Christman entered the game in relief of starter Dylan Grohotolsky, Callen Nicklas picked off Jaxon Kramer trying to steal third. Two hitters later, Christman caught a comebacker up the middle and retired Ryan Rooney to end the South Parkland threat.

In the seventh, Whitehall-Coplay Kolby Miller made two strong plays on ground balls for the first two outs. Then, Christman struck out Mack Parsell with a runner at second base to seal the win.

“That was a great win,” said Andy Hausman, Whitehall-Coplay manager, noting several close games with South Parkland all year. “We know it is going to be a battle, but our guys played hard and I am real proud of them. That was a big win.”

Whitehall-Coplay jumped on top in the third inning, scoring four runs and sending 10 men to the plate.

Kolby Miller led off with a single and Nolan Hudak reached on a bunt single.

“He (Hudak) is probably the best bunter we have on the team,” Hausman said. “Whenever there is an opportunity for him to drop one down, he will take advantage of it. He did and it worked in our favor.”

After South Parkland retired the next two hitters on fly outs, Chase Miller walked to load the bases. Griffin Peters followed with a two-run single to score Kolby Miller and Hudak put Whitehall-Coplay on the board. Following a walk by Christman, Logan Shean singled home two more runs as Chase Miller and Peters scored.

South Parkland got two runs back in the bottom of the third.

Pinch hitter and relief pitcher Sawyer Marsteller walked and scored on a Jake Strobl double. Strobl then scored on an Andrew Bowser single to make it 4-2, Whitehall-Coplay.

In the fourth inning, Whitehall-Coplay added a run they would need when Hudak reached on an error, took second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on another wild pitch to give Whitehall-Coplay a 5-2 lead.

South Parkland cut it to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth when Grant Damweber singled and scored on a double by Marsteller.

Whitehall-Coplay’s lead got trimmed to one at 5-4 in the sixth when Marsteller singled home Carter Delong after Christman entered the game in relief of Grohotolsky, who pitched 5 ⅓ strong innings for Whitehall-Coplay.

“I felt pretty good,” Grohotolsky said. “I was just letting the defense handle a lot of it. I did not have any strikeouts but this team has seen me three or four times, so I was just trying to let my defense do the work out there.”

Grohotolsky and Christman led the way for an overall strong team effort, Hausman said.

“Dylan has been solid and been our ace all season,” he said. “I was real confident with him going on the mound. Nik has also been showing leadership for our team and he came out and closed the door. I could not be happier and I could not be prouder.”

The win placed Whitehall-Coplay into the winners’ bracket of the league tournament, where they were slated to play Lower Macungie, who beat North Parkland 2-0, on Wednesday. South Parkland was slated to play North Parkland in the elimination bracket game, also on Wednesday. Scores from Wednesday’s games were not available at press time.