In a surprising turn of events, South Parkland, the team that led wire-to-wire in the Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League this season dropped its opener in the league tournament.

The tournament is double elimination so while the Trojans had their backs against the dugout wall, they weren’t done.

The Trojans got themselves right back on track with a pair of wins and then beat Lower Macungie to force a final game in the league tournament.

Whitehall-Coplay knocked SP into the losers bracket with a 5-4 first-round upset win over the Trojans.

The Zephyrs took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning and added an insurance run in a sloppy top of the fourth when an error, two wild pitches, and a stolen base brought across the fifth run of the game for Whitehall-Coplay.

A double by Jake Strobl and an RBI single from Andrew Bowser got the Trojans on the board in the bottom of the third. Bowser added a two-out single in the seventh, but pinch-runner Carter Wanamaker stole a base and was stranded on second to end the game.

Sawyer Marsteller went 2-for-2 day with a walk, a run scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. He also allowed just one unearned run on the mound in a 3 1/3 inning outing where he allowed one hit and two walks to go with five strikeouts.

Jaxon Kramer singled, walked, and stole a base in the game. In addition to Marsteller and Kramer stealing a base, Wanamaker, and Carter DeLong also stole a base.

The Trojans rebounded to beat rival North Parkland 5-1 as Kramer went 3-for-3 with a run scored, two RBI, and two of the Trojans seven stolen bases on the day. Ryan Rooney also stole two bags in the win.

Parsell threw a complete game without allowing a walk and giving up just four hits, striking out two. North Parkland’s only run was unearned.

In the next round, Whitehall-Coplay looked to knock the Trojans out of the tournament and held a 3-2 lead going to the bottom of the seventh before Andrew Bowser singled to center to score Marsteller with the tying run and Liam Gerhart with the winning run for a 4-3 victory.

Bowser’s single was one of just two on the day for South Parkland, which were being no-hit when Marsteller singled in the seventh. South Parkland had scored an unearned run and drew seven walks to keep the game close.

Lower Macungie had gone through the tournament without a loss, so the Trojans had to beat the Mustangs twice to win the tournament championship.

South Parkland had already wrapped up a spot in regionals by being the regular season champion.

In the first game against the Mustangs, Ben Weninger and Carter DeLong both hit two-home run home runs in the first inning to set the tone with a quick 4-0 lead. Rooney had three hits in the game and Strobl had two for Parkland.

Weninger allowed one run and one hit over three innings to get the win with Ben Taylor throwing one shutout inning and Nick Bowser getting the save with three shutout innings.

On Tuesday night, the tournament final was set at Parkland High School and the Trojans and Mustangs battled back and forth until Lower Macungie scored seven runs in the sixth inning to put the game away with a 9-4 win.

Rooney stayed hot at the top of the order with three hits as the top six hitters combined to go 8-for-19 in the game with four runs scored and four runs driven in. Kramer drove in three runs in the game.

South Parkland committed three errors in the game and allowed three unearned runs in the loss.

“Our guys came into tonight and knew we were in regionals,” said SP head coach Will Algard. “And what we did tonight wouldn’t change who we played or anything else about the tournament, but they really wanted this win to send a message and go into regionals really strong.

“We’re still going to be strong going in and our pitching is all set with our best pitchers all able to go, so we’re in great shape.”

In Monday night’s game, Ben Taylor made a spectacular play on a pop up in foul territory. He caught the ball at full speed before running into the back wall of the dugout at full speed.

South Parkland opens the regional tournament at Quakertown Community Park Friday at 10 a.m. when it faces Boyertown. Lower Mac plays Friday at 7:00 against host Quakertown.