For Parkland softball, the East Penn Conference season came to an end in a similar way to how it started when the Trojans lost to Freedom 3-2 in the conference semifinals at Patriots Park in Allentown. Their regular season schedule had opened with a loss to the Lady Patriots, who move on to face Northampton for the EPC championship.

The Lady Trojans (19-3) led for much of the game against Freedom on Monday, taking a 2-1 lead into the top of the seventh inning. Pitcher Katie Zaun issued just her second walk of the game to open the inning and a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout left Freedom down to their final out of the game with a runner on second.

Hailey Snisky worked a walk and Natalie Stannard delivered a two-run single to right center to give Freedom (18-4) a one-run edge. Pitcher Jen Slanovek put Parkland down in order in the bottom of the inning to lock up the win and end Parkland’s hopes of a sixth straight EPC championship.

Parkland took a 1-0 lead in the second when Leeanna Zagrodnik doubled to left and Ellyana Kromer followed with an RBI single to right. After Freedom tied the game in the fourth, the Lady Trojans struck back in their half of the fifth when Zagrodnik doubled, stole third and scored on an error to give Parkland a 2-1 edge.

Zaun struck out the first six batters she faced and finished with 10 strikeouts in seven innings.

To reach the semifinals, Parkland downed Pocono Mountain East 6-0. Against the Cardinals (11-8), Zaun allowed just one hit and struck out 13 to get the win.

“It’s the stretch now and every game you have is big and I think we have to do better at the plate overall,” said Parkland head coach Barry Search after the win over Pocono Mountain East. “We have to do better at seizing opportunities and not leaving runners on base. You don’t win many ballgames without doing those things.”

Parkland scored three times in the third when Kromer led off with a single and moved to third on back-to-back Pocono Mountain errors. Cassidy Sweeney then doubled to drive home Kromer and two outs later, Zaun doubled to drive in two runs and put Parkland up 3-0. The lead moved to 6-0 in the fifth when Parkland used a passed ball and a two-run single by Jenna Piatkiewicz to put the game away.

Katie Gontkosky is 2-for-7 in the postseason with a run scored and she believes that one of the reasons why Parkland has been successful this season is the cohesiveness of the team.

“Everyone has each other’s back and that’s what is really important,” said the junior first baseman. “We need to stick together as a team and that’s how we’ve been winning. We take things one game at a time and there’s no looking down the road.”

Parkland will have a little time to regroup and prepare for the District 11 playoffs, which begin this weekend. The Lady Trojans came into the postseason as the top team in District 11 but won’t be seeded at the top for districts since preferential seeding is given to league champions.