A year ago, the Parkland softball lost its season opener 10-1 against Freedom. Casual observers were buzzing about how it might be a down season for Parkland, but the Trojans returned to win seven straight games, finish 20-4 on the year and reach the finals in both the East Penn Conference and District 11 playoffs. Turned out that the loss to Freedom was just a bad day.

This season, Parkland has dropped its first two games of the season, losing its opener to Abington Heights 3-1 and then falling to Northampton 12-2.

While that’s more than just a bad day, head coach Barry Search - in his 12th season coaching Parkland softball - knows better than to panic. He also knows that his team did suffer some key losses due to graduation leaving the team to be – in his favorite characterization - “a work in progress.”

Gone is pitcher Katie Zaun, who was known for locking down the opponent’s offense. Also gone are six other players including Sydney Stewart, Morgan Stay and Megan Sotack who all played big roles for the team.

“We know coming in that it’s sort of a reevaluating kind of year,” said Search of the 2022 version of his team. “We have girls that are going to play hard and give everything they have, so let’s wait and see what happens.”

The team suffered another loss in the opener when senior first baseman Katie Gontkosky appeared to injure her knee on a swing and was left to hobble toward first base before being helped off the field. Junior Brenna Zavecz took over at first base for Gontkosky and got the start there against Northampton.

Senior third baseman Shana Gugliandolo is cautiously optimistic about how the team will continue to develop this season.

“I know we have work to do, but we have come together as a team, and everybody is putting in the work that we need to do to get better, so I think that we’ll be OK,” she said.

Ashlyn Hillanbrand has taken over for Zaun on the mound with Morgan Schultz-Stuardi serving as her battery mate. Seniors Jenna Piatkiewicz, Cassidy Sweeney, Ashlyn Cope and Lucia Ruimy figure to see a lot of playing time in the starting lineup for Search this season.

“Ashlyn pitched for us a little bit last year and she knows what to do on the mound,” said Search. “It’s different for a pitcher to step into that starter role, but I think she will settle in and get better and better as the season goes on.”

Offensively, Parkland may have a few concerns. The Trojans have collected four hits in each of their two games to put their team average at just .174 (8-for-46).

“If you can’t hit the ball, you’re not going to win a lot of games in any league,” said Search. “We have an aggressive schedule this year and play a lot of good teams, so we have to find some offense from somewhere.”

In addition to the difficult schedule that comes with being in the EPC West and having to play non-division foes like Nazareth, Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic, the Lady Trojans have nonconference games against Hazleton and Tunkhannock this season. Meanwhile, their division games include teams like Northampton, Whitehall, Central Catholic and Emmaus, who has slowly been coming together over the past few seasons.

“You don’t get a lot of breaks in this league,” Search noted. “You have to really battle, and we have players who will do that. We’ll see where it all goes.”