On Sunday, the Northampton and Whitehall baseball teams took their EPC battle to the friendly confines of Coca-Cola Park. The K-Kids scored a pair of first inning runs on their way to a 5-1 win that extended their winning streak to 4 games.

Logan Higgins led off the bottom of the first with a standup triple to right and was driven in on a fielder’s choice grounder to second by Hunter Corrow. Vincent Santostefano was then hit by a pitch, stole second, and came around to score on a single by Mike Melosky.

Whitehall cut the deficit to a single run in the third inning. Bryce Bashore drew a 1-out walk. He was seemingly picked off at first but showed his wide receiver speed as he swiped second base anyway. A single by Gabe Guzy moved him to third where he was able to score on a sac fly by Jace Duld.

Northampton got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Melosky led off with a double and was plated by a Matt Merced single.

A 1-out bases-loaded single in the bottom of the fifth by Higgins drove in the final two runs of the game.

Corrow pitched the first 5 innings to get the win. He scattered 4 hits, surrendered 2 walks, and struck out 6. Santostefano closed out the game pitching the final 2 innings.

For the Zephyrs, Tyler Mastropieri pitched 4 2/3 innings, gave up 5 runs on 9 hits with 4 walks and 2 strikeouts.

Northampton head coach Mick Sugra summed up the win, “Pitching has been keeping us in games. Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot defensively and put runners in scoring position and get deep in counts more than we have to, but at the end of the day, we won the last four baseball games against some very good teams, putting ourselves in contention for leagues and districts.”

As the regular season winds to a close, both teams are still battling for spots in the EPC and district tournaments. The teams meet for the second time in 5 days when the K-Kids travel to Whitehall today for a game with significant implications.

Northampton’s overall record of 9-7 (8-6 EPC) has them on the cusp of earning berths to both postseason tourneys. Their final league game is on Monday against Allen. Nonleague games against Hamburg on Saturday and Bangor on Tuesday represent the remainder of the regular season schedule.

For Whitehall (7-9, 6-8), winning the game against the Kids is a must to have any chance of qualifying for EPCs. Their final EPC game is on Monday against Parkland. Sandwiched between the league games are contests at Wyoming Valley West on Friday and at home against North Schuylkill on Saturday. The Zephs need to go at least 3-1 to guarantee participation in districts.