Owen DeLong threw six-and-a-third strong innings for Parkland in the Trojans’ quarterfinal win over Northampton (12-8) last Thursday. In fact, he had a no-hitter until giving up a one-out double to Nate DaRosa in the seventh. Blake Barthol wound up closing out that game on the mound and Allan Burgos and Michael Cole both had two hits with Cole driving in two runs as the Trojans advanced to play Emmaus in the semis with a 4-1 win over the Konkrete Kids.

Needing two more wins for a league championship, coach Kurt Weber turned the ball over to a duo of pitchers who had piggybacked well down the stretch. With Dylan Duborg on a pitch count after shoulder surgery, he and Sean Rivera had been paired together for Parkland and worked effectively down the stretch. In fact, the pair held Emmaus to just four hits and one run less than two weeks earlier during the regular season.

The Hornets (18-4) got their revenge in the semis on Tuesday with a 9-1 win over Parkland (15-6).

Duborg started and went just one-third of an inning before being lifted in favor of Rivera. The Hornets jumped on Duborg right out of the gate when Jaden Gallagher homered to right on the fifth pitch of the game to put Emmaus up 1-0. The Hornets went up 2-0 on two singles and a walk, pushing Duborg to the dugout in favor of Rivera, who allowed a sacrifice fly in the inning as Emmaus led 3-0 when Parkland came to the plate in the bottom of the first.

“You still need to win two games and he (DeLong) couldn’t pitch both,” said Weber. “I just felt like these guys have been really good. That combination did a really good job against Hazleton, and they did a really good job against Emmaus, so we looked to keep it rolling.”

In those two earlier games, Duborg and Rivera threw 13 innings, giving up 10 hits and six walks with 12 strikeouts and a combined ERA of 1.38 for the Trojans.

This time around, it was Emmaus senior Luke Deschenes who was in command on the mound, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing just one run on five hits and a walk.

Parkland did look to get things going against Deschenes throughout the game but came up short. In the second, a double-play put an abrupt end to the inning and in the fifth, a single by Matthew Razzis followed by two hit batters gave Parkland bases loaded with one out. Deschenes was able to collect himself and get the final two outs to work out of the jam.

“They were, by far, the better team today,” admitted Weber. “I think they did everything better than us and there’s not much for us to hang our hat on today.”

As they have done to opponents throughout the season, Emmaus continued to pile on runs throughout the game, adding three runs in the third and single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. Gallagher added a two-run single later in the game to finish with three RBI and sophomore Josiah Williams had three singles and a sacrifice fly to drive in three runs for the Hornets.

In the seventh, the Trojans were still ready to battle and refused to go quietly. With runners on first and second and two outs, Jesse Ruisch singled to drive in a run, but reliever Ryan Latchford, who had relieved Deschenes earlier in the inning, was able to get the final out of the game for Emmaus.

Parkland will now wait for the start of the District 11 playoffs, which get underway next week. Their first opponent is likely to be Northampton, a team that the Trojans defeated twice during the regular season before knocking them out in the EPC quarterfinals.

“We have to figure out a way to get better and any time we struggle like this, the only thing I know how to do is put hard work to it and we’ll go back to the drawing board and regroup,” said Weber, who will try to find a scrimmage for his team before the opening of districts on Monday.

Last season, Parkland and Emmaus both worked their way through districts to meet in the district finals where the Hornets won 7-6.