One of the two Parkland High School baseball team’s losses during the 2023 regular season, its biggest deficit to date as well, was to Nazareth, 13-3 back on April 10. The Trojans and Blue Eagles met just that one time during the regular season, but were matched up again for a second time in the District 11 6A tournament.

This time around it was a different story as Parkland went on top early and then held on to take down Nazareth 7-6 in the semifinal round last Sunday afternoon at DeSales University. The second-seeded Trojans advanced to take on top-seeded Liberty in the district final, a rematch of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship game two weeks ago. The game was played Wednesday night back at DeSales, after Press deadline.

The final score proved to show a lot closer of a game than it was the first six innings as Parkland jumped out to a 7-1 lead after four innings and was ahead 7-2 entering the seventh and final frame. But the Blue Eagles put together a four-run inning and almost completed the comeback before Bo Barthol came in from center field to record the final two outs of the game and seal the victory for his team. Owen DeLong threw six strong innings, allowing four runs before being pulled in the top of the seventh.

The Trojans opened the scoring in the first inning, scoring three runs with two outs. Barthol got things going with a single, then stole second base and reached third on a wild pitch. That was followed by walks to Matt Razzis and Jaiden Wanamaker, which loaded the bases. Louis Inserra followed with a two-run single to put his team on top 2-0. Will Dobil tripled in the second and came around to score on an RBI single by Michael Cole for a 3-0 advantage.

After a scoreless third inning, Nazareth got on the scoreboard with a run in the top of the fourth. But the Trojans quickly answered, sending home four runners in the bottom-half of the frame. Dobil, Cole and Barthol each singled to load the bases. Razzis plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Wanamaker then sent a double over the head of the left fielder to drive in two more runs, and Inserra made it 7-1 with an RBI single up the middle.

Inserra and Cole both finished 3-for-4 at the plate, while Dobil, Barthol and Wanamaker all had two hits.

The game with the Hurricanes in the final is a rubber match, as Parkland beat them during the regular season, but lost in the EPC final.