After North Parkland got shutout by Northampton County champion Wanderers in their opening game of the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 2 playoffs, the Buffaloes came back and scored five against host team Boyertown, but it still was not enough. The Buffaloes lost their first two games and were eliminated quickly in the tournament held at Boyertown High School.

In the opener this past Saturday, Wanderers scored four in the second and added two more in the third to take a quick 6-0 lead. On the mound, Wanderers pitcher Evan Applegate had everything working and after the Buffs loaded the bases with two outs in the first, he only allowed two other runners to reach second in the game. Applegate also struck out seven. The game ended with Applegate retiring seven of the eight batters he faced and the only player to reach base reached on an error. Owen Ness had two hits in the game for North Parkland.

“We struggled today,” said Jay Marakovits, the acting head coach of the Buffaloes. “It’s no excuse, but it was a long day because of the weather and there were a lot of uncertainties. We ran into a good pitcher, and he was throwing really well today.”

On Sunday, North Parkland played Boyertown and had offense, but the pitching struggled. The Bears downed Parkland 7-5 when they scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning. After the game there was some controversy when it was pointed out to the Parkland bench that Boyertown had made an illegal substitution in the eighth inning.

Gavin Slaughter had opened as the designated hitter for Boyertown, but left the game when Elijah Calvert was inserted to play third base and bat in Slaughter’s spot in the order. In the eighth, Slaughter stepped to the plate to open the inning and drew a walk against Nick Lindenmuth even though he was ineligible to return to the game. The move was never appealed by North Parkland and the Bears went on to score two runs and end the game.

“We weren’t aware that had happened and it wasn’t pointed out, so we didn’t say anything,” said Marakovits when he was told of the move.

The problem came because North Parkland was not keeping a scorebook on their bench because the official scorer is in the press box and is not associated with any of the teams. The official scorer is not permitted to point out errors such as an illegal substitution, nor are the umpires.

“We thought that because there was an official scorer, there was no need to keep a book,” said Marakovits.

After the game ended, the play could no longer be appealed, so the at-bat and the rest of the inning was allowed to stand.

For the tournament, the Buffaloes hit .190 (11-58) and struck out 16 times. Their pitchers posted an ERA of 9.00 and issued 11 walks with seven strikeouts.