Parkland’s Hillanbrand handcuffs Emmaus
Perfect through four innings, Parkland pitcher Ashlyn Hillanbrand was hardly fazed when Emmaus’ Lindsey Moreau started the top of the fifth frame with an infield single.
“Hits happen,” Hillanbrand, a senior, said with a smile. “No problem.”
She immediately picked up where she left off and finished with a two-hitter in the second-seeded Trojans’ 3-0 win over archrival Emmaus, the No. 3 seed, in Tuesday’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals at Parkland High School.
Parkland (16-5) advances to meet the survivor of Tuesday’s second semifinal between No. 1 Northampton and No. 4 Bethlehem Catholic. The conference championship will be played at 5 p.m. Thursday at Patriots Park in Allentown.
From the first pitch to the last, Hillanbrand was in complete control against the Green Hornets.
She struck out the first two batters she faced and retired the first 12 hitters. Hillanbrand had five strikeouts and the perfect game through four innings.
Moreau started the top of the fifth frame with a slow ground ball that split first baseman Brenna Zavecz and second baseman Cassidy Sweeney. Sweeney dove to her left but the ball trickled out of her glove and Moreau reached with a single.
Hillanbrand retired the next six hitters before Emmaus’ Shayla Morgan led off the seventh with a single to center field. Hillanbrand set down the next three in order, including Mason Roselli on a flyout to right field to end it.
She struck out six.
“I threw a lot of fastballs, actually,” said Hillanbrand, who split two decisions vs. Emmaus in the regular season. “That’s always been my main pitch. It’s not really a straight fastball, we’ve noticed it has a little bit of a cut on it.
“I learned in our first two games against Emmaus I’ve got to stay on my game. Every inning. Every pitch. They’re great hitters. I can’t let up.”
Emmaus coach Rich Giering praised Hillanbrand for holding down the Green Hornets’ offense.
“She did a good job,” said Giering, in his first season at Emmaus. “They kept the ball inside. We talked about making adjustments, and we had a couple good at-bats in the last inning, but we needed to those adjustments sooner.”
All of Parkland’s offense came in the third inning.
Senior leadoff hitter Jenna Piatkiewicz ignited the rally with a one-out triple to deep right-center field. Allison Hunsberger was hit by a pitch. Sweeney stroked a line-drive RBI single to center field. Cleanup batter Shana Gugliandolo then delivered the big blow, a hard-hit two-run double to left field.
“I feel like it gave us the spark we needed,” Piatkiewicz said of her three-base hit. “It brought some energy to our team. I was trying to be aggressive and then our team really came through under pressure.
“Once we scored those three runs, all the pressure was on them. We liked our chances with Ashlyn.”
Lucia Ruimy had two hits for coach Barry Search’s Parkland squad, which is 16-3 in its last 19 games after an 0-2 start.
Danika Barthol pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts for Emmaus (17-5). The Green Hornets now get ready for the upcoming District 11 Class 6A tournament.
Parkland next prepares for Thursday’s EPC championship game, which is familiar territory. The Trojans captured six straight conference titles between 2014-19. (Freedom won the title in 2021.)
“We don’t know who we play yet,” Piatkiewicz said, “but no matter who we play we have to be in it every single pitch. We have to come ready to play. They’re both great teams. Whoever we go up against, we’re going to have to play our best game.”