Spanitz sparks Whitehall past Emmaus
Other top seeds Parkland, Northampton and Freedom also advance to Monday’s semis
On Thursday morning at Whitehall High’s football stadium, four senior members of the Zephyrs softball team participated in a college signing recognition ceremony.
Later in the day, sophomore Jess Spanitz delivered a key two-run double to give those seniors a chance at leaving the program with an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship.
Spanitz’s big hit was part of a fourrun second inning for Whitehall and the Zephyrs never looked back in posting a 5-2 win over third-seeded Emmaus in the EPC quarterfinals.
With the win, Whitehall advanced to Monday’s semifinals at Patriots Park where they will meet No. 2 seed Northampton at 5 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader that will feature No. 1 seed Parkland against No. 4 Freedom in the nightcap.
The six-time defending champion Trojans advanced with a 6-0 win over Pocono Mountain East. Freedom beat Easton by the same 6-0 score and Northampton edged Stroudsburg 3-0.
Spanitz had three of Whitehall’s hits as the Zephyrs (19-2) won their 16th straight game after back-to-back losses to Parkland in early April.
“Jess has been tremendous,” Zephyrs coach Blake Morgan said. “She listens every day, works hard to get better every day. If you give her something to do, she’ll do it and she makes adjustments at the plate, which is tremendous.”
Spanitz had three of Whitehall’s seven hits. She later scored in the second on one of two Abby Vivian RBI hits.
“I just practice hard every day,” Spanitz said of the key to her success. “Everyone works hard no matter how hard they are or how young they are. I just want to help the seniors and the other girls succeed.”
The other Zephyrs’ run in the second was scored by Meghan Hutter who reached on a walk and scored on a wild pitch.
Emmaus had six hits off senior and Moravian College-bound Madison Cunningham, but Cunningham avoided giving up a big inning by stranding five runners. She walked just one and struck
out 10.
“Defensively we were really tight and that helped,” Cunningham said. “The young girls on this team have come a long way and that really helps us offensively.”
Lindsey Gawrys, who will be Cunningham’s roommate and teammate at Moravian, walked twice for Whitehall. After losing to Parkland in both the league quarterfinals and the District 11 6A title game as a sophomore in 2019, Gawrys is looking forward to coming away with some kind of title this spring.
“I like where we’re at right now,” Gawrys said. “I am looking forward to Moravian because it’s a great program, but first I want to finish this season strong and go as far as we can here. We have to get timely hits and stay together as a team. We just need to keep the energy up.”
Morgan has no doubt his players will give it their best shot when they get to Patriots Park.
“Emmaus was ready to play today and I think we pressed a little bit, but the young ones picked it up for us today and sometimes that’s what has to happen,” he said. “You need all nine on the field and everyone on the bench to win games at this time of year. We all have to pull together.”
It was the third time Whitehall beat Emmaus this season, but this one was much more competitive than the 7-0 and 10-2 results in mid-April. Lindsey Moreau homered for the Green Hornets and Daria Krout knocked in the other run with a single.
“This was a much better performance than the other times we played them,” Emmaus coach Britt D’Agostino said. “We showed more of what we are capable of today.”
The Green Hornets (12-9) had a fourgame winning streak snapped, but will still compete in the District 11 6A tournament. They will have to wait until May 25 or May 27 to get back into action.
“Our energy has improved in the last two weeks or so,” D’Agostino said. “The girls have the right mindset. It’s just a matter of putting it all together when we need to.”
Elsewhere in the EPC
Junior Kaitlyn Renson tossed a 3-hit shutout with 8 strikeouts in Northampton’s win over Stroudsburg. It was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when the K-Kids (17-2) scored three times. Junior Devyn Demchak’s two-run double broke it open.
Senior Jen Slanovec tossed a 1-hitter with 11 strikeouts in Freedom’s win over Easton. She also hit two home runs, including a grand slam to highlight a 5-run sixth inning. The Patriots improved to 16-4.
Senior Kate Zaun tossed a 1-hitter with 13 strikeouts and also doubled and knocked in two runs in Parkland’s victory over Pocono Mountain East. Jenna Piatkiewicz went 4-for-4 and knocked in two runs as the Trojans won their 12th straight and improved to 19-2.
EPC/Colonial League baseball
Liberty, Parkland, and Pleasant Valley all won their county division titles and will host games when the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference baseball tournament begins Saturday with four quarterfinal-round games at four different sites.
No. 1 seed Liberty (17-1, 15-1) will host No. 8 East Stroudsburg South (8-9, 8-8) at 2 p.m.
No. 2 Parkland (16-4, 14-2) will entertain No. 7 Pocono Mountain East (10-8, 9-7) at 11 a.m.
No. 3 Emmaus (15-5, 12-4) will welcome No. 6 Bethlehem Catholic (13-7, 9-7) at 11 a.m. and No. 4 Pleasant Valley will host No. 5 Easton (14-6, 11-5) at 2 p.m.
The higher seeds will also host semifinal games at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
The Liberty/ES South winner will play the Easton/Pleasant Valley winner and the Parkland/PM East survivor will take on whoever emerges from the Emmaus/Becahi game.
The championship game is set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Nazareth.
Colonial League
Colonial League baseball fans who want to see both quarterfinal-round games in the league tournament on Friday have a chance to do so since they are at different times.
At 4:30 p.m., No. 6 seed Palisades (12-7, 10-7 league) visits No. 3 Saucon Valley (15-3, 14-3).
At 7 p.m., No. 5 Palmerton (12-8, 11-7) takes on No. 4 Southern Lehigh (13-6, 13-5) at Limeport Stadium.
Both quarterfinal matches are the third meeting of the season between those teams. Saucon Valley swept Palisades
with both games, one on April 10 and the other on Wednesday, ending with 5-2 scores.
Southern Lehigh split its games with Palmerton, winning 18-2 at home on April 1 and losing the rematch Wednesday, 6-5 at Palmerton.
The winner of the Palisades/Saucon Valley game will play at No. 2 seed Notre Dame-Green Pond (16-4, 14-3) Monday in one semifinal. The Palmerton/Southern Lehigh winner will play at No. 1 seed Northwestern Lehigh (16-4, 15-3) on Monday in the other semifinal.
Both semifinals will start at 4:30 p.m. as will the championship game on Wednesday, which will be played at Saucon Valley even if the Panthers are involved in the title game.
Notre Dame has won three of the last six league championships, including the 2019 and 2017 titles. Southern Lehigh won the crown in 2018, Bangor won in 2016 and Saucon Valley took the gold in 2015.
Colonial League softball
It took until the very last possible day prior to the start of the tournament to sort it all out, but the Colonial League’s softball tournament is set with two games kicking things off Friday night at Allentown’s Patriots Park.
In Friday night’s Colonial League quarterfinal doubleheader, No. 6 seed Wilson(10-10, 8-8 league) will play No. 3 Palmerton (16-3, 14-2) at 5 p.m. with the nightcap at approximately 7 p.m. featuring No. 5 seed Southern Lehigh (12-7, 9-7) and No. 4 Notre Dame-Green Pond (12-6, 11-5).
The Wilson-Palmerton winner will face No. 2 seed and East Division champ Bangor (17-1, 15-1) in Tuesday’s semifinals. The Southern Lehigh-Notre Dame winner will face No. 1 seed and West Division champ Northwestern Lehigh (17-1, 15-1).
The championship game is slated for 5 p.m. May 20.
Palmerton is the defending champion, having won the title in 2019 with a 7-0 win over Notre Dame-Green Pond in the finals.