Bases-loaded triple delivers big Parkland win over Emmaus
Brenna Zavecz is normally a starter at first base for the Parkland softball team.
But because of an injured left foot, she sat on the Trojans’ bench for the first six innings of Thursday’s key Eastern Pennsylvania Conference game at Emmaus.
In a big spot in the top of the seventh, Parkland coach Barry Search asked Zavecz if she could play.
Zavecz, a junior, said she could, so Search sent her up to the plate with the bases loaded, and Zavecz cleared them with a booming triple to deep right.
The three-run triple capped a five-run uprising for the Trojans that broke up a 3-3 game and sent Parkland on to an 8-3 victory that should provide a momentum boost entering next week’s eight-team EPC tournament.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty with Brenna as to what’s going to happen with her foot, so that took guts for her to get up there and do that,” Search said. “When I walked up to her and asked her if she could play, I didn’t know how she’d answer. She said she could do it, and I thought it was wonderful she got that hit. I know she’s had pain and it has been uncomfortable for her, but when she hit the ball and ran around the bases I think the pain went away.”
Zavecz said she was just happy to help her team whether it was off the bench or on the field.
“I was just happy I could play in this game and make a difference in the score at the end,” she said. “It didn’t feel good to sit on the bench, but I love to support my team regardless of where I am. They’re my sisters, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
Zavecz said that when she got the assignment, she didn’t blink.
“I was just thinking this is the time, and it’s now or never and I’m just going to have to do it now,” she said. “It was one of my best hits of the season. It felt so amazing and I was so happy it made such a big impact.”
The Parkland bench erupted in celebration.
The Trojans had already taken the lead in the seventh on an RBI single by freshman Allison Hunsberger and another RBI single by Evelyn Montone, but Zavecz’s hit gave Parkland plenty of breathing room, and senior pitcher Ashlyn Hillanbrand was able to finish it off with help from a double play in the bottom of the seventh.
The Trojans, who have been in the shadows of EPC West Division rivals Northampton, Emmaus, and Whitehall most of the season, improved to 13-3 and 12-3 in the EPC with Whitehall to play Monday to close the league schedule. They are in a tight race for one
of the top four seeds and quarterfinal-round home on May 12 when the tournament is set to begin.
“Every game comes down to one inning, and today we came through,” Search said. “It’s gratifying to see because they work so hard. It has been one of those seasons. I mean it started off rough when in our first game our cleanup hitter and team captain Katie Gontkosky blew her knee out. It was against Abington Heights, and she hit a ball down to the fence and we would have gotten two runs on her hit, but she was crawling down the first-base line, and they got her out at first and we lost that game [3-1] and more importantly lost Katie. So, we’ve been battling adversity ever since.”
Emmaus beat Parkland 2-0 in their first meeting of the season on April 13. In that eight-inning
game, the Trojans were limited to five hits and struck out 10 times against Green Hornets ace Danika Barthol.
In the rematch, Barthol fanned 11, but Parkland collected 13 hits. The first five hitters in the Trojans order — Jenna Piatkiewicz, Hunsberger, Cassidy Sweeney, Shana Gugliandolo, and Montone combined for 12 of them and scored all eight runs and had five RBIs.
“I think we can be dangerous if we can stay focused,” Piatkiewicz said. “We just have to keep our heads in the game every play and not take any plays off.”
“This win is huge for us as a team because it brings our confidence up,” Gugliandolo said. “We’ve been down for a couple of games, but we came out here and had some fun and did a good job. I think we can do it in the playoffs if we just
believe in each other. We have a great team. We just need to come together.”
Emmaus (15-4, 12-3) now faces that same task.
“We just took too many called third strikes today,” said Green Hornets coach Rich Giering, whose team got four hits from leadoff batter Daria Krout, but just three from the rest of the team. “We had [Hillanbrand] in trouble right away when Daria tripled to start the bottom of the first inning but we couldn’t get her in. I told them that if they don’t want to swing the bats, we’ve got to play small ball and start bunting. They won’t like that, so we need to swing the bats more.”
Emmaus, which is also trying to secure a top-four seed, closes out the regular season at Allentown Central Catholic on Monday.