RECAP >> On Friday night, Hannah Palinkas and her fellow seniors celebrated one of the biggest nights of their school year — the Senior Prom.
A little over 24 hours later on the softball field, they were celebrating one of the biggest wins in program history.
Thanks to an outstanding complete-game pitching effort from Palinkas and timely hitting, the Emmaus girls softball team finally, yes finally, put an end to a long losing streak against their arch-rival as they defeated the Trojans 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at Parkland High School.
“It is an amazing feeling to finally beat such a tough team like Parkland,” said Palinkas, who earned her first career win against the Trojans. “I couldn’t have pulled off the win without my amazing defense behind me.”
Palinkas scattered seven hits, walked just two and struck out nine, including a strike out to end the game that set off a wild celebration inside the circle.
The victory was the first for Emmaus against Parkland since 2012, snapping a 14-game losing streak to their longtime nemesis.
“I couldn’t be prouder of these girls,” said Hornets second year head coach Brittany D’Agostino, who served as an assistant at Parkland for four years before coming to Emmaus. “They have worked extremely hard for months now. These kids have so much determination and don’t plan on backing down anytime soon. Best part is they are having fun while doing it.”
And the Hornets are winning.
Emmaus, which improved to 11-4 in the EPC and 13-6 overall, capped off five-game in six-day stretch with its third straight win. The Hornets started the week with a pair of losses to Northampton (2-0) and Perkiomen Valley (8-5), but followed it up with three straight wins over Whitehall (4-2), Stroudsburg (5-2) and yesterday’s win over Parkland.
“This is the best group of girls I have ever coached and I’m genuinely having a blast,” said D’Agostino. “This win means even more for these seniors. They have been wanting to beat Parkland for a very long time. I’m simply the happiest coach right now.”
The Hornets never trailed in the game as they scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning against one of the top pitchers in the league, Trojans senior Kelly Dulaney.
Palinkas helped her own cause by driving in the game’s first run on a RBI double to center scoring courtesy runner Kira Ryan from second base. Ryan was running for senior catcher Abby Bartels who reached on a one-out double.
Emmaus then added to its lead one out later as freshman Summer Lenhart drove in what proved to be the game-winning run with a line drive single to right scoring sophomore Carly Anderson who was running for Palinkas.
Parkand, which entered the game on a 14-game win streak, was able to cut the Hornets lead to 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Emmaus responded with a big insurance run one inning later on a RBI single from senior Jordyn Bruckler (2-for-3).
“We had the timely hits we needed, and really stayed together as a team,” said Palinkas. We have worked really hard for this, and are going to continue the hard work into the post season.”
Parkland, which finished 24-4 a year ago and reached the PIAA State Championship game, dropped to 14-2 in the league and 17-2 overall with the loss.
Emmaus will close out their regular season on Monday at 4 p.m. as they travel to Pates Park for the first time this season taking on Central Catholic (2-13 EPC, 3-13 overall)
Emmaus – 000 201 0 – 3-8-1
Parkland – 000 010 0 – 1-7-0
Hannah Palinkas and Abby Bartels; Kelly Dulaney and G. Schick
Em – Kresley LF 1-3, P. Sisonick RF 0-4, M. Sisonick SS 0-4, Bartels C 2-3, Palinkas P 1-3, RBI; Bruckler 1B 2-3, RBI; Lenhart 1-3, RBI; Hark 2B 0-3, Trexler CF 1-2
Pa – Snyder RF 1-4, Klass SS 1-3, Dulaney P 0-4, RBI; Hlay 1B 1-3, Fenstermaker 3B 0-2, Polash 0-1, Druckenmiller 1-2, Schick C 1-3, Ondrejca 2B 0-2, Superka 0-1, Rivera LF 1-2