Parkland High School Baseball

Two Lehigh Valley Conference titles and one undefeated regular season had led to zero District 11 titles for Parkland over the last two seasons.  After graduating their top three pitchers from last year, the Trojans finally added district gold to an LVC crown this season.

Casey Cooperman, the one pitcher Parkland expected to front its rotation when this season began, continued his late-season brilliance Friday against his team's No. 1 rival. He struck out 12 in a two-hit complete-game shutout to lead the second-seeded Trojans to a 3-0 win over fourth-seeded Emmaus in the District 11 Class 4A baseball final at Sammy Balliet Stadium.

The district championship is Parkland's first since baseball added a 4A classification in 2005. Parkland's last district title came as a Class 3A team in 2003.  'This feels like it gets the monkey off our back,' Parkland coach Tony Galucy said. 'My first year here, we won it in 2003. Now it's 2009. You had to wait six years for another one. The opportunity was in front of us tonight, and boy, these kids came up huge.'

Parkland will open play in the PIAA Class 4A tournament Monday with a first-round game against Pennridge, the District One No. 3 qualifier, at 2:30 p.m. at Sammy Balliet Stadium. Emmaus ended its season at 19-4, finishing second to Parkland (18-6) for both the LVC and district titles.  Emmaus had little chance Friday against Cooperman. With one of his best fastballs of the season and a wicked slurve, he limited the Green Hornets to two singles and walked none. He overmatched the heart of Emmaus' lineup, striking out three-four-five hitters Dan Johnson, John Barr and Brandon Wilt seven times while holding them hitless in nine at-bats.

The complete-game win was the fourth straight for Cooperman (5-3). His hot streak started with a no-hitter against Freedom and included a three-hit shutout of Nazareth in the district quarterfinals.  Friday's effort was his best yet considering the circumstances. So much for the slow start he had after opening the year as Parkland's No. 1 pitcher in place of the departed Joe Candelmo, Cody Weiss and Dan Moller.  'Working on different things at home, in the basement, working on my mechanics, has definitely helped,' Cooperman said. 'Other than that, I've just been going out there throwing and having fun.'

Said Emmaus coach John Schreiner: 'The kid threw a heck of a game. We had chances, and we couldn't get him. The kid threw strikes and he struck us out.'  Parkland gave Cooperman an early lead as catcher Jon Gabriel (2-for-2) had an RBI single and Joe Abeln added an RBI groundout in the first. Ryan Korp's solo homer in the fourth gave the Trojans their final run.  Emmaus had its biggest threat in the fifth with runners at the corners and no outs. Cooperman helped squash the rally by fielding a comebacker and firing to third to get Chris Clay for the first out.

Parkland first baseman Mike Tenaglia ended the inning with a diving stop of Kyle Gable's liner, stranding two runners in scoring position.  Cooperman breezed from there, with an error accounting for Emmaus' only baserunner in the last two innings.  'I pretty much just put my mitt out and helped him out on a few calls,' Gabriel said. 'For the most part, I didn't have to work too hard.'

Emmaus0000000–020
Parkland200100X–363
Knerr, Groh (6) and B. Wilt; Cooperman and Gabriel.

PARKLAND 3
EMMAUS 0