Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland players heard the questions over and over. Even as the 2009 Trojans were preparing for the PIAA Class 4A baseball title game, some people suggested they weren't as talented as the 2008 team that started 21-0.  'I don't believe that,' center fielder Ryan Korp, a member of both teams, said a couple of days before Parkland fell to North Penn in the state final. 'I think this team has as much talent as last year's.'

Debate the talent levels of the '08 and '09 Trojans all you want. No one can dispute that the '09 group accomplished more than any baseball team in Parkland history.  The Trojans won their third straight Lehigh Valley Conference title and a District 11 Class 4A championship this season. They also became the first Parkland baseball team to reach a state title game, making them an easy pick as The Morning Call's baseball team of the year.

Parkland wound up with a 21-7 record this season after losing 3-1 to North Penn in the state championship game at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona. Last year's team went 21-1, with its lone loss coming to Whitehall in the District 11 4A quarterfinals.  What helped this team have the postseason success that last year's group could not produce?

'I think last year's team, we got to a point where we relied totally on the pitchers,' Parkland coach Tony Galucy said a few days before the state final. 'We just came out and had this feeling of, 'The pitchers are going to throw their shutout. Let's just get one or two runs and the game's over.'

'This year, our pitching staff has been phenomenal. It's been really good. But our guys still know they have to score. This year it's more of everything, our offense and our pitching.'

The '09 Trojans also enjoyed their time with one another. Many of the holdover players agreed that the '08 team had good chemistry. This year's team chemistry was better.  You could see it the week of the state final. Before their next-to-last practice of the season, the Trojans were joking around and having fun. They seemed at ease while doing several rounds of interviews.

Sure, Parkland wound up one win short of becoming the first District 11 team to win a 4A state title in baseball. The Trojans still fought their way to every other goal they had.

'I kept telling the kids earlier this year, nobody expected Whitehall to win districts last year,' Galucy said during Parkland's playoff run. 'Sometimes, the most talented teams aren't the ones that win. It's the ones that can handle adversity and fight back.'