Parkland beats Liberty for District 11 title

Mother Nature turned off the faucet for a night and gifted the area baseball community with gorgeous weather on Thursday.

But Parkland and Liberty didn’t keep fans at DeSales University’s Butz Field at Weiland Park for very long.

In a game that lasted just one hour and 24 minutes, the Trojans and Hurricanes delivered a classic pitcher’s duel, and it was the Parkland pair of Sawyer Marsteller and Stephen Sepko that ruled the District 11 Class 6A championship.

They combined on a five-hitter, thrived while backed by an error-free defense, and were able to make a first-inning run stand up for a 1-0 victory and Parkland’s first district championship since 2015 and the program’s eighth District 11 gold overall.

It was the first 1-0 final in a District 11 baseball championship game since Saucon Valley beat Wilson 1-0 in eight innings in 1999.

It was also the Trojans’ third consecutive one-run win in the district tournament. The other two were walk-off wins. This time, the deciding run came before some in the crowd of about 500 could get settled.

“I really wish we wouldn’t have all of these one-run games because they are a little stressful, but we’re kind of comfortable in these games where we just scratch out a run and have to shut them down with our pitching and defense,” Parkland coach Kurt Weber said. “This is the way we’ve played all year long.”

Parkland’s first three hitters reached base against Liberty ace Michael Mariano Jr., who came into the game with a 10-0 record.

Connor Gerhart singled to left and moved to second on a walk by Brady Derr, and Will Dobil’s bunt single loaded the bases. Cleanup man Ben Weninger grounded to Hurricanes shortstop Willie Cruz, who turned a double play while Gerhart scored.

With so much game left, few thought that it would be the lone run in the game, but it was.

“That was a big first run,” said Gerhart, who joined Nathan Unger with two hits in Parkland’s seven-hit attack. “There was good pitching on both sides. I didn’t think it was just going to be that one run because we started off hot. When we get to states, we’ve got to keep it going.”

Both the Trojans (20-5) and the Hurricanes (20-6) are headed to the PIAA tournament on Monday. Parkland will host District 1’s No. 4 team, Neshaminy, while Liberty will travel to District 1’s runner-up, West Chester Henderson, at times to be announced.

Last year in the first round of the 6A tournament, Neshaminy’s Luke Schweiker and Steven Martin combined on a no-hitter in a 4-0 win over Liberty at DeSales.

The Hurricanes, who were denied in their bid for a third straight district title, will try to flip the script in the PIAA tournament after scoring just one run in their last games.

Meanwhile, Parkland is content to give the ball to one of several pitchers to get the job done.

Marsteller, who plays ice hockey for the Trojans’ club team, epitomizes the Parkland way on the mound — throw strikes, pitch to contact, and stay calm.

He worked six innings, allowed four hits, walked two, and struck out one. He threw 91 pitches, 52 for strikes. Liberty’s biggest threat was in the sixth when a Dylan Metzgar single and a single by Jaxon Horvath, one of his three hits in the game, put two on with one out.

Marsteller worked out of it with a fielder’s choice groundball to shortstop Dobil.

“I had a lot of confidence because I trust my defense a lot,” he said. “The defense made every single play imaginable. I could just throw whatever I had to, and I knew the defense would make the plays.”

Parkland pitching coach Randy Baer, a 1986 Trojans graduate who Weber said is the best pitching coach in the Lehigh Valley, works well with the entire staff. It’s a staff with a team ERA of 1.62 and four hurlers with at least three wins, led by Marsteller’s 7-0 mark.

“These kids are really determined, and they come in and they just love to pitch,” Baer said. “They want to get better every time out. I can’t ask for better guys. I call the pitches, and they put them where the pitch is called. They love the battle. They come into practice every day wanting to constantly throw.”

According to Baer, Marsteller’s key was throwing strikes and not getting rattled.

“We knew they were going to hit the ball because they’re a good team and they hit the ball and we saw that in the league championship game, but I told Sawyer not to let them get back-to-back hits,” Baer said. “Sawyer’s a competitive kid, a hockey player who loves to battle. He stayed calm.”

Sepko, who was the winning pitcher with three scoreless innings in relief in the 7-5 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship win over Liberty on May 17, gave up a lead-off single in the seventh to Adam Unangst, and Cruz moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. But a flyball to center and a popup to second baseman Derr finished it.

It was Parkland’s first title at the 6A level. When the Trojans beat Easton 4-3 for the 2015 title, 4A was the largest classification. They had lost six consecutive district finals, including the last two district finals to Liberty.

“I was talking to Todd Miller [the Southern Lehigh coach and Weber’s good friend] about it, and we said it’s hard to win both the league and district titles in the same year,” Weber said. “Todd’s team won the Colonial League, and neither of our teams played especially well right after that. There could be a little hangover, if you will, after you win the league. You get a little bit of satisfaction, a little bit of glory, and it’s tough to come back and stay hungry and get after it. My hat’s off to Liberty for being able to do it the last couple of years. But for us, it’s nice to finally get the gold because we’ve been right around it for a lot of years.”

Parkland 1, Liberty 0

Liberty 000 000 0 — 0 – 4 – 1

Parkland 100 000 0 — 1 7 0

Mariano and Pichardo; Marsteller, Sepko (7) and Morabito. W: Marsteller.

Originally Published: May 30, 2025 at 1:16 AM EDT