Barry Search has been the head softball coach at Parkland for 13 seasons and was an assistant with the Trojans for 20 years before that.
He has seen a lot of softball and won a lot of championships, and he got one another on Thursday night when Parkland beat Northampton 3-1 for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title.
Search has always been honest in evaluating his teams and he admits that he has had more talented squads than this one. But talent doesn’t always equate to harmony and Search said that sometimes in some years “going to practice was a bit of a burden.”
That is not the case with this year’s team, which Search says he can’t wait to wait to get to practice to be around.
“They’re just quality, super kids to work with,” he said. “They want to be there and they want to work hard and that’s why they’ve come such a long way since the start of the season. I was so happy for them that they won that championship.”
The unselfish nature of the team was revealed recently. Search had to submit someone to the EPC as a scholar-athlete nominee.
“Both Kate Gontkosky and Cassidy Sweeney have very high GPAs, very similar,” Search said. “So I told them I can only put one name in. Cassidy said ‘Put Katie in because I’ve had the chance to play the whole season and she hasn’t.’ That’s the kind of kid we have.”
Gontkosky, who was expected to be the team’s starting first baseman and one of its best hitters, suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of the season against Abington Heights.
Sweeney, who is headed to the University of South Carolina but will not continue her softball, said the team wouldn’t be where it is without the support of Gontkosky at every practice and game.
“That’s why winning the championship felt so good to do it together as a team,” said Sweeney, who is batting .524 with 11 of her 33 hits going for extra bases. “Ever since we had our setbacks at the beginning of the season, we’ve been bringing the energy and playing for each other. The losses we had early were lessons we had to learn from. Coming together as one has really meant a lot.”
Parkland (17-5) has won 13 of its last 15 games and will host either Easton or Pleasant Valley on Thursday in the District 11 6A quarterfinals.
Last year marked the first time since 2013 that the Trojans didn’t win either a league or district gold. Even in 2020, when the pandemic eliminated the entire high school season, Parkland won the high school tournament title that was held that summer as a consolation prize for all of the players who missed the season, especially the seniors.
Sweeney said she is looking to end her Parkland career with a bang.
“If we bring the same momentum, the same energy, the same drive, we can go far,” Sweeney said. “Thursday will be our last home game and that will give us more energy and more drive to win that game.”
Player of the Week
Ashlyn Hillanbrand, Parkland
No area high school softball program has had more great pitchers over the years than Parkland. Just when you think the pipeline is running dry, another fresh arm shows up in the pitching circle to open eyes.
The latest is Ashlyn Hillandrand, who had an EPC tournament to remember. In three games — wins over Freedom, Emmaus, and Northampton — Hillanbrand allowed just one run and nine hits in 20 innings. She walked just one and struck out 20, capping things off with a four-hitter in the EPC title game.
“It felt great; honestly I still don’t think it has hit me fully,” she said at the team’s practice on Saturday morning. “I had a lot of adrenaline. It was exciting. But I don’t know that I’ve felt the shock yet. I just know that we did it.”
Hillanbrand has done a lot of good things throughout the course of her senior season. She has every decision for her team in a 17-5 season and has a 1.54 ERA with 33 walks and 127 strikeouts in 136? innings.
She waited her turn behind Katie Zaun last year, and Hillanbrand learned a lot from Zaun, who had a stellar freshman year at East Stroudsburg University, where she went 12-6 with a 1.62 ERA and set a school record with 166 strikeouts in earning all-PSAC second-team honors.
“Katie had a great mindset going into games,” Hillanbrand said. “She was never too headstrong or big-headed about how she did. She was always confident in her ability and looked to others to pick her up when something happened. She always had a smile on her face and never got down. I try to do the same thing.”
Second baseman Sweeney said Hillanbrand has become a great pitcher.
“Everyone had their doubts after the season we had last year [with Zaun], but she has pulled through and become an amazing pitcher,” Sweeney said.
Hillanbrand said that as the team has gotten stronger, she has improved as well.
Against Northampton, which beat Parkland twice during the regular season, Hillanbrand said she had to stay focused, especially when the Konkrete Kids had the bases loaded and none out in the first inning.
She plans to keep that focus as Parkland embarks on another title turn.
“Our team has worked so hard for this and I know how much the other girls want it to, so it would be really big for us,” Hillanbrand said.
College corner
Lehigh went 1-2 in its NCAA Regional in Seattle. The Mountain Hawks lost twice to No. 13 seed Washington, 9-2 and 6-1, but did rally with three runs in the seventh inning to beat Weber State.
“We battled in the first game against Washington on Friday,” Lehigh coach Fran Troyan said. “It got away a little bit from us at the end. We showed incredible resiliency against Weber State. We had adversity and we fought through it. We were the comeback kids. We battled really hard against Washington. It was a close game until that last inning or so. I could not be more pleased.”
Lehigh finished 31-20-1.
Lehigh-Carbon Community College enjoyed a rebirth of its program after it was shut down for two years due to COVID-19, The Cougars went 17-9, losing to Brookdale Community College twice in the Region XIX tournament.
The team hit .350 as a team with 14 home runs.
Leading the was freshman Megan Green, a Palmerton product who was The Morning Call’s co-offensive player of the year last year. Green hit .500 with 23 extra-base hits with eight home runs and 51 RBIs. Caroline Rivera, a Parkland grad, batted .557 with 10 extra-base hits, and Samantha Gruber, a Lehighton grad, batted .375.
Kutztown University had a 40-15 season come to an end with a pair of losses to Seton Hill in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Super Regional held at Kutztown. Freshman Sarah Harvat, a Bangor grad, was a member of the team and played in 21 games with a home run and six RBIs.
Softball’s Top 10
Rank, Team, Record, Last time
1. Parkland, 17-5, 2
2. Northampton, 21-2, 1
3. Emmaus, 17-5, 3
4. Beth. Catholic, 16-4, 4
5. Bangor, 15-7, 9
6. Whitehall, 14-7, 6
7. NW Lehigh, 16-4, 5
8. Southern Lehigh, 16-6, 7
9. Stroudsburg, 15-5, 10
10. Palisades, 13-7, 8
Others to watch: Easton (10-10), Freedom (12-9), Nazareth (13-8), Northern Lehigh (13-8), Palmerton (13-8), Pen Argyl (12-8).
We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing. Already a print subscriber? If you haven’t already, please activate your digital access.
