ALLENTOWN - The Carbon Monarchs finished the Lehigh Valley Legion regular season at 5-7, and hoped for a run in the Legion tournament.

But, those hopes ended Wednesday night when the Monarchs fell to South Parkland, the top seeded team in the playoffs, 8-4.

After falling to North Parkland in the postseason opener of the double elimination tournament, Carbon had to face an even stronger South Parkland team, which lost its opener to Salisbury. The meeting meant that the loser would be heading home for the rest of the summer.

Things started out well for Carbon, as Jared Joyce picked up a one-out double in the first inning to put early pressure on South Parkland starter Owen Lehr. Jared Marykwas then drove in Joyce with an RBI single to put Carbon on the board with a 1-0 edge.

Marykwas, who served as Carbon’s starting pitcher, got through the first inning, but ran into trouble in the second when Parkland opened the inning with three singles, a triple and a base on balls, resulting in four runs for the Trojans. Center fielder Max Hoffman gunned down a runner at third for the first out, and Marykwas came back to get the next two batters, but by that time South Parkland jumped out to a 4-1 lead.

“They were able to bunch some hits against us in that inning. Not all of the balls were hard hit, but they found open spaces, and they were able to do some damage,” said coach Joe Marykwas.

Garrett Lienhard was able to use his speed to manufacture a run, as the Monarchs came right back in the top of the third to make it a 4-2 game. Lienhard reached on an infield single, and promptly stole second, before moving to third on a fly ball by Joyce. From there, all it took was a ground ball to second by Marykwas, and Carbon had a run back.

The Monarchs had visions of chipping away at the lead, but the Trojans blurred those visions when they came right back in the bottom of the third. Three singles and several stolen bases brought two runs across for South Parkland as it rebuilt its lead to 6-2. In total, Parkland runners swiped 11 bases, while Carbon stole seven as both teams used their speed to put runners in scoring position.

Parkland made it 7-2 with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but again, the Monarchs showed that they weren’t going to go quietly. Michael Cadogen-Daugherty led off with an infield single, and stole second and third ahead of a walk by Hoffman. Another infield single, this time by David Berger, made it 7-3 and with two outs, Hoffman stole both third and home to make it a 7-4 contest.

Controversy struck in the bottom of the inning when with one out and a runner on second, Jack Giovenco looked to take first on a dropped third strike. Giovenco and first baseman Joyce were involved in a violent collision that sent Joyce to the ground, allowing the ball to come free. Andrew Keller, who had advanced to third on the play, raced home to score the eighth run of the game for South Parkland. The umpires ruled that Joyce lost the ball when he was attempting to take it out of his glove, which allowed Keller to score. Carbon coach Marykwas saw it differently.

“Their guy ran into our guy after making the out and dislodged the ball,” said Marykwas. “They let the run score from third, and that didn’t make sense to me because my belief is that’s obstruction, and it should have been a dead ball, and the guy should have stayed on third. That was my point, which they didn’t want to hear.”

Lehr was able to put the Monarchs down in order in the top of the seventh.

STILL A GOOD SEASON

... All season long, Carbon manager Joe Marykwas dealt with a short roster that left him little room to maneuver. Fortunately, he had a roster full of dedicated players who showed up for games and were ready to play. “Overall, it was a good season. We have guys who wanted to be here, and they took it seriously; they all got along, and I’m very happy with this group of guys. They were an easy team to coach.”

THAT HURT

... Joyce went down hard after the sixth-inning collision, and was on the ground for some time before getting to his feet. He came away from the play with a bloody lip, but was able to stop the bleeding and finish the game. As part of the shuffling due to a thin roster, Joyce started the game at first, and went to right field for an inning after a pitching change, before returning to play first base.

Monarchs 101 002 0 - 4 6 1

S. Parkland 042 011 x - 8 10 4

Marykwas, Frank (4) and Frank, Kocher (4); Lehr and Giovenco. W – Lehr, L - Marykwas.