Easton's American Legion baseball season came to a crashing halt on Sunday morning.
The Northampton County runners-up were victimized by 21 North Parkland hits and also had its manager Mickey Corpora get ejected in a demoralizing 13-3 loss in a Region 2 tournament losers bracket game at Bears Stadium.
The game was stopped after seven innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
North Parkland (26-5), the Lehigh County champion, advances to play Sunday night's Boyertown-Nazareth loser at 12:30 today. Easton finishes 18-12.
Shortstop Aidan Flynn paced North Parkland's attack by going 4-for-6 with three runs and two RBIs. First baseman Brett Kosciolek was 3-for-3 and drove in four runs.
North Parkland did much of its damage off Easton starting pitcher John Spadoni, who allowed nine runs and 12 hits in three-plus innings. Spadoni was coming off a complete game victory over Nazareth on Tuesday in Game 2 of the NorCo championship series.
"Johnny didn't have it," Corpora said. "He was up in the zone. He had his normal rest. I'm not sure if the Nazareth game took something out of him. (North Parkland) hit the ball."
It's safe to assume Corpora and home plate umpire Jan Tashman won't be exchanging Christmas cards anytime soon.
With North Parkland cruising to a 12-0 lead in the top of the sixth, Flynn stole third when Easton pitcher Ryan Statham inadvertently went into his windup before delivering a pitch.
Baseball protocol generally states that you don't steal with a huge lead. On the next pitch, Statham plunked Parkland catcher Kevin Jones in the helmet. Tashman immediately said something to Statham, which prompted Corpora to charge onto the field.
Corpora felt that Tashman handled the situation inappropriately and was subsequently ejected.
"I'm an umpire, too, and I told him he should have talked to me instead of talking to my players first," Corpora said. "This is the first game I've been thrown out of in maybe 30 years. He wasn't throwing at him. We don't play baseball that way.
"He (Tashman) is the same guy who blew a call at first base that cost us the game (Saturday). He didn't even ask for help. He just walked away."
According to Corpora, the fact that Statham went into his windup made it perfectly acceptable for Flynn to steal.
"Any time the pitcher goes into his windup, no matter what the score is, you take the next base," Corpora said. "(Flynn) was only doing his job. Ryan even told me he made a mistake by winding up."
Easton went into the game shorthanded. It played without first baseman Greg Anastasides and shortstop Malin Loebsack, who were away on vacation.
Third baseman Jake Lisinicchia had three of Easton's five hits. Right fielder Ryan Amentler had an RBI single in the seventh inning.
"These kids played hard the whole year," Corpora said. "I can't ask for anything more. We were down to 12 guys but those 12 guys played hard. We had no big boppers on this team, just a bunch of singles hitters. Going to wooden bats this year made us better coaches because it made us teach the kids to play the right way."
NORTH PARKLAND (ab-r-h-bi) -- Evans cf-lf 3-3-2-0, Lessel ph-lf 1-0-0-0, Flynn ss 6-3-4-2, Merkle c 2-2-1-1, Jones c 0-0-0-0, Kosciolek 1b 3-1-3-4, Helfrich ph-1b 2-0-0-0, Jones rf 2-0-1-1, Weaver cf 3-1-2-1, Afflerbach dh 4-0-1-0, Mosser 3b 4-0-2-2, Flynn 2b 4-1-1-0, Vasilik lf-rf 5-2-3-1, Kern p-2b 2-0-1-0. Totals 41-13-21-12.
EASTON (ab-r-h-bi) -- Naiden cf 3-1-1-0, Lisinicchia 3b 4-1-3-0, Beinlich ss 3-1-0-1, Raisner lf 2-0-0-0, Spadoni p 1-0-0-0, Veres 2b 1-0-0-1, Amentler rf 3-0-1-1, Statham 2b-p 3-0-0-0, Kosa 1b 3-0-0-0, Stone c 3-0-0-0. Totals 26-3-5-3.
N. Parkland 320 412 1--13 21 1
Easton 000 003 0--3 5 3
E -- Ai. Flynn, Lisinicchia, Beinlich, Raisner. LOB -- North Parkland 13; Easton 6. 2B -- Vasilik 2, Ai. Flynn, Kosciolek; Lisinicchia. SF -- Mosser, Veres. SB -- Evans, Ai. Flynn, Al. Flynn; Beinlich.
Roland, Kern (6), Helfrich (6) and Merkle, Jones (5); Spadoni, Statham (4) and Stone. W -- Roland. L -- Spadoni. SO-BB -- Roland 7-1, Kern 0-1, Helfrich 0-1; Spadoni 2-0, Statham 1-2. WP -- Helfrich; Spadoni. HBP -- by Spadoni (Merkle); by Statham (Jones 2).
Records: North Parkland 26-5; Easton 18-12.