American Legion baseball: North Parkland wins Region 2 in wild, walk-off fashion

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If there were such a thing as Mr. North Parkland, it would be Terry Stoudt.

Stoudt, a 1956 Slatington High graduate now in his 80s, has coached North Parkland baseball and football for the majority of his adult life.

He loves baseball in particular, so he has to love the kids on the current North Parkland team because they love the game as much as he does.

Now, they'll get to play some more after winning the American Legion Region 2 title Tuesday night at Boyertown's Bear Stadium with a 6-5 walkoff win over Berks County champion Wilson West Lawn.

Leo Dauberman scored from third with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. A pickoff throw to an uncovered second base -- the shortstop arrived at the bag late -- sailed into center field, and Dauberman jogged home and into a mob of happy teammates as North Parkland completed a 4-1 tournament after winning the Lehigh Valley Legion title.

The Buffaloes will compete in the state tournament beginning Friday in Erie.

While Stoudt, who now serves in an advisory role, was beaming with pride as he got to hold the trophy, current head coach Jay Marakovits said he was emotional.

"I've been involved in legion baseball for 26 years and there aren't many moments you get like this," Marakovits said. "This is special."

Marakovits said the key to his team's success is balance.

"We've got pitching, defense, and hitting; we feel like we're strong in all three areas," Marakovits said. "We feel like we're strong through all 18 players. We're not a team that relies on one or two guys. We're a deep team and a cohesive team."

North Parkland needed everyone to hang together to bounce back from a 6-3 loss to Quakertown on Monday night.

Wilson West Lawn eliminated Quakertown 3-2 earlier on Tuesday and kept the momentum going by scoring three runs in the top of the second to erase an early 3-1 deficit.

North Parkland tied it in the bottom of the second thanks to an error, and it stayed 4-4 until the top of the sixth when Christo Hunsicker delivered a two-out, RBI double to deep left.

Noah Trager got the next batter on a grounder to third, and while it was Trager's last batter and he didn't figure in the decision, Marakovits considered him an unsung hero.

"The sign of a really good pitcher is on a day he doesn't have his best stuff, he went out there and gave us six innings," Marakovits said. "When Noah's on, he can easily give us a complete game. The way the first couple of innings went, we thought we'd be lucky to get him through three, four, maybe five innings. So for him to get through six and then Dauberman to close it out showed a lot of guts from both of those guys."

Trager, who graduated from Parkland in 2024 and spent this spring on the Marywood baseball team, said he was a little shaky in the beginning. He ended up allowing three earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out one.

"I didn't have my best stuff, unfortunately, but I battled and got through it," he said. "We got the win in the end and that's really all that matters."

Asked what makes the team is special, Trager said, "A lot of us have been playing together since we were really young. Maybe we were in third grade. We're like brothers, really. We come here every year and play our butts off. We like to win."

North Parkland tied the game on Nathan Unger's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.

Dauberman, who will play football at Muhlenberg, retired Wilson in order in the top of the seventh and then began the winning rally with a one-out walk. Gavin Mohry flew out to right for the second out and Steven Sepko, who knocked in the go-ahead run for Parkland High School in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title game against Liberty nearly two months ago, singled sharply to right to move Dauberman to third.

Aiden Henning walked to load the bases, bringing Andrew Beers to the plate. The count was 3-1 when Wilson pitcher Michael Bradley wheeled around and fired to second on a timing play, but the ball went into center and North Parkland went into celebration mode.

"We'll take it, we don't mind," Marakovits said. "We created that situation with a lot of quality of at-bats and patience."

Stoudt, who has battled health issues in the past year, said this is the kind of team that can bring North Parkland its first state title.

"We wouldn't be here without him," Marakovits said. "I told him this is for him when we got that last run. There's still more to come."