ALLENTOWN – The William Allen baseball team finds themselves in uncharted territory as Rob Leskosky’s squad shocked everyone last week with a lopsided 11-0 victory over Whitehall for the EPC championship. Now the Canaries gear up for a Wednesday afternoon District 11 Class 6A quarterfinal matchup with Easton.
After earning the program’s first league title since 1991 last Tuesday, no one was prouder than their head coach, and his players were elated they could deliver a championship to a man who’s meant so much to their development.
“We have gotten so many teams’ number ones regardless of our record over the last few years,” Leskosky said. “We just feel like hey, whoever you throw out there, we have a chance to go out and get you. We’re gonna battle. Our pitchers are gonna keep us in games, you know late into games. And we’ve just gotta keep things close and we feel like we can get teams late in the game, get into their bullpens and do whatever we’ve gotta do-scratch across that extra run just to make sure we win.”
Eager to prove their EPC title wasn’t a fluke, the squad turns their attention to District 11 play.
“Winning that EPC championship just gives us the motivation,” said junior Davien Orozco. “We definitely could go win districts if we just put our mind to it, keep playing how we’ve been playing all year, keep our head.”
In addition to their success and talent on the field, Allen also prides themselves on being a very respectful team.
“We talk about the reputation of you know, the stigma of what Allen High School is, you know being an inner city and our kids just blow that away,” Leskosky said. “It’s one of my favorite things about this. You know, wins are great. Relationships are great. But our kids getting a chance to be seen for who they are and being such great kids, just puts these kids on a different stage and it kind of breaks that mold.”
Allen will host the quarterfinal round game against the Red Rovers on Wednesday with the winner taking on either Parkland or Northampton in the semifinal round.