EAHS round-up

(Preston Faith and the Bears have been tough so far this season.)

Sorry for the lack of posts the past couple of days, but I'm back now, so lets take a look at how the EAHS spring sports teams have fared over the past week or so.

Baseball
We knew that E-town had strong pitching going into the season and, so far, their hurlers have really been dominant. On Monday, Preston Faith pitched a complete-game two-hitter as E-town beat Carlisle 5-2 and Erick Baker followed that up with a complete-game three-hitter yesterday as the Bears beat Donegal 7-3. Pitching is a major reason why E-town is off to a 3-0 start, but E-town has also played solid defense behind those pitchers and it hitting well. The Bears have at least seven hits in all three games so far this year.

I think that 10 run outburst in their first game that helped them beat Hershey was a big momentum builder for this team and that they are going to be tough for anyone in Section Two to beat.

Softball
E-town has had some defensive issues the past two games and have lost them both,to fall to 1-2 on the season. On Monday, E-town committed eight errors in a 7-4 loss to Carlisle and yesterday, E-town had eight errors again in a tough 13-inning loss to crosstown rival Donegal. The Bears have plenty of power in the lineup (Anna Libby has 2 homers and Becca Bigler has one) and have strong enough pitching to limit teams to low run totals, but they've got to clean up their defense. I think they will and that they'll get back on track beginning on Monday at Ephrata.

Girls Soccer
E-town is 2-0 now, after beating Solanco 2-0 on Tuesday afternoon. That powerful E-town defense flexed its muscle on Tuesday, limiting Solanco to just two shots. The Bears probably aren't going to put up six or seven goals a game, but they have enough offensive weapons to score three on any given night and that will be enough to make them tough to beat, especially with their defensive ability.

Track
Well, color me impressed at the boys and girls track teams. They looked good on Tuesday and both beat Donegal pretty handily. The boys have some serious sprinters on that team and if you blink during their 400 relay race, you'll miss them. They're that fast. But I think what will make them good this year is their depth. They have talent everywhere – throws, distance, jumps, hurdles, pole vault, sprints.

As for the girls, they looked good as well. Donegal won the majority of the sprinting events, but E-town controlled the throwing and jump events. It's a good sign for the Bears to see some freshman girls like Audrey Bamford and Ann Romanauskas win events at their first varsity meet.

Boys Tennis
The boys have started with two victories. (Side note: E-town's strong athletic year has continued through at least the start of the spring. As of today, the eight EAHS varsity teams have a combined record of 11-3 – with six unbeaten teams. Granted, it's still VERY early, but that a good start nonetheless. And now that I've jinxed them, expect a losing streak from everyone. Hey, just look at my NCAA brackets. Actually, don't, it's embarrassing. Sorry, I'm rambling). E-town gutted out a 4-3 win over Hempfield on Monday to start their season, and dominated McCaskey 7-0 on Tuesday to move to 2-0.

Boys Volleyball
E-town is 1-0 thanks to a 3-2 win over Ephrata on Tuesday. The Bears won the first two games before dropping the next two and sending it to a fifth game. In the fifth, E-town rolled 15-9 to secure the win. Michael Cicero had 17 kills and David Kreiser had six blocks.

Now that you're up to speed, I'll try and post more frequently to avoid long, borderline incoherent posts like this one. Back later today with track and volleyball season previews.

Until next time, stay classy Elizabethtown.

Cheers.