Baseball, girls soccer grab section leads

With wins last night, the EAHS baseball and girls soccer teams have both vaulted to the top of the Section Two standings in their respective sports. Here's a little more on each of them:



(Evan Gallagher, diving into base, and the Bears lead Section Two).
The baseball team hosted unbeaten Manheim Township last night and promptly handed the Blue Streaks their first loss of the season. In the process, E-town broke a three-way tie for the Section Two lead with Ephrata and Solanco. Before yesterday's games, all three were 6-3 in section games. E-town's win made them 7-3, while Ephrata lost to Cedar Crest 3-0 and Solanco fell to Warwick 19-1 in a game where they were no-hit. (Yes it's possible to score without getting a hit...a walk here, and error there).

Erick Baker has been E-town's ace on the mound all season and yesterday he pitched like it. Baker shut down the potent Township offense, allowing three runs on just three hits and earning the win. All three of Manheim's runs came in the top of the fifth with E-town leading 4-0. Baker struck out six, but struggled with command a bit, issuing six walks.

The offense for E-town did all of its scoring in one inning, breaking out for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Anthony Rivera homered for E-town, who had nine hits in the game.

E-town takes on Section One powerhouse Warwick tomorrow and will host Ephrata in an important section game on Friday at 4:15. Remember, Ephrata's just a game back of the Bears now, and they beat E-town 9-1 back on April 3, the Bears' most lopsided loss of the year.


(Courtney Peffley scored twice in E-town's 4-0 win over Garden Spot last night).
Not to be outdone, the girls soccer team continued its dominating season, beating Garden Spot 4-0 last night to retake the Section Two lead by a slim margin. The Bears are now 10-1-1 overall and 8-1-1 in section play. Lampeter-Strasburg, who handed E-town its only defeat of the season earlier this year, lost to Ephrata 3-0 last night and falls to 8-2 in section play, one point behind the Bears in the standings. In soccer, three points are awarded for a win, none for a loss and one for a tie. So the Bears have 25 points to L-S' 24.

E-town did all of its scoring in the first half, as Katie Leverentz scored the first two goals of the game, and Courtney Peffley added the second two. Leverentz now has 11 goals in 12 overall games, while Peffley has eight. They are the Bears' leading scorers this year.

Defense was there again, as E-town shut out its third straight opponent. They have allowed more than one goal just twice (a 3-2 win over Carlisle in their opener and a 4-2 defeat of Garden Spot back on April 1) and have five shutouts.

E-town has two HUGE games coming up. (Typing in all caps is a way of showing emphasis, sort of like the way Stephen A. Smith talks).

After taking on Lebanon tomorrow, E-town will host Ephrata Friday night at 7 p.m. The Mounts are 8-2 and still just a point behind E-town after beating L-S. E-town beat Ephrata 2-1 in overtime back on April 7.

And then, on Tuesday night, the Bears host L-S at 7 p.m. at Thompson Stadium in a game that will likely decide the section champion. L-S beat E-town 1-0 in overtime on April 9. Needless to say, those two games are about as important as a regular season game can possibly be. Should be good. I'll be there on Tuesday to cover the L-S game.

We're getting down to the wire in the regular season with lots of good section races shaping up. Should get interesting.

Until next time, stay classy Elizabethtown.

Cheers.