Looking ahead

There are quite a few important things going on in the land of the Bears in the next couple of days, here's a brief look ahead.

The boys baseball team lost to Warwick yesterday, but they still hold a one-game lead in the section because Ephrata and Solanco also lost. Yesterday was the last of the Section One crossover games, and E-town went 4-2 in those games, which is certainly respectable.

So tomorrow, the Bears (side note: Magglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers just hit his second homer of the day....the fantasy baseball gods are smiling on me) where was I? Oh year, the Bears host Ephrata tomorrow at 4:15 p.m. As I said earlier, the Mounts are a game back of the Bears and they beat E-town 9-1 back on April 3. In fact, E-town is 0-2 so far against Ephrata and Solanco and 3-0 against the rest of Section Two. The Bears must get the best of the Mounts and the Mules in the second go round of section games.

There's a chance Ephrata could be seeing Erick Baker tomorrow, though it's doubtful since he just beat Manheim Township on Monday. Preston Faith may go, depending on his elbow. If neither of them can pitch, expect Steve Buller or Matt Frederick to get the start.

Softball:
Solanco padded its lead in Section Two a bit last night, squeaking by Cedar Crest 4-3 in nine innings. E-town, meanwhile, lost to Warwick 8-1 and is now 8-3 in the section. Solanco is 10-1 in the section, two full games ahead of the Bears with five games left. E-town will host Solanco on Monday May 5 at 7 p.m. in the park in both teams' section finales.

It's up in the air right now whether or not E-town can catch Solanco. Both teams are back to Section Two games, where Solanco has been dominant. How dominant? Well, in the first round of Section Two games, Solanco was a perfect 5-0 and outscored Section Two opponents by a combined score of 53-8. The only team that Solanco didn't 10-run was the Bears, who lost to them 6-2. E-town went 4-1 in Section Two the first time around, losing only to Solanco. These two are clearly the class of the section, but the Bears must now rely on Ephrata, Cocalico, CV or Garden Spot to knock off the Mares in the coming weeks to have a shot at a section co-championship.

Girls Soccer:
E-town throttled Lebanon last night 7-0 to maintain the Section Two lead. But there are a TON of scenarios for the section title. Let's break them down as simple as I can:
1) If E-town wins out, they are the section champs. Period. End of sentence. No ifs, ands or maybes.
2) That said, the Bears have a very tough stretch coming up. Tomorrow night they get Ephrata, who is 9-2 in section play and just one point behind E-town. And then on Tuesday, they will host L-S, who is 8-3 and in third place, just three points behind the Bears. If E-town loses to Ephrata or L-S, things get very, very tricky (think back to the winter with the million boys basketball scenarios late in the season). But we'll cross that bridge when (or if) we get there. For now, E-town controls its fate. And tomorrow's game is their most important of the season.

The Lady Bears are playing their best soccer of the year right now, riding a season-high five game winning streak. Over this stretch, they've outscored their opponents 19-1, and have recorded four straight shutouts. Yowza. They beat Ephrata 2-1 in OT back on April 7 and lost to L-S 1-0 in OT on April 9.

I'll check in tomorrow with a look at the other E-town teams.

Cheers.