Rain Outs

The rain has brought about some cancellations today. Here they are:

Baseball: E-town vs. Cocalico, postponed to Tuesday, April 29 at 4:15 p.m.

Softball: E-town @ Cocalico, postponed to Tuesday, April 29 at 7 p.m.

Boys and Girls Track: E-town vs. CV, postponed to Wednesday, April 30 @ 4 p.m.

That's all for now. I'm extremely swamped with the print edition for the next two days (lots and lots of sports coverage), but I'll try and get on here later today and give my thoughts on the big wins by the baseball and girls soccer teams on Friday.

Until then, cheers.

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.

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.

Get your Bears gear

I just wanted to pass along this link to a newly-created team online store to benefit the Elizabethtown Area High School baseball team.

Here is the link to the site:

According to EAHS head varsity baseball coach Frank Telenko, the baseball team receives 15 percent of the profits from the site.

Catching up...again

(Katie Leverentz is having a heck of a season for the Bears, with nine goals in 11 games.)

Whew....that's the typed version of me taking an exhale. Last spring, I didn't have this blog, and I didn't realize how crazy the spring sports season can be – which explains the bit of neglect to the blogosphere lately. For that, I apologize. I'm still working on how to juggle covering all of these spring sports (there's a lot), working on my horrendous golf game (getting better...barely) and trying to keep up with this blog (I'm a failure, I know). But I'm getting there, so bear with me, please.

Enough of my whining and excuses, though, here's a brief take on the EAHS sports teams. And I'll do my best to get back to daily updates. Cross my heart.

BASEBALL:
Tough loss for E-town on Wednesday, falling 5-0 to McCaskey after two nice wins over Cedar Crest and Hempfield. The Bears have three more Section One games ahead of them, starting today with Penn Manor, before getting back into Section Two contests. They're still very much in the section race, and should be in it until the end. Circle your calendars for next Friday, when E-town hosts Ephrata – that'll be a big one.

SOFTBALL:
Anna Libby keeps hitting bombs and the Bears keep winning. Libby hit two more on Wednesday, including a grand slam, giving her six on the season as E-town improved to 6-2 in league play. They are also very much in the thick of the Section Two race, although Solanco looks amazingly tough. Monday, May 5 will be the big E-town vs. Solanco game at 7 p.m. in the park. But there are seven games between now and then, and the Bears have to keep hitting to make that game that much more important.

GIRLS SOCCER:
Another team that just keeps winning. They've won three straight now, following that tough 1-0 loss to L-S in overtime – still their only loss of the year. They've scored more than three goals in a game only once this year and have to start putting up bigger numbers on offense, but that defense is amazing. They might only need two or three goals a game. Tuesday, April 29, they host L-S on senior night (don't forget to pick up your Chicken BBQ tickets for that night as well), as 7 p.m. in Thompson Stadium. HUUUUUUGE game for the Bears, who are two points behind L-S for the section lead.

Track:
Both teams are doing very well this season, with the boys at 3-1 and the girls at 2-2 in the section. Don't be surprised to see quite a few E-town athletes doing very well at the L-L meet on May 9-10, the District Three meet on May 16-17 and even the PIAA meet on May 23-24.

Boys Volleyball:
Break 'em up! The Bears have won three straight matches with a third place finish at the Red Knights Invitational sandwiched in there as well. They've won their last two by 3-0 margins and are getting better and better as the season progresses.

Boys Tennis:
The Bears fell to Cocalico on Monday, which was essentially a match for the Section One title, but are still a very respectable 9-2 with the L-L flight tourney coming up April 21-28.

OK, enjoy the weekend, and the weather. I'll be out shanking golf balls if anyone needs me.

More attention will be payed to the blog starting Monday. I give you my word.

Cheers.

Tough Day for the Bears

Many of the E-town spring sports teams are having fantastic seasons, but for three of them, yesterday wasn't good. The baseball, softball and girls soccer teams all suffered tough losses yesterday, but all three are still in good shape for league playoffs and are still in the hunt for section titles.

Here's a recap:

Baseball:
E-town is in the midst of a hectic week, with four games in five days (they're only off day is today). Yesterday, the Bears hosted Solanco in a matchup of the two teams expected to be the favorites in Section Two.

Solanco jumped out to a 7-1 lead and held off a late charge by E-town to win 8-6. The Bears are now 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the section and will have some work to do to stay with Ephrata and Solanco in the Section Two race. Nick Reginella and Hayden Gerhart homered in the late innings as E-town made its comeback effort.

The Bears round out their week against Cedar Crest tomorrow. If they can get the win there and go 3-1 in this stretch, that will be very good for them. The Falcons are a pretty good Section One team and have a stud pitcher in Matt Patteson. He could very well face E-town tomorrow opposite Erick Baker, the Bears' ace. If that's the case, it should be a pitching showdown worth checking out. I know I'll be watching.

Softball:
E-town also was bested by Solanco yesterday, falling to the Golden Mares 6-2. Solanco pounded out 10 hits and held E-town's potent offense to just four hits and kept them scoreless until the Bears put up a two-spot in the top of the seventh.

Like baseball, many predicted the section race to come down to Solanco and E-town and round one goes to the Mares. E-town won't get another crack at them until May 5, their final home game of the season and one that could be HUGE in terms of determining the section crown.

The loss ended a four-game winning streak for E-town and was their first in Section play. Solanco, meanwhile, is off to a 7-0 start and is now 4-0 in section play, leading E-town by a game. Five of Solanco's seven wins have come by at least 10 runs...very impressive.

The Bears travel to Cedar Crest tomorrow to face the Falcons, a middle of the pack Section One team.

While it was a big loss yesterday for E-town, it certainly wasn't crushing. There is plenty of season left.

Girls Soccer:
Speaking of crushing losses, the Bears had one yesterday, losing to L-S 1-0 in overtime for their first loss of the year. L-S scored on a direct kick from about 18 yards out with just seven seconds left in overtime.

E-town now trails the Pioneers by two points in the Section race as they are 5-1 in the section and E-town is 4-1-1. The Bears won every statistical category except for the one that matters most – goals. They out shot L-S 8-2 and had 4 corners to L-S' 2, and pretty much dominated possession.

Again, though, it wasn't an ideal game to lose for E-town, but there is still plenty of season left and the Bears are still very much in the hunt for the section crown.

They'll get back at it tomorrow night by hosting Manheim Central at 7 p.m. under the Thompson Stadium lights.

Mmmm...chicken

The Elizabethtown Area School District girls soccer teams will be holding a chicken barbecue to benefit its program. I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for chicken barbecues, especially when they benefit the community. Speaking of that, I better start hitting the gym soon.

Here are the details:
• Dinner pick up is Tuesday, April 29 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the high school bus parking lot, next to Thompson Stadium. The varsity girls play L-S that night at 7 p.m. in the stadium. So eat your chicken and stay for some soccer. Good times.
• All proceeds benefit the EASD girls soccer program.
• Cost is $7 for a 1/2 chicken, baked potato, applesauce and a roll.
• For tickets, you can buy them from any girls soccer player in grades 7 to 12 or from head varsity coach Alex Shubert by contacting him at alex_shubert@etownschools.org or (717) 940-9339.
• Tickets should be bought by April 21, as there will be a very limited number for sale at the event if you don't buy a ticket earlier.

So pick up some chicken and help some young soccer players in the process. Hey, it's a win-win.

Cassebaum gets Hall of Fame nod

Former EAHS football coach Jack Cassebaum has been elected to the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Coach Cassebaum will be formally inducted at a banquet on May 3 at the Susquehanna Fire Company along with former Hempfield basketball coach Barry Henry; former Cocalico basketball coach and football official Spencer Henry; Merv Witmer, the former Ephrata AD, football coach and wrestling coach; Dr. Tom Martin and former Hempfield track star Warren Taylor. The deceased inductee will be James Kuhn.

Tickets for the event are $15 each. For more information, call Rich Gerfin at 684-4818.

Cassebaum is a coaching legend here in E-town, but he also left his mark at J.P. McCaskey, where he coached before coming here. He was at E-town from 1986 to 1991, and the Bears went a combined 50-16-3 in his tenure, reaching double digit wins twice (1987 and 1989) for just the second and third time in school history. (This year's team also hit double digit wins, making it the fourth).

Cassebaum played here, and was a member of that undefeated 1957 E-town team. He remains involved with the program and is very, very deserving of the recognition bestowed up him by the hall of fame.

Congratulations, coach.

Catching up

Hello out there, did you guys miss me this week? I missed you. C'mon, you missed me a little bit, right? Suuure you did.

My apologies for the lack of posts this week, we've been working to get out a special insert that will be coming in the paper on the 10th, and also working on our free mailing. That's right, EVERYONE in our coverage area will be getting a free copy of the Chronicle mailed to your house on the 10th. Didn't know it was your lucky day, did you? So I'm trying to make this week's issue look as nice as possible to lure those of you who aren't subscribers (tsk, tsk) into getting a subscription.

But enough of the excuses. After all, excuses aren't welcome here at The Bear's Den. So let's take a journey around the land of EAHS spring sports and update you on how the Bears are doing, in case you were wondering. Also, I'll have a couple of posts later today about some other things. I'm sure you'll be waiting with baited breath.

Baseball:
E-town tasted defeat for the first time yesterday, losing to Ephrata 9-1 to fall to 4-1 overall. The Bears outhit the Mounts 7-5, but couldn't seem to get those RBI hits that are so crucial. The Bears were supposed to play defending Section 2 champ Conestoga Valley today at home, but that game has been postponed until Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. I'll have coverage of that one in this week's paper. It'll be a good tune up for Wednesday's showdown with Solanco. I'll have something on that here on the blog.

The Bears have four games in five days next week (depending on weather), and it could be a huge stretch for them. They start at Garden Spot Monday, host CV Tuesday and Solanco Wednesday and round out by hosting Cedar Crest Friday. This is where deep pitching staffs become the strength of a team. Trust me, it's a luxury for coach Telenko to have guys like Preston Faith, Erick Baker and Steve Buller to start in ball games for his team. Anyway, big week for the boys next week.

Softball:
Hello, E-town offense. Welcome back.

After scoring 6, 4 and 4 runs in their first three games (and going 1-2), the Bears' bats have exploded for 11 and 10 runs in their past two games, both blowout wins over section opponents. E-town is now back over .500 at 3-2 overall and 2-0 in Section Two. On Wednesday night, the Bears blanked Cocalico 10-0 behind two home runs from all-star shortshop Becca Bigler and one homer each from Anna Libby (who's having a monster year at the plate by the way) and senior Kara Hernley.

Since E-town lost that tough 13-inning game against Donegal back on March 26, the Bears have outscored their opponents 21-1. That's how you bounce back from a tough loss.

They were supposed to play CV today, but that game has been pushed back to Tuesday, which means the girls will also play four games in five days – Monday vs. Garden Spot, Tuesday @ CV, Wednesday @ Solanco and Friday @ Cedar Crest. Like the baseball team, E-town's got good pitchers, which will be important for them in tough weeks like this one. Jillian Ditzler and Tricia Stone are an excellent 1-2 punch and their play will be huge this week for the Bears.

Girls Soccer:
Another week, two more wins for the Bears. Ho hum. They're still unbeaten at 5-0-1 and have looked stellar so far. Defense is their strong point, but the offense has been there for them the past two games.

On Tuesday, they were staring at a 2-0 hole at halftime against Garden Spot and rallied to score four goals in the second half for a 4-2 win. And last night against Lebanon, they absolutely dominated. They outshot the Cedars 33-0 and won 3-0. First off, to shoot 33 times in a soccer game is amazing and to hold a team without a shot OR a corner kick on top of that is pretty much the definition of dominating.

Three good tests await E-town next week – @ Ephrata Monday, @ L-S Wednesday, and home vs. Manheim Central Friday under the lights. If the Bears are still unbeaten after that stretch, their confidence will be sky-high, and deservedly so.

Boys Track:
The boys started their week with a relatively close 80-2/3 to 69-1/3 win over Ephrata on Monday to move to 3-0. Dustin Horning has been excellent in the 800 and 1,600 events and won both again on Monday. Josh McMasters also won two events. The Bears also got good efforts (again) from Jordan Hallman, Larrian Payne, John Romain and Greg Crawford. They've got a lot of good athletes that are very good at a lot of different events, and that's been evident so far this year.

E-town did lose its first meet of the year on Thursday, however, falling to Hershey 80-70. Winning for E-town were Romain, Horning (twice), Hallman, Chad Barninger, Shane Rosenberry, Payne (twice) and Crawford.

Girls Track:
The girls tasted their first defeat this year on Monday, losing to Ephrata 90-60. Despite the loss, there's a lot to be excited about for the Bears. Freshmen Audrey Bamford, Bailey Davis and Ann Romanauskas have been stellar and their upperclassmen have also been steady. Against Ephrata, the Bears got wins from Romanauskas, Bamford, Kirsten Hayes and Amy Stoddard.

E-town then tied Hershey 75-75 yesterday thanks to a strong showing by its throwers and jumpers, who outscored the Trojans 48-15. Earning wins were Bamford (three times), Davis (twice), Kayla Koser, Aubrey Reider, Kelly Sebzda and Caitlyn Eshleman.

Boys Volleyball
After a strong 2-0 start, E-town is now 2-2, losing both matches this week.

They fell to Garden Spot 3-0 on Tuesday and lost to Lancaster Mennonite 3-1 last night. Zach McElheny, David Kreiser, Connor Toews and Michael Cicero have been strong so far for the Bears, who are already halfway to matching last season's win total.

Lacrosse
The boys got back underway this week after a 10-day layoff between games. They lost to CV 11-8 on Tuesday night in a close game. CV outscored E-town 5-1 in the third period to pull ahead and beat the Bears. E-town got two goals from Randy Groff and one each from Matt Frye, James Bard, Corey Faus, Ganan Keck, Phil Roeder and Josh Ginder.

Last night E-town ran into a very talented Warwick squad and lost 12-4, getting goals from Keck, Roeder, Groff and David Latimore.

They aren't playoff contenders yet, but you can definitely see improvement in the program.

Boys Tennis:
The Bears remained undefeated under first year head coach Chip Diem with a 7-0 beating of Warwick in their only match of the week.

In singles, Alex Trimble, Colton Brown, Michael Sweigart, Drew Winey and Peter Davis all won. In doubles, Brown and Sweigart and Trimble and Winey won their matches. The Bears are now 4-0. They were supposed to play today as well, but that match was been moved to Tuesday at 4 at home against Penn Manor.