While I was away...

Hello everyone, I'm back. I know you missed me, didn't you. You did. Right? Anywho, I realize now that I took my vacation at the worst possible time in terms of high school sports playoffs, but it was a planned family trip with my in-laws and, let's face it, when your wife tells you that you are going on vacation with her family, you don't argue. Well, you could argue, but you'd just end up packing the car anyway – except you'd have your wife's footprint somewhere you don't want it. Bad times. Anyone who is married knows where I'm coming from.

So I'm back now, and I missed all of the district playoffs. My apologies to anyone waiting for that coverage, but I will try and get it done the best I can for this week's Chronicle, especially considering that I wasn't at any of these games. In the meantime, I'll be posting season recaps over the next couple of days here on the Bears Den for every EAHS spring sports team.

In the meantime, though, let's catch up with the teams who saw district playoff action this past week and a half...

Baseball

(Nick Reginella and the Bears couldn't keep up with L-S' bats.)

The Bears earned the top seed in the District Three Class AAA playoffs after winning the Section Two title and going 14-5 in the regular season. However, E-town's run at a state berth ended last night in Ephrata as the top-seeded Bears lost to No. 9 Lampeter-Strasburg 14-4.

L-S struck for three runs in the top of the first inning off of E-town starter Preston Faith, but the Bears came right back in the home half, scoring twice to trim the deficit to 3-2. In the second inning, however, the Pioneers, who missed the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs, broke the game wide open. L-S touched Faith up for seven runs to take a commanding 10-2 lead in the second, highlighted by Mark Thiboldeaux's home run.

E-town was never able to recover from the second, managing only single runs in the third and fifth innings. Erick Baker, Shane Long and Andrew Weller all had RBIs for E-town (16-7).

The 10-run loss was the largest margin of defeat of the season for the Bears.

Softball

(Becca Bigler hit a two-run homer in E-town's first district game, but it wasn't enough.)
Coming off a thrilling 6-5 win over Solanco in the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship game, E-town saw its season come to an end in the first round of the District Three Class AAAA playoffs on Wednesday, as the ninth-seeded Bears fell to No. 8 Cedar Crest 6-2 at Manetas Park in Denver.

The Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Becca Bigler smashed a two-run home run off of Falcon starter Jen Garloff, Bigler's fourth homer of the year. But Garloff shut E-town down from there, keeping the Bears scoreless over the final six innings.

E-town had several scoring opportunities in the game, but couldn't cash in. The Bears had runners at second and third with no outs in both the fifth and sixth innings, but came away both times without scoring. Meanwhile, the Bears' 2-0 lead held up until the sixth inning.

Cedar Crest scored once in the fifth off of Jillian Ditzler to trim the Bears' lead to 2-1. Ditzler went five innings and allowed one run on one hit.

The Falcons completed their comeback in the sixth, as they scored five times off of Tricia Stone to take the lead for good. Cedar Crest's sixth-inning rally was capped by Garloff, who helped her own cause by hitting a grand slam. She also struck out 11.

The loss snapped E-town's eight-game winning streak and ended E-town's season two games short of a state berth. The Bears won 17 games this season, however, and a league title – which is an impressive campaign by any standards.

OK, that's all for now. Back later with looks at girls soccer and track and field and their endeavors at districts.

Baseball, softball district brackets

Very quickly, before I head out to Ephrata and Willow Street for tonight's baseball and softball playoff games, here is a glimpse at the Bears' district playoff brackets. Full brackets can be downloaded here.


(Andrew Weller and the Bears are the No. 1 seed in District Three Class AAA).
BASEBALL:
The Bears are the No. 1 seed in the District Three Class AAA brackets. They will begin districts on Monday, May 19. They will play the winner of No. 16 Donegal and No. 17 James Buchanan. Those two teams will play on Friday, May 16 at Northern High School at 6:30 p.m.

In the second round, should they get that far, E-town will play the winner of No. 8 New Oxford and No. 9 Lampeter-Strasburg.

Here are the dates for the tournament:
First round: May 19.
Quarterfinals: May 22.
Semifinals: Tuesday, May 27.
Finals: Thursday, May 29.

*Note: I will be on vacation from Monday, May 19 through Wednesday, May 21, so I'll miss the first game of district. I know, I know, what the heck am I thinking. Sorry.


(Tricia Stone and the Bears will play Cedar Crest on Tuesday).
Softball
Unlike the baseball team, the EAHS softball team is in Class AAAA in District Three, where they are the No. 9 seed.

In the first round, the Bears will play No. 8 Cedar Crest at Manetas Park in Denver on Tuesday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. (Again, I'll be on vacation...I know, slacker).

From there, E-town will likely get No. 1 Governor Mifflin on Thursday, May 22 (barring a 16-1 upset). Here are the softball district dates.

First round: Tuesday, May 20.
Quarterfinals: Thursday, May 22.
Semifinals: Tuesday, May 27.
Finals: Thursday, May 29.

In case of rain, the rain dates are scheduled for the next day of each round. (May 21 for the first round, May 23 for the quarters and so on).

That's all for now, I'm off to Ephrata.

Cheers.

Winning day for E-town

Here's a quick update on the EAHS baseball and softball games that went down today.

SOFTBALL:

E-town got a stellar outing from Tricia Stone and beat Pequea Valley today 1-0. Stone was in command throughout, keeping PV's hitters busy by throwing a lot of strikes and forcing them to swing. The defense behind her was excellent, making a few spectacular plays - especially catcher Anna Libby's play on a bunt attempt late in the game.

Becca Bigler knocked in the only run of the game in the top of the sixth on a single up the middle off of PV starter Jess High to score Anna Libby.

The Bears will Warwick on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at Garrett Park in Willow Street. More on this matchup on Monday.

BASEBALL:
The Bears' bats went crazy as they destroyed Lancaster Mennonite 12-1 today in five innings. Mennonite scored one in the top of the first off of E-town starter Erick Baker, but the Bears came back with a 5-spot in the bottom of the inning, as the first five hitters all reached base, jumpstarting E-town's offense.

Baker only needed to go four innings thanks to the run support, which means he'll be more fresh later in the postseason. Everyone in E-town's lineup hit the ball well tonight.

The Bears will play on Tuesday night at War Memorial Field in Ephrata against Hempfield, which beat Northern Lebanon today. I believe the game is at 5 p.m., but I'll post that on Monday when I'm 100 percent sure. E-town beat Hempfield the only time they played each other this season.

One more win for the baseball and softball teams, and they'll be in the L-L League finals.

OK, I'm going to watch some NBA playoffs and relax after buzzing around Lancaster County all day today watching these games.

Until Monday, cheers.

L-L baseball playoff brackets

(The Bears will take on Lancaster Mennonite in the first round on Saturday)

Here are your Lancaster-Lebanon League baseball playoff brackets.

QUARTERFINALS (Saturday, May 10)
Games at War Memorial Field
10 a.m. – Manheim Township (15-1, Section One champs) vs. Donegal (12-4, Section Three runner up).
1 p.m. – Lancaster Catholic (11-4, Section Four champs) vs. Ephrata (10-6, Section Two runner up).
4 p.m – E-town (11-5, Section Two champs) vs. Lancaster Mennonite (10-6, Section Four runner up).
Game at Wenger Field
Noon – Northern Lebanon (13-3, Section Three champs) vs. Hempfield (12-4, Section One runner up).

SEMIFINALS (Tuesday, May 13)
Game locations and times not determined yet.
E-town/Mennonite winner vs. Northern Lebanon/Hempfield winner.
Catholic/Ephrata winner vs. Township/Donegal winner.

FINALS (Thursday, May 15)
To be held at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster at 7 p.m.

EAHS Baseball wins section

(Photo by Chris Bradley: Andrew Weller and the Bears have won four straight).

So, I go out of town for three days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), and when I get back, BAM, E-town has itself two section champions, one league qualifier AND a district qualifier. Sheesh, talk about picking the wrong time to go on a mini-vacation here. Looks like I was spending a little too much time doing this and not enough time doing this.

Anyway, I'm back now – just in time for all of the L-L playoff action (plenty more on that later). Here's what I missed while I was away.

The EAHS baseball team clinched the Section Two title on Friday with a 13-3 win over Garden Spot. Erick Baker was the winning pitcher for E-town, and also hit a homerun.

In the second time through the Section Two games, E-town's bats have been extremely hot, scoring 9, 11, 13 and 13 runs in their last four section games – all E-town wins. The Bears are now 14-4 overall and 11-4 in league play, good for a three game lead over Ephrata right now. They have one more section game, today at Solanco, and will begin the L-L playoffs later this week. They were scheduled to finish the regular season on Wednesday, May 7, but that game has been canceled.

The L-L quarterfinals will be this Saturday, May 10. The semis are then Tuesday, May 13, and the finals are Thursday, May 15 at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster.

As soon as I get a bracket together for this thing, I'll have it posted here, as well as a preview on the Bears' first round game.

Congrats to E-town on a fantastic regular season. The Bears have battled through injuries and are finally getting healthy as a team right now and are very, very dangerous. They've already proven that they can beat some of the best teams in the league, taking down Donegal, Manheim Township and Hempfield already this season. They can hit with anyone, and they can pitch with anyone. It should be very interesting starting on Saturday, depending on who they draw, of course.

Stay tuned.

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.

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.

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.

Baseball preview

(E-town's seniors are, bottom row from left, Steve Buller, Andrew Weller, Hayden Gerhart, Nick Reginella and Amir Boutorabi. Back row, from left, Mike O'Shea, Evan Gallagher, Erick Baker, Harrison Myers, Preston Faith, Daniel Brennian, Austin Rodriguez and Anthony Durante.)

Head Coach: Frank Telenko Jr., fifth season.

2007 Record: 8-12 overall, 8-8 league.

Key Returners: Erick Baker, senior, P/1B; Andrew Weller, senior, OF; Preston Faith, senior, P/OF; Anthony Durante, senior, OF/DH; Hayden Gerhart, senior, 2B/3B; Nick Reginella, senior, OF; Harrison Myers, senior, P/OF; Daniel Brennian, senior, OF; Amir Boutorabi, senior, OF; Steve Buller, senior, P; Austin Rodriguez, senior, SS/3B; Evan Gallagher, senior, SS; Michael O’Shea, senior, 3B/OF.
To say the Bears are a senior-laden team is almost an understatement. E-town’s lineup will be filled with experienced senior nearly every game, and Telenko expects them to be the leaders of the team.
“This group of seniors is a seasoned bunch,” he said. “They have grown a lot and hopefully have learned what it takes to win in the L-L League.”
The Bears return five Lancaster-Lebanon League all-stars from a year ago – Baker, Weller, Faith, Reginella and Gallagher – and their play will be E-town’s biggest key to a successful season.
The pitching staff will be anchored by Baker, Faith and Myers. Baker, a Division I recruit, has been working out hard in the offseason and throws very hard. He will be the ace of the staff. He’s had some arm troubles in the past, but those seem to be behind him and he should be primed for a huge season.
Faith is another excellent pitcher. With Baker limited last year with arm trouble, Telenko turned to Faith and he rewarded him by becoming a first-team league all-star. The 1-2 punch of Baker and Faith will certainly limit opposing teams and give the Bears’ offense a chance to chalk up some wins.
Myers has also grown from his experience at the varsity level and is another reliable pitcher that E-town can use. Buller will also see time on the mound, giving E-town four senior pitchers it can turn to, which will come in handy in mid-April when the Bears are playing games every other day.
Behind the pitchers, E-town’s defense should be solid. Gallagher will likely be the regular shortstop. He is a good fielder and will need to be the leader of the defense. Around him, Gerhart, Rodriguez and O’Shea are all good with the glove and form a solid infield defense. And they are versatile too. Gerhart can play second or third, Rodriguez can play shortstop or third and O’Shea can play third as well as outfield.
Weller, Brennian, Myers, Boutorabi and Reginella will see the majority of the time in the outfield. All have good arms and will need to communicate well to prevent runners from advancing on base hits or balls hit into the gap. Expect Reginella to be E-town’s regular centerfielder.
Offensively, these seniors provide a potent lineup. Weller is one of the best hitters of the bunch and will likely be patrolling left field on defense. Durante is big and bring lots of power. E-town also has plenty of speed with Gallagher, Rodriguez, Faith, Reginella, Gerhart and O’Shea.
Telenko said that many of these seniors have had success in other sports this school year, and is hoping they can continue with that. In fact, they’ve adopted the team motto of “Why not us?” But they need to come out all 20 games and play hard. The L-L League, and Section Two, is too strong to take games off.
“There are no days off and we need to be mentally focused for every play and every at bat,” he said. “This group is hungry for wins and we plan to do a lot of it this spring.”

Key Newcomers: Conrad Heisey, junior, C; Tyler Vuxta, junior, C; Shane Long, junior 1B; Anthony Rivera, junior, 2B; Weston Kobler, junior, 3B; Nico Givens, junior, 2B; Scott Sweigart, junior, P; Brian Savage, junior, OF/P.
When a team has as many seniors as the Bears do, underclassmen tend to have a more limited role, but they also get the experience of learning from the older players. That will be the case for most of E-town’s newcomers – but they never know when they will get their chance, and they’ll have to be prepared.
“Some of these guys may play a significant role and others will have a more limited role,” said Telenko. “They will need to learn and be ready when called upon.”
Heisey will be one of the underclassmen with a significant role, as he will likely handle the majority of the catching duties, taking over for Nate Martin. He has a little experience of playing at this level as he saw some time behind the plate last summer in American Legion ball. With experienced pitchers, however, Heisey can take a feel from the staff early on in the season when it comes to calling pitches and talking to them.
Long, Rivera, Kobler and Givens give the Bears some infield depth and Sweigart and Savage give E-town some more arms to use on the mound if they are needed.

Key Losses: Nate Martin, C; Gary Dupler, 3B; Ben Hernley, 2B.
E-town didn’t lose a lot of players from last year’s team, but they did lose some very important ones.
Martin was probably the team’s best player last year. He was a three-time L-L All-Star, an outstanding hitter, a very good catcher and a great team leader. E-town will certainly miss Martin’s bat, but his ability to call a game and his leadership will be missed as well.
Dupler was a first team all-star last year and was a good player offensively and defensively for E-town. Hernley was an excellent infielder, and their departures leave a gap in infield defense, but with E-town’s plethora of talented infielders, the Bears should be OK in that area.

What they do well: Pitching, defense, manufacturing runs.
The old saying in baseball is that good pitching beats good hitting. If that is true for the Bears this year, they are going to be tough to beat. E-town has a deep pitching staff that will be anchored by Baker, Faith and Myers, three tough hurlers. And if one of them are injured or is having a rough outing, Telenko has plenty of other options to go to.
The E-town pitching staff will improve on last season, when they allowed allowed 10 runs or more in nine of the team’s 20 games.
E-town should also field a solid defense that will limit unearned runs and will allow starting pitchers to go deeper into games. Most of the fielders now have a year of varsity experience under their belt and should be used to how hard the ball can be hit and how fast the runners are at this level.
Offensively, E-town has a nice balance of speed and power. They’ll be able to steal bases to put runners in scoring position for their RBI guys. They’ll have to be smart on the basepaths as well, and do the little things to move up when needed and get runs in easier.
They went 4-2 in their final six games last year, signs that the growing process has already begun.
“We won a few big games at the end of the season and seemed to be hitting our stride,” Telenko said. “We intend to keep it going and make some noise in Section Two, but it is all about heart and execution.”

What they need to work on: Learning how to win.
While the Bears did end the season on a positive note, they were still four games under .500 last year and lost some close game.
However, last year was the first time many of the team had seen varsity action as the Bears lost 11 players to graduation before the 2007 campaign. This year, they must learn from last year’s experiences and find a way to score in the late innings to pull out those important close victories.

Outlook:
E-town could very well be a team to watch in Section Two. They have all the right pieces in place to make a run at a section title and league and District Three tournament berths. But the key will be executing on the field. Telenko believes in them and, as a result, expects them to win. But he’s also injected some fun into the team so that they can stay loose on the field.
“I expect to develop lasting relationships with my players, teach them a thing or two about baseball and life, have fun while participating in a high school sport and win a bunch of games along the way,” he said.
The winning part of Telenko’s expectations should happen for E-town this year. They have just about everything you look for in a good high school baseball team. Good pitching, experience, a balanced hitting attack and a solid defense. If they can put it all together, the “Why not us?” motto will certainly be answered.
The Bears are also a close team. Most of these players have played together in the past and some have played other sports together, which will help the team attitude. They won’t be afraid of coming back and, with the amount of seniors, they will be there to pick each other up whenever they make a mistake.
One thing about baseball is that you can’t carry a fielding error to the plate with your or a strikeout to the field with you. Having a team as close as E-town will allow the players to forget about mistakes immediately and focus on helping the team in a different way. And that’s what separates good baseball teams from bad ones.
With all of the things E-town has going for it, expect the Bears to win anywhere from 13 to 16 games in the regular season and be in the hunt for a postseason berth this year. The coach certainly believes they can do it.
“Keep your eye on the Bears this year. We intend to turn some heads,” Telenko said.
Why not?

Strong start for the Bears

(Katie Leverentz started her season with two goals, including the game-winner in OT yesterday.)

The high school spring sports season officially got underway yesterday. Although with the wind, it sure didn't feel like spring. Sheesh. And while my March Madness brackets may have taken a beating (thanks Temple), the Bears did pretty well yesterday, going a combined 3-1. Here's a look at how they all did.

Baseball:
The Bears' bats woke up in the bottom of the sixth inning yesterday and lit Hershey up for 10 runs in the inning as the boys won their opener, 10-3. Erick Baker and Steve Buller pitched for E-town, with Buller pitching the 6th and 7th and picking up the win.

Softball:
Anna Libby homered and Trish Stone and Jillian Ditzler limited Hershey's runs as E-town started its season with a 6-2 win yesterday over the Trojans. E-town fell behind 1-0 after 1, but scord all six of its runs in the next three innings to jump out to a 6-1 lead. Both teams had nine hits. E-town committed three errors, Hershey had two.

Girls Soccer:
Katie Leverentz scored her second goal of the game in overtime to lift E-htown to a 3-2 win over Carlisle.
Courtney Peffley put the Bears up 1-0 with a goal four minutes into the game and Leverentz made the lead 2-0 nine minutes later with her first goal. But Carlisle battled back to tie the game with two second half goals and send it to overtime, where Leverentz won the game for E-town.

Lacrosse:
The Bears lost to Palmyra 5-3, but you can already see some improvement. E-town scored all three of its goals in the third. They were led by Phil Roeder, who had a goal and two assists. Randy Groff also scored for E-town, as did David Latimore. E-town's three goals came early in the second half as the Bears battled back to tie the game at 3-3. However, Palmyra pulled away with two third period goals. Keith Kurtz made 10 saves in goal for the Bears, who don't play again until April 1.

That's all for now. Enjoy the holiday and, of course, the Madness.

Cheers

Baker headed to Old Dominon

E-town senior pitcher Erick Baker has accepted a full scholarship to play baseball at Old Dominion University next season. Baker is a 6-4 pitcher who is rumored to be throwing in the low 90s after coming back from some injuries.

I don't know much more about this right now, but I'm working on getting a feature story on Erick for the Chronicle. If that happens, I'll post it here as well.

Congrats to Erick.