Becca Bigler committs to Hofstra

Becca Bigler is taking her game to Hofstra. E-town's senior star shortstop officially declared her intentions to attend Hofstra University today, putting on a gray Hofstra sweatshirt and signing a letter of intent at a ceremony at Elizabethtown Area High School at around 3:30 p.m.

Bigler has been a standout in all three sports she participates in – girls basketball, field hockey and softball – but will be playing softball for the Division I Pride.

I'll have plenty more on Becca as the week continues, including quotes from today's press conference, but I just wanted to drop in quickly and post her decision. I also wanted to say that I have covered Becca arguably more than any other athlete during my time at the Chronicle. She is a three-sport athlete and has been playing most or all of them at the varsity level since her freshman year. So needless to say, I've seen her in action a ton of times. And she deserves the chance to play at such a high level. She is as hard working of an athlete as you will find and is an incredibly great teammate, which goes a long way in making players around her better. And that's what the truly great athletes do. Congratulations to Becca, and be sure to check back later this week for more. We had some technical issues earlier in the week, but they have been ironed out, so expect some news on youth lacrosse, E-town football, E-town College, and, of course, E-town's newest Division I athlete, Becca Bigler.

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.

Lady Bears strike gold

*Before I head off to recharge my batteries on vacation, here's a little something on the softball league championship to hold you over. I shall return Thursday. Until then, stay classy Elizabethtown.

Call them the team of destiny. Call them the Comeback Kids. Whatever you want to call the Elizabethtown Area High School softball team, make sure you include the words “Lancaster-Lebanon League champions.”

The Bears capped their thrilling run through the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs by rallying from a 5-0 deficit in the seventh inning to beat Solanco 6-5 and win the first league title in program history.

“This team, they just never quit. They’ve got the heart of a lion,” said E-town head coach Gary Wylde. “We talked and said we were going to go out and give it our best shot (before the seventh inning).”

And their best shot was exactly what the Bears came up with in their final at bat.

The inning started when Jen Dunkelberger reached on a dropped fly ball. Emily Wylde followed with an infield single and Abby Fuhrman followed that with a single of her own to load the bases with no outs. Fuhrman’s hit also marked the end of the line for Solanco starter Mallory Ruteledge, who allowed only three hits (two of those infield singles) for the first six innings.

“She pitched one heck of a game,” Wylde said. “She was just incredible tonight.”

With the bases loaded, Solanco coach Brett Miller brought in Morgan Mastriana. Mastriana walked the first hitter she faced, Leigh Miller, to force in E-town’s first run. After a strikeout, Mandi Shearer hit an RBI single to trim the deficit to 5-2 and keep the bases loaded for the top of the E-town order.

E-town’s leadoff hitter, Anna Libby, then stung a line drive down the right field line that cleared the bases. As Libby reached third on her triple, she turned to look for the ball, which was being thrown in to the plate from the outfield. The throw got over catcher Morgan Jackson’s head, and Libby immediately broke for home, scoring on a head-first dive to put E-town ahead 6-5.

“I knew if we got to the top of the order, we could make it interesting,” said Wylde. “Anna Libby hits the ball as hard as anyone I’ve seen.”

“I honestly was in shock when it happened, too,” Libby said. “Coming up in a pressure situation, I’ve always loved that (and) I always thrive on that. And that’s exactly what you want to do. It was like a dream come true. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that moment.”

Before E-town’s seventh inning, though, the game belonged to the Golden Mares. Solanco jumped ahead of the Bears early as Steph Graver knocked in Janelle Krantz with an RBI triple in the first inning. Solanco added to the lead in the third when Ashley Stump reached on an infield single with one out. She moved to second on a wild pitch and scoring on an RBI triple by Krantz. Solanco added a third run in the inning on an infield single by Mallory Renard.

The Mares made it 4-0 off of E-town starter Tricia Stone in the fifth on an RBI triple from Ashley Stump with no outs. Wylde then decided to bring in Jillian Ditzler, and the senior did a tremendous job, allowing only one unearned run on no hits over the final three frames.

“Jillian is probably one of the most competitive kids I know. When you think of a true pitcher, Jillian Ditzler is a true pitcher,” said Wylde. “She’s just a bulldog on the mound.”

When Dizler first came into the game, the Bears trailed by five. But when she walked out to the circle for the bottom of the seventh, she had a one-run lead to protect. Ditzler set the first two batters down in order and got Krantz to pop up to Bigler to end the game – giving E-town a win over its biggest rival and its first league championship.

“(Solanco is) a first-class organization and I just want to give them a lot of credit. They’re a great team,” Wylde said. “We really have tremendous respect for that Solanco program. We knew it was going to be a battle. I’m speechless just to beat such a quality program.”

In fact, E-town beat three quality programs en route to the league crown. They rode the solid pitching of Stone in the first round, beating Pequea Valley 1-0; they then scored six times in the seventh inning against Warwick in the semifinals to beat the Warriors 5-3 and worked their late-inning magic again against Solanco.And the majority of the Elizabethtown players and coaches said it came down to one thing – heart.

“Our team has so much heart, we never let down,” said Libby. “Our team is just so strong. And that’s what it was – a team game tonight.”

Wylde and Ditzler echoed Libby’s sentiments.

“This is amazing,” Wylde said, clutching the league trophy. “The way we did it kind of describes our season. I think I learned something about these girls ... that they have tremendous heart. They don’t like to lose.”

Ditzler said that winning such an exciting game gives E-town a full tank of momentum heading into the District Three playoffs.

“I think this gives us more momentum than if we would have won 10-0 or something because we battled back the whole time,” she said. “We jsut ahve a lot of heart and we never give up, and that teaches us that we can do it.”

So, yes, the Lady Bears have heart. And now, they have gold medals to wear over the hearts that earned them.

Lady Bears headed to league finals

(Jen Dunkelberger is a huge reason why the Bears are playing in the league finals tonight).

The EAHS girls softball beat Warwick 8-3 last night, coming back twice on the Warriors to pull away late in the game and advance to the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship game tonight, where a familiar foe awaits – Solanco.

Jen Dunkelberger was everywhere for the Bears last night. Her bunt in the fourth set up E-town's first run. She also scored E-town's second run in the sixth by drawing a walk, stealing second, moving to third on a groundout and scoring on a pitch in the dirt by executing a perfect headfirst slide. She then turned a double play in the bottom of the sixth to end the inning. Oh, she added an RBI single in the top of the seventh to extend E-town's lead to 4-2. Pretty busy night for her.

Emily Wylde also came up huge, driving in four runs, including a three-RBI double in the seventh that broke the game open.

E-town and Solanco split their two games this season, with the Mares winning 6-2 back on April 9, and E-town winning 4-2 on May 5, the last game of the regular season. That loss to the Bears likely cost the Mares a No. 1 seed in next week's District Three playoffs.

Game time is set for tonight, 7 p.m. at Garrett Field in Willow Street.

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.

Softball L-L Playoff Brackets

(Jillian Ditzler and the Bears draw Pequea Valley in Saturday's first round).

Here are the Lancaster-Lebanon League softball playoff brackets. All of the games will be held at Garret Park in Willow Street.

QUARTERFINALS (Saturday, May 10)
10 a.m. – Warwick (14-2, Section One champs) vs. Manheim Central (12-4, Section Three runner up).
Noon – Donegal (16-0, Section Three champs) vs. Hempfield (13-3, Section One runner up).
2 p.m. – Pequea Valley (14-2, Section Four champs) vs. E-town (13-3, Section Two runner up).

4 p.m. – Solanco (14-2, Section Two champs) vs. Annville-Cleona (9-7, Section Four runner up).

SEMIFINALS (Monday, May 12)
5:30 p.m. – Solanco/AC winner vs. Donegal/Hempfield winner.
7:30 p.m. – PV/E-town winner vs. Warwick/MC winner.

FINALS (Wednesday, May 14)
At Garret Park, 7 p.m.

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.

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.

Softball preview

(The Bears' seniors are, from left, Jillian Ditzler, Olivia Kuntz, Kara Hernley, Brianna Kuntz and Jen Dunkelberger).

Head Coach: Gary Wylde, second season.

2007 Record: 15-7 overall, 13-3 league. Section Two champions. Lost to Donegal in first round of Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs. Beat Central Dauphin in first round of District Three playoffs and lost to Warwick in second round of District Three playoffs.

Key Returners: Jen Dunkelberger, senior, 2B; Jillian Ditzler, senior, P/OF; Brianna Kuntz, senior, 3B; Olivia Kuntz, senior 1B; Kara Hernley, senior, OF; Becca Bigler, junior, SS; Anna Libby, junior, C, Tricia Stone, junior, P/OF; Abby Fuhrman, sophomore, OF; Mandi Shearer, sophomore, OF.
The Bears return a host of talent from last year’s section-championship team.
The talented group of seniors are led by Dunkelberger who will be playing her fourth year at the varsity level. Her leadership will be invaluable, as there is just about nothing she hasn’t seen. She’s also a good infielder and will be a sparkplug in the lineup.
Ditzler is the ace of the staff, but she will be joined by Stone in the circle, and the duo will handle the majority of the pitching responsibilities. Both were all-stars last season and give E-town one of the best 1-2 pitching punches in Section Two.
Brianna and Olivia Kuntz also return to anchor the corners of the infield. Both also bring a lot of energy to E-town’s lineup. Brianna Kuntz also brings experience as this will be her third varsity season. And Hernley gives E-town another good outfielder who can play solid defense.
E-town’s group of underclassmen also bring a lot to the table and are a major reason why E-town is arguably the team to beat in Section Two.
They are led by Bigler, the team’s best player and one of the best players in the L-L League. Bigler is always a threat to do damage with her bat, but is also excellent at shortstop. Last year, she was voted the L-L’s best shortstop by the league coaches. Pitchers around the league and section will be very careful with Bigler, knowing what she is capable of.
Libby was also an all-star last year and will handle the catching duties for the Bears. She is a tough catcher and plays good defense. She is also a good hitter and gives E-town yet another weapon.
Fuhrman and Shearer are only sophomores, but both are good athletes and should give the Bears solid defense in the outfield. They can also make things happen offensively. They could be primed for breakout seasons.

Key Newcomers: Ashleigh Nolan, junior, INF/OF; Tristen Gutshall, junior, OF; Leah Hayward, junior, 1B; Leigh Miller, sophomore, OF; Jamie Ahern, sophomore, INF/OF.
With so many returning starters from a year ago (the Bears lost just three players to graduation), there won’t be a lot of pressure on this group to step right in and be major contributors, which could be a good thing. They will have a chance to learn from the talented class of returning players and, when they are needed to step up and contribute, they should be ready.
Ahern and Nolan are versatile players that can play infield or outfield, which gives Wylde plenty of options defensively.
Gutshall and Miller also provide some outfield depth, and Hayward will likely backup Olivia Kuntz at first base, but should see some time to prepare for next season.
This group gives E-town a deep team, which will come in handy should there be any injuries or if Wylde needs to rest some players.

Key Losses: Shannon Marsico, CF Sarah Blantz, 1B; Jen Heisey, OF.
The Bears lost only three players, but all were key parts of last year’s section champion team.
Marsico, who is now playing for Elizabethtown College, was E-town’s centerfielder, and gave the Bears speed in the outfield and on the basepaths, where her aggressive baserunning led to lots of runs for the offense. She was a first team all-star last year.
Blantz’s power will be missed. She was also a first team all-star a year ago and was one of E-town’s top run producers.
Heisey was another of E-town’s all-stars last year. She was a high energy player who was good in the outfield.
While E-town will certainly miss these players’ contributions on the field, they’ll also miss the leadership they provided off of it. The returning players will need to step in and fill that leadership void that they left.

What they do well: Play together, pitching, hitting.
Sure the Bears have a lot of talent coming back this season, but what makes E-town a playoff-caliber team is their unselfishness and their ability to play multiple positions.
“We have a group of kids that work extremely hard and want to succeed,” Wylde said. “They work so well together and understand that playing together is how they can reach their goals. This group is a joy to coach.”
Also, with Bigler at the heart of their lineup and good hitters around her, the Bears can score runs in a variety of ways. They have some power hitters and also some speed players. That mix, along with E-town’s aggressive baserunning style, should allow them to score runs off of even the toughest pitchers.
When it comes to pitching, Ditzler and Stone were fantastic last year and could be even better this season. Neither is extremely overpowering, but they change speeds effectively and throw a lot of strikes, which keeps hitters off balance and keeps them swinging.

What they need to work on: Getting over the hump.
The E-town program has developed into one of the most successful in the L-L League. They are always in the playoff hunt and will likely be there again this year.
What they need to do, however, is figure out how to beat the best teams around. They are right on the cusp of being elite, but need to get some quality playoff wins to take that next step. Beating teams like Donegal, Warwick and Solanco will go a long way for their confidence.
They also need to rely on their returning players to step in and provide strong leadership to get there.
“We need to recover from the loss of the three seniors. Each was not only a good softball player, but provided guidance and leadership to their teammates,” said Wylde. “I believe we have many possible players to step in and fill that leadership roll, and look forward to seeing that develop.”

Outlook:
As the reigning section champs, E-town now has a target on its back – and the Bears know it. Everyone will be gunning to take them down game in and game out, and the Bears must respond to the challenge and elevate their play, because their opponents will.
“Every team will come to play and attempt to knock us off. We are looking to develop and get better each and every game and hope to be in a position to compete for the section title once again this year,” Wylde said.
That’s a very real possibility for E-town based on its roster. But Section Two is extremely tough and nothing is a guarantee. The Bears played very well down the stretch last year, winning 13 of its final 16 games after a slow 1-2 start.
Expect another 13-15 win season for the Bears and for them to be right in the mix to repeat as section champions this season. If they can get to the league and district playoffs again this year, the Bears will certainly remember what it was like a year ago and will look to correct their mistakes and advance deeper there.

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