Sometimes in the world of sports a player or team continues to find the same opponent standing in the way of goals and aspirations. In the case of the Elizabethtown softball team, their nemesis for 2021 has been Lampeter-Strasburg. With an 8-2 setback on June 1st, the Lady Pioneers have dealt E-town four of their seven losses this season, all keeping the Lady Bears from big accomplishments. There were the two regular season setbacks that prevented a section title, an L-L title game loss and now that 8-2 District 3-5A semifinal loss that keeps E-town from a title shot.

Despite an end result that left Elizabethtown wanting more, the district game started well for E-town. The Lady Bears used small ball tactics to take a 1-0 lead coming out of their half of the first. Ava Fair coaxed a two-out walk from Keiva Middleton then moved herself into scoring position via a stolen base. The plan worked perfectly as Jess Zimmerman roped a double that pushed Fair across for that 1-0 lead.

Zimmerman picked up a second hit with a leadoff double in the sixth, eventually working her way around to score off Sidney Stewart fielder's choice but it was too little too late by that point. In between the two Lady Bear scores, Lampeter-Strasburg erupted for seven runs, meaning Zimmerman's sixth inning score only shrank the deficit to 7-2.

Kristin Geesey was in the circle for E-town, absorbing all 12 Lampeter-Strasburg hits and all eight of their runs, including the Daisy Frank solo shot in the sixth that set the 8-2 final. L-S was able to get to Geesey twice more, both from the bat of Chloe Blantz. The first was a three-run blast in the second that broke open the 1-1 deadlock. The second was a two-run homer in the third that highlighted Lampeter-Strasburg's game sealing outburst. Geesey picked up three strikeouts to go with three walks.

The Lady Bears earned that fourth showdown opposite L-S courtesy of a 4-0 win over previously unbeaten South Western on May 27th. Elizabethtown rode Geesey to the District 3-5A Quarterfinal win with the senior hurling a gem on the mound while also helping her own cause with a third inning blast.

Geesey tossed all seven innings, allowing just two hits and two walks to go with her eight strikeouts. The result was just seven baserunners and three of them came from fielding errors including two that sparked a second inning scare. Geesey was able to work out of that jam with the third of her eight K's coupled with a pop out to short.

Geesey also helped her own cause, kicking off the top of the third with her only hit of the game, a solo shot that made it 2-0. The two-run lead was short lived as Zimmerman pushed it to 3-0 with help from a Lady Mustang error just three batters later. Zimmerman also pushed across the final Elizabethtown run with her fifth inning double that plated Ava Fair, giving the junior one hit and two RBIs on the day. Megan Gray opened the scoring back in the second, leading off the frame with a solo homer and a 1-0 lead.

TRACK

The track and field season came to a close on May 28th and 29th with one last trip to Shippensburg University for Madeline Quinn and Carly Sedun. The two seniors made the trek to Seth Grove Stadium for the PIAA-3A Championship. Sedun captured the Lady Bears only medal by working her way into the discus finals where she uncorked a throw of 128-10 securing sixth with a personal best toss. Quinn qualified in both the 1600m and 3200m but opted out of the 3200m to concentrate on Saturday's 1600m final. The moved paid off for Quinn with the senior posting a time of 5:18.93, good enough to finish 19th overall.