The old sports adage says you want to peak at the right time, hitting your full stride right as the postseason kicks off. It appears as if the baseball team is right on schedule, using wins over Solanco and Conestoga Valley to improve to 11-5 on the season.

The Bears needed just five innings to top Solanco, 13-3, on April 27th thanks to the work of Kayden Kimble, Evan Hassinger, Luis Perez, Braden Cummings, and Cade Capello. Kimble and Hassinger handled the pitching duties with Kimble picking up the win after covering the initial four innings. That left Hassinger to take care of the fifth, adding his one punch out to Kimble's three.

Perez and Capello both enjoyed two hit days that included a single and triple for each. Perez pushed three runs across with his two hits while Capello finished with two RBI. Cummings also had two RBI but did so with just one hit.

Elizabethtown kicked off May with a 7-2 win over Conestoga Valley on the 2nd. Justin Borger stepped up to start and earned the win, striking out eight and allowing two runs over five innings. Pike Burkett cleaned up the final two frames, tacking on two strikeouts and two walks to the team tally.

The Bears used a true team effort to plate their seven runs with Cummings, Josh Rudy, Perez, Elijah McFarlane, Nathan Yohn, Drew Hitz and Capello all finishing with one RBI.

VOLLEYBALL

A light week left the boys' volleyball team with just a 3-0 win over Ephrata, pushing their overall record to 7-6. The two sides battled in all three games, but E-town was able to come out on top 25-21, 25-20 and 25-22. Eli Miller finished with 34 assists and Josh McCoy 12 kills to lead the way. Adam Reedy added two aces, Austin Thomas six digs and Cooper Torborg two blocks.

TRACK

The track teams opened the month of May by hosting Garden Spot. The result was a 95.3-54-7 win for the boys and a 76-74 loss for the Lady Bears.

Ali Fink was the lone multievent winner for the girls, taking both the 800m and 1600m. Genna McDonald picked up the final solo win on the track with a 62.0 in the 400m. The Lady Bears did add a 1600m relay win as well.

Five different athletes took the top spot in five different field events starting with Anna Rank in the pole vault. Jebbah Ngafua topped the triple jump while Sara Mathias (shot put), Sidney Avers (discus) and Noreen Lehman (javelin) accounted for the remaining wins.

The boys did their heavy lifting on the track with only Caleb Kreider's long jump and triple jump wins coming in the field. The Bears helped their cause by taking both the 400m relay and the 1600m relay races. Juan Lopez and Caleb Fuge both pulled a double with Lopez taking the 100m and 400m while Fuge swept the 110 and 300 hurdles. Owen Dommel finished the sprint domination by taking the 200m while Jackson Kay claimed the 800m. Jaycen Conrad joined Lopez and Fuge with two wins, taking the 1600m and 3200m.

BOYS' LACROSSE

Winner, winner!! It is just one game but when that one game is your first victory of the season it is a big deal. Such is the case for the E-town boy's lacrosse team after their 10-3 victory over Cedar Cliff on May 1st. Josiah Erb needed just four saves to earn the win thanks to the work of Christian Robinson and Carson NyeSmith. The pair split six goals with Robinson adding three assists. Dylan Ginder and Ethan Ginder added two scores each.

Bookended around that win were losses to Cocalico and Ephrata. The 22-2 loss to Cocalico took place April 27th with Bryce Kauffman and Wyatt Wawrzyniak accounting for the offense. Erb finished with 22 saves.

The Bears found themselves on the wrong end of a 17-2 final on the 2nd, this time with Ephrata inflicting the damage. Erb tallied seven saves while NyeSmith and Dylan Ginder split the two scores.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

Close does not count in lacrosse, making a one-goal loss count the same as any other. Of course, that does not mean one-goal losses do not sting, in fact they are often more difficult to handle.

The girls' lacrosse team suffered two such losses in back-to-back games, leaving the Lady Bears with a four-game slide and a 9-7 mark as the season nears a close.

The first of those two losses came on April 27th with Cocalico using an 8-4 first half edge to hang on for the 11-10 win. Dani Bruno picked up another four scores while Aiesha Rios, Piper Patrick, and Callie Love-Morris all netted two goals. Sydney Pope finished with 10 saves.

May 2nd sent E-town to Ephrata for a game that went to the home side by a 12-11 final. Pope finished with four saves this time around while Patrick and Bruno both finished with a hat trick. Moira Shott and Rios tacked on two scores each with Love-Morris cleaning up the final score.

SOFTBALL

Rough patches are fairly common over the course of a high school sports season and the E-town softball team is smack in the middle of such a stretch. The Lady Bears dropped games to Conestoga Valley and Solanco with only a win over Lebanon to ease the frustration of a 9-8 overall record.

The win over Lebanon opened May with Elizabethtown needing six innings to claim the 10-0 result. Breonna Edgell covered all six innings, recording two strikeouts and two walks. Madison Bell carried the big stick with three RBI, but it was Julia Joyce who stole the show. The senior enjoyed Senior Night, collecting her first hit of the season, and driving in two runs in the process. Astyn Calaman also finished with two RBI on three hits.

The win was a welcome relief with the Lady Bears coming off a 9-8 loss to Conestoga Valley on April 26th. Edgell took the loss, walking 10 and striking out eight over six and two-thirds innings. Cassidy Leitzel recorded the final out for Elizabethtown. Keira Davis flexed, adding a sac fly to her sixth inning grand slam, giving the freshman five RBI. Ava Fair, Sophie Finch and Calaman added one RBI each.

The Lady Bears were not able to hang with Solanco on the 2nd, falling by an 11-1 final in six innings. Edgell and Leitzel split the pitching duties and finished with three walks and no strikeouts.

TENNIS

The boy's tennis season officially ended with the Bears taking part in the L-L Flight Championship starting April 27th. The going was tough for E-town with no Bears managing to make it out of the opening round. Luke Risser fell in number one singles, Finn Grinnell in number three singles and Ethan Duralja in number four singles. Grinnell and Duralja fell in number two doubles while Risser and Evan Morgan did the same in Flight One doubles. Bennett Kreider and Levi Sites were the final E-town duo to bow out, doing so in the number three doubles bracket.