The followers of Lancaster-Lebanon League lacrosse are not surprised at all that the Hempfield boys' team is in the league playoffs.

The Black Knights finished second in the Section One standings behind Manheim Township. The Blue Streaks, unbeaten (10-0) in league play edged Hempfield (8-2) by two games.

What may have been a surprise in the L-L League, however, was Cocalico going unbeaten during the regular season and winning Section Two with an unblemished record.

In the league semifinals, which were played as a doubleheader at Ephrata on May 16, the Eagles downed the Knights 13-7 in the first game. Township edged Lampeter-Strasburg in the nightcap 10-8.

Hempfield came up short despite two goals each by Jason Hilton and Zack Antesberger. Logan Klinger, who also had one assist, Logan Pennell, and Toby Marco each netted one goal Phil Krauser and Julian Morales each dished out one assist.

The Eagles and the Knights went into the second quarter of the match tied 3-3. Cocalico pulled ahead with four goals to only one by Hempfield in the second quarter and outscored Hempfield 6-3 in the second half.

Cocalico's Dolan Byrnes led all scorers with six goals and one assist.

The Knights are the seventh-ranked team in the District Three Class 3A power rankings - assuring them of a berth in the district playoffs.

SOFTBALL

After blanking Pequea Valley 10-0 in the opening round of the L-L League softball playoffs on Friday, May 12, the Section One champion Knights took on a high-scoring Donegal team that had cruised to the Section Three title during the regular season.

After a tough start to Monday's semifinal game at Millersville University, Hempfield pitcher Carley Ernst settled in and held Donegal to only four hits while Alex Gregory came through with two big hits in the 10-3 win.

"For the most part, she kept their offense in check," said head coach Chris Landis. "Carley settled in after hitting their first batter. We also had some defensive lapses. Our young players on the big stage - there were a couple of errors."

Gregory came up with the bases loaded on two different occasions. Both times she came through with a base hit, driving in three runs.

"It was the most complete game for our offense so far this season," Landis said. "All season our offense has been laboring to score runs. We usually score just to get the job done, thus putting pressure on Carley to do her job."

And the offense had a bit of hard luck in the first couple of innings.

"We were down 1-0 and when we were putting the ball in play, it was right at their players," Landis explained. "Avery Landis came up and hit a big double to right field. Chloe Diener doubled to right-center. Those hits opened things up for our offense."

The Pequea Valley game from three days earlier in Landisville featured Ernst playing up to the old cliche of the pitcher "helping her own cause."

Ernest, who struck out seven Braves in the one-hit shutout, went 4-for-5 at the plate driving in two runs. Kali Peifer was 3-for-4 with a double. Avery Landis had two doubles and 3RBI.

As for the championship game, which was played Wednesday evening, May 17, the Warwick Warriors, who had downed Solanco 11-4 in their semifinal game, earned the L-L League trophy by beating Hempfield 11-6 at Millersville University.

Gregory went 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Lily Ashton went 2-for-3 and scored two runs.

GIRLS LACROSSE

Section Two champion Lampeter-Strasburg and Section One runner up Hempfield faced each other in the first game of a semifinals doubleheader played at Conestoga Valley High School on Tuesday, May 16.

The Knights kept pace with the Pioneers in this contest but came up short in a 10-8 final. Hempfield actually out-shot L-S by a 17-15 count with Whitney Hershey scoring four times.

Lampeter's Rowan Kimmel led all scorers with six goals and two assists.

Also chipping in for the Knights were Natalie Bole, who scored twice, Isabelle Masengarb with a goal and an assist and Mia Brennan, who netted one goal.

TRACK & FIELD

Aiden Hodge added another accolade to his strong senior season on the track. In the L-L League Championship meet, which was held at Hempfield Friday and Saturday, May 12-13, Hodge earned the gold medal in the 1,600-meter race. In doing so, he set a new L-L League meet record with a time of 4:11.15, which was also his personal best.

Hodge also won the 800-m race at 1:56.08.

Andy Garcia's 45-foot-1.25 triple jump and his 21-1.75 long jump were good for first place and second, respectively.

Also taking the silver medal was Brody Weachter whose 12-6 pole vault effort tied him for second place.

The Knights compiled 63 team points, which was good for fifth place in the team standings.

"We had three golds and two silvers plus one meet record," head coach Curt Rogers noted.

"The expectations were that Aiden Hodge would do well," Rogers added. "Winning the 800 and then the 1600 by setting a new meet record kind of cemented his legacy.

"Also, congrats to Andy Garcia for making a name for himself in the triple jump and long jump," continued the coach.

The 4x800m relay team of Spencer Ashba, Emerson Long, Sam Meyer and Sam Freedman put together a fourth-place time of 8:21.68. Earning sixth place with a javelin throw of 154-3 was Hempfield's Pete Wenzel. Joseph Fahrney had a personal best 4:27.13 to take seventh in the 1600 while teammate Emerson Long ran the 3200 in 10:02.12 and was 11th.

Ella Wolfe grabbed gold in the girls' 3,200 with a time of 11:10.23. She also took third in the 1600 with a personal best 5:12.07. The Hempfield girls compiled 27 points - taking 12th place.

In addition to her two individual events, Wolfe teamed up with Roz Scott, Molly Siebert and Katie Gardner for a fifth-place time of 9:58 in the 4x800.

"Ella Wolfe had three incredible performances, helping to lead the way," Rogers said. "All three of our relays scored points. Shout out to all those earning medals."

The 4x400 relay team took eighth place, featuring Izzy Heisey and Bella Heisey along with Elli Yaeger and Evi Sahd. The 4x100 foursome of Mya Thompson, Ariana Olivencia, Izzy Heisey and Julia Sweigart, who took sixth in the 300-m hurdles, registered a time of 51.36 seconds - good for sixth in that relay.

Sahd also had a personal best 400-m of 1:03.30 while Jordyn Gehres's 33-3.75 in the triple jump was also a personal record.

BASEBALL

Section One champ Hempfield suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg in the Lancaster-Lebanon League semifinals on Saturday morning, May 13 at Ephrata's War Memorial Stadium. The Pioneers edged the Knights in the opener of the twin bill. Ephrata defeated Lancaster Catholic in the early afternoon game.

Aiden Rodenberger pitched a strong game for Hempfield. The Knights (17-5) tied the score 1-1 in the second inning but failed to further take advantage of their bases-loaded, no-out opportunity.

In their last chance, the Knights manufactured a run - singles by Rodenberger, Charles Sheerer and Michael Rieker loaded the bases, setting up the sacrifice fly RBI for Peter Fiore.

Hempfield had reached the semifinals thanks to a 13-3 victory at home over Section Four runner-up Northern Lebanon on Thursday, May 11.

The Knights' big hit early on was a Hunter Williams bases-loaded double which scored Logan Harelson and Rieker. Sheerer scored on a groundout to make it 3-0.

Other big offensive contributions later in the game included an RBI triple by Brayden Hostetter Stephen Katch's RBI single, a Drew Benchich bases-loaded walk as well as another Rodenberger RBI single.