Under windy, rainy and cloudy skies, the Pioneer track teams rose to the occasion and swept the visiting Eagles of Cocalico on Monday, May 1. The girls got a four-win performance from Elly Bruner and three more from Maggie Swarr and pulled out an 87-63 win. A balanced effort by the boys, that included sweeps in the 3200 and long jump, led to a 90-60 home win.

Bruner claimed the long, triple and high jump along with the 300 hurdles and Swarr tripled, taking all three throwing events to pace the Pioneer scoring. Natalie Holland chipped in with the top time in the high hurdles and ran the opening leg of the winning 4x100 with Ongosi, Herr and Brenneman. She was second in the pole vault.

Kira Smecker won the 3200 and Immel pulled away to take the open 800.

"It was a real team effort for the boys," said head coach Cal Esh. "Twenty-four different boys scored, but a sweep of the 3200 (Colin Whitaker, Ben Devine and Michael Colosi) and the long jump (Yasin Abdi, Owen Keener, and Artem Nebel) helped put us over the top."

Abdi and Nebel also went 1-2 in the triple while Whitaker and Andrew Cramer did the same in the 800. Also on the track, Parker Stoner and Luke Smith took first and second in the mile and Eric Doutrich and Carter Weaver did the same in the 400. Smith, Devine, Cramer and Stoner opened the meet with a win in the 4x800 relay.

In the field, Aidan Wiley and Greyson Myers went 1-2 in the pole vault, Collin Shelley won the shot put and Jonathan Mellinger was second in the discus and third in the shot.

BOYS' LACROSSE

Since a 10-9 loss to Cocalico on April 19, the boys' lacrosse team put together six straight wins, including non-section wins over Hempfield (14-5 on April 29) and Penn Manor (12-10 on May 2). The Pioneers are currently ranked 4th in the District AA power rankings.

L-S posted a first-half shutout, 6-0, against the Knights Saturday morning and won the second half 8-5. Zach Lebrecque (4g, 2a), KJ Kessler (3g), Colin Sullivan (2g, 3a), Chase Barber (2g, 1a) and Gavin Denlinger (2g, 1a) all recorded multiple goals to pave the way.

In the "Whitey" game Tuesday night against the Comets, a 2-0 first quarter advantage proved to be the difference as the rest of the game proved to be an evenly matched contest with both teams scoring 10 goals each.

Sullivan (1a) and Denlinger both notched hat tricks with Kessler's (1a) two goal effort as the only other multi-goal scorer in this balanced attack. Labrecque (1a), Morgan Smith, Jack Groff and Cole Lopez also found the back of the net.

Bryce Thomas recorded a combined 29 saves in the wins.

SOFTBALL

The softball team began its run of five straight games with 6-3 loss to Solanco at Garrett Park Monday, May 1. Julia Gerard's two run single in the second inning gave L-S an early lead. They made it 3-0 in the fourth when Ally Raub doubled in Maura Savoca with two outs.

Unfortunately, Solanco spoiled senior night when they batted around plus two in the sixth, collecting six runs on five hits, one walk and two errors. It was Solanco's second come-from-behind win over the Pioneers.

"We played Solanco tougher than anyone in our section!" exclaimed head coach Earl Rutledge. "We loaded the bases in the first and did not score. That hurt. And that sixth inning killed us on misplays in the field. Most of their runs were unearned."

Savoca, who finished with two hits along with Gerard, struck out five and walked one over the first 5.1 innings. Raub struck out two in relief.

Tuesday L-S spotted Lebanon three runs in the first inning but rallied with 13 in the bottom half and settled for a 19-4 win. Mackenzie Maki's (6RBIs) fourth inning grand slam highlighted a 13-hit attack aided by eight errors and five walks. Raub added three hits and three RBI. Brooke Zuber and Chloe Meck added two hits each.

Paige Baxter scattered five hits and struck out three in four innings of work.

Under the lights in Elizabethtown Wednesday, L-S pushed out to a 7-0 lead after four innings and led 8-4 after six complete, setting the stage for a high scoring seventh. Raub's (3hits, 4RBI) one-out, three-run homer highlighted a four-run seventh inning and capped a 12-7 victory over the Bears. Mackenzie Maki got things rolling with a 2-run homer in the second. L-S finished with 12 hits, five for extra bases.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

In their closest game of the season to date, the lady Pioneers extended an 8-7 first half lead with a 5-3 edge in the second half and topped Penn Manor 13-10 Tuesday night in Millersville.

Rowan Kimmel's five goal effort matched the Comets' Joelle Kroesen leaving a balanced effort after that making the difference. Abigail Welchans, Bethany Stoltzfus (3g) and Sophia Labrecque each dished out two assists. Leigha Saurbaugh scored twice with Hannah Cissne (1a), Ryann Logan and Trinity Wise adding one goal each.

The Pioneers were coming off their first loss of the season, a 15-5 result on Saturday, April 29 at Wyomissing.

"Our non-league schedule is deliberately more competitive," said head coach Marshall Krebs. "Wins are nice, but the bigger picture is we want to head into tough post-season play by playing some of the toughest teams in District 3. We will be playing five teams all ranked eighth or higher in AA and AAA.

"There were numerous positive takeaways from the game, but the play of Ellie Moyer stood out," he added. "She was poised, scrappy on ground balls and played their ride perfectly."

Kimmel (2a), Saurbaugh, Cissne, Logan and Labrecque (1a) were the goal scorers.

BASEBALL

After an 8-2 win over Solanco at Clipper Stadium and a 4-2 win over Ephrata a week prior, the baseball team fell short against both of those teams in back-to-back games early last week.

Solanco scored twice in the first inning on two walks, a groundout and a sac fly and both teams scored once in the third and again in the seventh to cap the scoring. L-S outhit the Mules 3-2 but committed four errors and couldn't take advantage of eight walks.

Southpaw Peyton Harsh struck out seven and walked four in the loss. Jason Long went 2-4 to pace the offense.

Under the lights again Tuesday night, the Mounts moved a half a game ahead of L-S in a battle for the section title with a 6-2 result in Lampeter. After four scoreless innings, Ephrata scored all the runs they needed (3) in the top of the fifth. They added one in the sixth and matched Lampeter's two run seventh to account for the scoring. The Mounts out-hit the hosts, who committed two errors, 7-3.

Anthony Turek got the start and fanned eight batters against four walks. Hayden Brinkman and Kyler Branco pitched in relief. Ephrata's winning pitcher, Camryn Simes, fanned 11 and walked one over six and a third innings.

Harsh, Mason Coe and Branco all recorded hits.

Wednesday the Pioneers held a 6-5 lead after four complete but gave up a grand slam in the fifth and wound up dropping a 9-6 result to Elizabethtown. The Bears out-hit the Pioneers 10-5 and took advantage of three errors and seven walks.

TENNIS

Cole and Seth Teaman picked up a pair of wins in L-L League Flight two doubles action. They opened with an 8-4 win over Elco's Long and Lovell and then topped Wall and Stichler of N. Lebanon before bowing out in the semifinals, 6-1, against Township's Tayler and Chisasammy.

Justin Gouger and Kenny Finn followed a similar path in Flight 3, topping Penn Manor's Clark and Chatha 8-2 and blanking Lancaster Mennonite's Martinez-Ortega and Kauffman. Their tournament ended with an 8-4 loss to Township's Tanna and Hager, the eventual winners.

In Flight 3 singles, top seed Spencer Teaman blanked LM's Matt Friesen and beat Ephrata's Caleb Zimmerman 8-1 before bowing out 8-3 against AC's Matej Hmcir.