Playing at home last Tuesday afternoon the Pioneer softball and baseball teams won their respective District Three outings while members of the track team wrapped up their season in the state championships Saturday, May 29.

SOFTBALL

Kieva Middleton tossed an eight strikeout, three hitter and the Pioneers continued their run through the District Three Class 5A bracket with a second straight shutout, 13-0 over Donegal in five innings in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 27. Five days later they advanced to the finals with their fourth win over Elizabethtown.

"Kieva was in total control," said Charles. "We didn't really expect a five-inning shutout against Donegal."

After a scoreless first, Cam Byler's (2-3, 3 RBIs) two run double in the second inning was the big hit. Daisy Frank walked a run in before that and Emily Platt's RBI base hit put L-S in front 4-0.

Extra base hits were the talk of the second inning. Julia Gerard and Karissa Hirt (2 RBI) cracked doubles, and Chloe Blantz added a triple along with base hits from Ally Raub and Middleton as the Pioneers batted around and pushed five more runs across.

And Middleton's three run homer, her first of the season, highlighted the fourth inning.

"We are getting run production up and down the lineup right now," said Charles. "And Kieva is probably pitching her best. She hasn't given up a run in two district games now and the defense has been solid behind her."

The Pioneers continued to bang out hits, 12 to be exact, including three homers, in last Tuesday's win over Elizabethtown. E-town jumped in front 1-0 in the first but L-S stormed back in the second as Blantz connected for a two-run blast that highlighted a four-run inning. One frame later, with two on and two out, Blantz launched another shot over the fence, extending the advantage to 7-1.

"I was happy that we stayed focused," said Charles. "We averaged 10 runs a game against them and it could have been easy to say we'll beat them again. I really think going down 4-0 to them in the L-L League finals made this game easier and helped them to focus more."

The Bears got one back in the top of the sixth but L-S answered in the bottom half with Frank's lead-off round-tripper, her first of the year.

Blantz and Brooke Zuber each finished with three hits while Raub and Frank added two.

Middleton scattered four hits, struck out four and walked four as L-S advanced to their first district final since 2018. "I think Kieva is the best pitcher in the L-L," Charles stated. "She just gets the job done."

TRACK

The Pioneer track teams wrapped up a successful 2021 season with representatives competing at the PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University May 22.

The 4x800 relay team of Nathan Eberly, Arik Harnsh, Colin Whitaker and Luka Vranich, coming off their best time of 7:59.2 at districts (4th place), improved their 10th place seeding position with an 8th place medal time of 8:02.62.

"The conditions were not really PR friendly," said head coach Cal Esh, "not so much the cold and drizzle, but the head wind on the far side of the track."

Harnish again competed in the 800 where he finished 11th with a 1:56.55. "His best time, and our new school record (1:56.25) was set three weeks ago," Esh noted. "He was seeded 14th."

On the girls' side, Maggie Swarr settled for 11th place with a 117-10 throw in the javelin. The sophomore threw a career best 125-6 at the District Meet on May 14 where she finished in second place.

BASEBALL

The Pioneers opened District Three Class 5A action with an extra-inning thriller over No. 11 Spring Grove but that magic was missing in the quarterfinals on May 27. No. 3 seed Cocalico (15-3-1) avenged their 4-2 loss to the Pioneers on May 15 with a 7-3 victory and advanced to the semifinals.

"Cocalico is a good team. They threw strikes and worked ahead in the count," said head coach Jeff Swarr. "We worked behind in the count and they had timely hitting."

Cocalico scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings and pulled away with a four-run sixth before Lampeter's seventh inning rally fell short.

Lampeter committed all three of their errors in the sixth inning, contributing to Cocalico's rally.

The Pioneers opened the seventh with Caleb Guyer's base hit. Xander Getchis followed with a one out single and Caleb Guyer raced home when Alex Knapp's grounder to third was misplayed. Cocalico made a pitching change and Braedon Karpathios greeted DeBalko with a two RBI line drive single to left. Back-to-back strikeouts ended the rally and sent the Pioneers to the consolation semifinals opposite York Suburban (13-7) where an 11-run fifth inning closed out a 15-5 win.

Down 5-4 after 4.5 innings, L-S went to bat 14 times in the home half of the fifth, erupting for 11 runs and ending the game early. Jake Scranton's bases loaded, two run single capped the scoring. Guyer's two-run double put the Pioneers back in front while Joey Doolittle's three-run double pushed the score to 10-5.

"Every person in the lineup either scored or drove in a run," noted Swarr. "The key was our commitment to the game plan and once we got their starter's pitch count up and he was out of the game, their bullpen was not strong and we took advantage of it."

Guyer went the distance on the hill, striking out two, walking two and scattering four hits.

In an eight-hit attack, Owen Fikkert was the only Pioneer to finish with two hits.

BOYS' LACROSSE

After suffering a 14-13 District Three Class 2A semifinals loss to Susquehannock, the Pioneers battled Hershey on May 27 for the third and final slot in the state playoffs. And for the second game in a row, the result came down to the wire, this time in overtime as L-S escaped the No. 5 seed Trojans 11-10 to keep their season alive.

In a back-and-forth battle, Hershey won the faceoff and called timeout to set up a play. Brayden Smith was able to strip and clear the ball to the offensive end where Colin Sullivan netted the game winner.

"The team rallied after losing Stewart McClain, our most productive offensive player, to a knee injury," said head coach Mike McConomy. "It was a thrilling game and felt great to beat them after they beat us earlier in the year when we played them missing multiple starters."

Pioneer keeper Bryce Thomas recorded 18 saves in goal.

Sullivan, with four goals and two assists, along with hat tricks from Conner Nolt (1a) and Barrett Denlinger fueled the offense. Stewart McClain added one assist and Jack Filius scored once.

Lampeter's state playoff got underway last Tuesday at Avon Grove High School where District One runner-up Bishop Shanahan waited. The Pioneers fell behind 6-1 in the first quarter, 11-3 at the half and 15-7 after three. Both teams scored once in the fourth quarter and L-S (15-6 overall) ended its season with a 16-8 loss.

"It was a tough loss to end a great season," said McConomy. "We struggled to win a face off and were beaten in transition. We played catch up the whole game but the guys fought to the final whistle.

"I couldn't be more proud of this group of young men," he added. "They have taken this program further than any other team in program history by making it to the district semifinals and then qualifying for states but what the coaching staff is most proud of is how hard this team worked and how they played for each other. I have never coached such a committed group to making their teammates better on and off the field."

The Section Two champs were well represented in the recent all-star selections with seven different players receiving recognition. Stewart McClain and Connor Nolt were both named as first team attack, Carson Garver was first team defense and Barrett Denlinger was first team face-off specialist.

Receiving second team recognition was Zach Labreque on attack, Drexton Frank on defense and Morgan Smith as long stick midfielder.

Nolt was also an Academic All-Star while McClain received the Class Act Award.

"Congrats to all of our all-stars," said McConomy. "They deserve the recognition and it is a direct result of the hard work they put in this year."