Win or go home might be an OK phrase when talking about college basketball and the NBA but if your attention is turned to the world of high school sports and the playoffs that come with them, it is not a phrase you want to hear. Need proof, ask the baseball and softball teams at Manheim Central. Both squads enjoyed stellar regular seasons only to bow out of the postseason in the opening round.

For the Lady Barons that came on May 22nd with a 16-14 loss to Ephrata in the opening round of the District 3-5A playoffs. The two teams traded blows through six innings and entered the final frame in an 8-8 deadlock. Riley Hostetter surrendered the final eight runs of her season in the top of the seventh, putting all 16 Lady Mountaineer runs on her stat sheet and giving Ephrata a 16-8 cushion.

Central answered with a six-run frame that left the Lady Barons just short of the comeback while giving the win to Ephrata.

Hostetter may have been on the hook for all 16 Ephrata runs but eight Manheim errors shifted all but three of those runs into the unearned category. The sophomore added three strikeouts and two walks to her game tally. Hostetter also helped her own cause with a five-hit day at the plate that included three RBI.

Brianna Mylin was the star on offense, driving in six runs on three hits that included a three-run blast in the sixth inning. Ava Kenneff added two RBI as part of the seventh inning rally while Hailey Peterson enjoyed three singles in the game but picked up her lone RBI with a seventh inning fielder's choice.

BASEBALL

The baseball team had their one and done moment on the 19th where a 10-0 loss to Muhlenberg closed out Manheim's season. Jared Murray lasted just one inning but was hit with seven of those 10 runs, giving the lefty the loss. Cayde Connelly covered the next four innings and two Muhl runs while Cole Lawhorne surrendered the final run that ended the game with the 10-run rule.

Central managed just five singles, one each by Connelly, Ty Clugston, Ky Watson, Logan McGallicher and Colin Neiles.

VOLLEYBALL

The boys' volleyball team made history on May 17th, earning their first ever Lancaster-Lebanon League Championship trophy after topping defending champ Warwick by a 3-1 count in the finals.

"Great piece of hardware that this program hasn't won since we came into the league in 06-07," was head coach Craig Dietrich's simple exclamation. "The guys showed a lot of grit playing from behind in games three and four."

The grit that Dietrich mentioned resulted in the match sealing wins of 28-26 and 25-18, both coming after Warwick had evened the match at one game apiece with a 25-16 game two win. Central claimed the opening game 25-12 to seize early control with only the quick reversal giving Warwick control in game two.

Both Jacob Moyer and Logan Groff finished with eight kills, Moyer added three blocks while Groff had two. Dylan Musser added four kills and two blocks to his 37 assists while Landan Mattiace posted a team high 11 kills to go with four blocks. Peter Burkhart added seven kills and Toby Frey another five.

As you might expect from the section champion, Manheim picked up quite a few All-Section nods for the season. In fact, the Barons compromised exactly half of the first team thanks to Musser, Mattiace, Frey, Moyer and Groff all earning first team All-Star honors.

"It's always nice to pick up accolades (All Stars) and those five guys, as well as the others, have been putting the time in all year long," said Dietrich.

TRACK

The track and field season is down to just two athletes for Manheim Central after the Barons took part in the District 3 Championship Meet on May 19th and 20th. Central picked up eight district medals with Maddie Knier collecting half of those. The senior standout posted state qualifying marks in all four of her events highlighted by a second-place toss of 131' 7" in the javelin. Add in matching bronze medals in the high jump (5' 4") and long jump (19' 9") along with a fifth place in the triple jump (37' 0.25") and it is obvious why Knier is headed the University of Pennsylvania to compete in track and field for the Ivy league school.

Landon McGallicher also qualified for the PIAA meet after finishing 5th in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.88. The senior also added a seventh-place finish in the 300 hurdles, posting a 40.11.

Abbie Reed picked up Manheim's lone solo medal on the track, taking sixth place in the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.33 which was 0.08 seconds off the state qualifying standard.

Central's last solo medal came in the girl's shot put where Laci Nelson finished sixth, her 37' 0.75" missing the state qualifying mark by just over five inches.

The Lady Barons also accounted for the final medal thanks to the work of Sarah Forry, Reagan Ibach, Julia Kahler and Julie Lindberg. The quartet clocked a 9:48.61 in the 3200m relay, good enough for eighth place.

Liz Voegele just missed joining Reed on the 300 hurdles podium, her 46.58 placing her a mere 0.33 seconds off the medal stand in ninth place.

Chloe Enck rounded out the Lady Baron's weekend with an 18th place finish in the discus.

Wyatt Kupres found himself 13th in the final boy's discus standings, his top toss coming in at 142' 1". Zach Hahn and Kahlen Watt were also in Shippensburg, both competing in the javelin. Hahn settled for 16th place with his top throw of 144' 3" while Watt was two spots back with his 142' 2".