The 2109 season officially came to a close on May 7th for the Eastern York boys' volleyball team and the Golden Knights saved their best for last. The result was a loss but Eastern pushed Kennard-Dale to the limit before falling 3-2. With a 25-21 opening set victory and a 25-14 fourth set win the Golden Knights were able to extend the match to a decisive fifth set for the first time all season. Unfortunately, the Rams claimed that set, 15-13, securing KD's win after back-to-back 25-22 victories in the second and third sets.
Brady Bixler and Nolan Reichard were at the forefront of the attack with Reichard dishing out 21 assists to go with six kills while Bixler had 15 kills and two assists. The pair helped with the defensive side as well with matching five dig efforts and a combined nine blocks, six by Bixler. Jake Kennell offered 13 digs, three kills, two blocks and an assist with Nick Spotts posting a team high 16 digs. Devyn Sanders chipped in with 10 assists and seven digs.
Eastern York's second to last match was a 3-0 loss to Susquehannock on the 2nd. The Golden Knights were unable to avoid the sweep but they made the Warriors work for the 25-18, 25-19 and 26-24 wins. Reichard posted a team high 12 assists with Bixler and Spotts matching that tally in digs. Bixler added a team high 10 kills to go with four blocks, one ace and one assist while Reichard finished with five digs, four kills, two blocks and a team high two aces. Sanders collected five assists, three digs and one block with Spotts adding two kills to his 12 digs.
BASEBALL
The baseball team's march to the postseason hit a bump on May 6th with a 7-5 loss to Kennard-Dale that snapped a three-game winning streak and left the Golden Knights with an 11-6 record. They did find the going smoother on the 8th with a walk-off victory over West York bumping their record to 12-6 overall, good enough for seventh place in the District 3-4A rankings. If the rankings hold until becoming official on May 16th the Golden Knights would host West Perry on the 20th in a first-round tilt.
As for the loss to KD, it appeared that Eastern was on their way to a win after a three-run spurt in the top of the sixth put them up 3-2. Jacob Bardo pushed the first run across with the popular based loaded hit-by-pitch RBI. Bren Taylor knotted the game at 2-2 when he stole home and Quinton McNew put his squad up with a fielder's choice RBI that also counted as the second out of the inning.
The Rams countered with a five-run bottom half to regain the lead, 7-3. Taylor mounted another charge in the seventh with a one out double to left that cut Kennard-Dale's lead to two runs but the Golden Knights could not continue their rally as KD forced two quick outs to end the game.
Evan Rishell covered five and two third innings before hitting his pitch limit allowing Owen Shimmel to cover the final one third of an inning. Rishell had six strikeouts and four walks and was on the hook for five of KD's runs.
Eastern York regained their winning swagger on the 8th with that walk-off win over Division III leading West York. Bardo provided the heroics with a walk off single that scored Taylor who had knotted the game at 4-4 two batters prior. While Bardo gave Eastern their last lead, it was Emmit Silar that gave Eastern their first with a first inning fielder's choice. The Golden Knights picked up a second run in the frame thanks to a Bulldog error. West York provided the game's first tie with a two-run top of the third but Eastern York moved right back in front with a McNew sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning.
McNew ended up with the win despite throwing just three pitches after relieving Shimmel who had reached his pitch limit in the top of the seventh. That meant that Shimmel's day ended with a no decision after pitching six and two thirds innings. He allowed all six West York hits and all four of their runs but added five strikeouts with just one walk.
GIRLS' LACROSSE
The girl's lacrosse team moved one step closer to the end of the regular season with their May 2nd battle with South Western. The Lady Golden Knights suffered a 19-11 setback despite seven goals from Addy Malone. Summer Breen finished with three saves while Regan Young, Victoria Zerbe, Haley Holtzinger and Ellie Lippy finished out the scoring with one goal apiece.
TRACK
On Friday May 3rd the Golden Knight track and field team welcomed nine other teams to Wrightsville for the Battle for the Bridge Invitational. Both sides performed well with the Lady Golden Knights outpacing the boy's side in podium finishes, 13-12 while the boy's collected more top three hardware by a 5-4 count.
The boy's push was fronted by Demonte Martin and his hurdle prowess. The senior captured gold in the 110H with a time of 14.97 and nabbed bronze in the 300H with a time of 41.80. Martin added a fourth-place finish in the high jump to his day. Drake Brown also picked up a gold with a toss of 139-1 in the discus.
Weston McLain gave the Golden Knights two throwing medals with a third-place throw of 147-10 in the javelin. Tyrel Emig secured the final top three finish, collecting bronze in the 800m with a time of 2:04.90. Tyler Druck clocked in just over five seconds later to take seventh. Hailu Barrow cleared 9-6 in the pole vault to finish in a fourth-place tie with Solanco's Marci Revoloria-Morales while Dylan Zurin ended up fifth in the long jump with a top distance of 18-8.75.
Gavin Johnson picked up the final medal in the field with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Bryce Currier claimed eighth in the 400m (55.76) while James Johnson took seventh in the 200m (24.74).
For the Lady Golden Knights three athletes accounted for nine of their 13 podium finishes. Sarah Moore led the way with four, all coming in the field. Her top finish was sixth with a throw of 27-2.5 in the shot put. She added eighth place finishes in the discus (80-11) and javelin (80-10) to go with her seventh-place finish in the high jump. Emily Smith secured one of Eastern's two bronze medals with a toss of 96-2 in the javelin. She added a fourth-place finish in the discus with a top throw of 94-8. Maya Stump rounded out Eastern York's top trio. She picked up Eastern's second bronze with a 31-0.5 in the triple jump and their lone silver by clearing 4-8 in the high jump. Stump's final podium finish came in the pole vault where she finished in a four-way tie for eighth along with Mia Shrom and two others.
Olivia McLain brought home the Lady Golden Knights lone gold medal with a 5:19.67 in the 1600m while Emily Hoyer and Cassidy Shetter made it five different events with multiple medals. The pair did their work in the 100m where Hoyer finished fifth (13.53) and Shetter seventh (13.76).
SOFTBALL
The Eastern York softball team saw their five-game winning streak snapped on May 8th with a 9-1 loss to New Oxford. Maelynn Leber took the loss, allowing seven of the Lady Colonials runs on 10 hits and one walk. She tallied all six of Eastern's strikeouts after covering the first five innings. Analise Fenwick pitched the final two innings and surrendered the final two runs on three hits.
Gillian Toomey plated Eastern's lone run with a double in the fourth but New Oxford followed with a three run fifth that turned the 4-1 lead into a 7-1 cushion before a two run sixth finished the scoring.
Eastern York's winning streak reached five games with a 10-0 victory over Susquehannock on the 6th that secured the Lady Golden Knights the Division II title and a berth in the YAIAA playoffs that comes with it. Eastern plated eight of their 10 runs in the top of the fifth to enact the mercy rule.
Leber earned the win for her efforts on the mound as well as posting a three hit, three RBI game at the plate. Her work in the circle included three strikeouts and one walk with just two hits allowed. Her day at the plate included three singles with a third inning hit kickstarting the scoring. She picked up her final two RBIs in her second at bat of the fifth with help from a Susquehannock error. McKenzie Buchmyer also picked up two RBIs in the fifth, doing so with a single to center that made it 6-0. Morgan Winter's lone RBI of her three-hit game also came in the fifth and made it 8-0.
A few days prior, the Lady Golden Knights topped Trinity 7-2. Leber put on another show, this time collecting five RBIs with a two home run game. Her first blast came in the bottom of the first, accounting for Eastern's first two runs. Her second homer came in the fourth and capped the Lady Golden Knights scoring. Katie Lehman picked up Eastern York's only other RBI with a third inning sac fly that pushed the lead to 4-1. Leber also pitched all seven innings and tallied 13 strikeouts with just two walks to earn the win. She scattered four hits and allowed two runs but both the Lady Shamrock runs fell under the unearned column.
BOYS' LACROSSE
The boy's lacrosse team closed their regular season with a 1-1 stretch that put their overall record at 8-8, good enough for 10th in the final District 3-2A rankings. That sets up another game with York Suburban in the opening round of the district playoffs that kick off May 14th where Eastern hopes to reverse the previous outcome, a 16-10 loss back on April 4th.
Eastern got the loss out of the way first, falling to South Western by a 19-12 count. Gavin Evans led the way with four goals and two assists while Cayden Michael tacked on three goals and an assist. Bryce Henise and Jake Crumling finished with matching two goal, two assist games while Rylan Emlet picked up the final score. Kade Wiley turned away eight shots.
The Golden Knights rebounded by closing out the regular season with a 11-7 victory over Daniel Boone on the 8th. Michael netted the lone hat trick while Henise added three assists to two scores. Evans, Crumling and Gage Barton wrapped up the scoring with two goals each. Emlet and Torin Young dished out one assist apiece. Wiley netted 10 saves to secure the win.
Leave a Review