With only a handful of games remaining in the Lancaster-Lebanon League regular season schedule, Hempfield's baseball team posted two more victories and stayed atop the Section One standings. The Knights go into the final stretch with a two-game lead over second-place Warwick.
Justin Lichtenwalner got himself out of trouble in the first inning after yielding a run to Solanco on Monday. The Hempfield starter was aided by the proverbial "pitcher's best friend" as the Knights turned a double play in the Section One and Two crossover game.
The Knights tied the score on Nick Fiore's RBI double and went up 3-1 on Christian LaBarbera's two-run single.
Cole Houser's sacrifice fly RBI scored Seth Constein in the second inning. Fiore stroked a single for one more run as the Knights went on to kick the Mules 11-1.
Lichtenwalner and Ty Vaughn each drove in one more run. Houser added a bases-loaded double for the final runs of the game.
Lichtenwalner struck out five batters in the five-hit complete game.
With Wednesday's 6-2 victory at Cedar Crest, the Knights improved their record to 13-2 (11-1 league) as Ty Vaughn picked up the victory. The senior started and went five innings, striking out eight Falcons. Andrew Blough entered in the sixth inning and tossed two scoreless innings to earn a save.
The Knights scored three early runs only to see the Falcons trim the lead to 3-2 in the home half of the first. With his team clinging to that one-run lead, Blough retired the side in the sixth before Hempfield went on to score three insurance runs.
Fiore, who had an RBI in the first inning, drove Saylor home on an RBI single in the seventh. Fiore and Lichtenwalner crossed the plate on LaBarbera's double to make it 6-2.
TENNIS
Senior Nishant Balepur earned a trip to the finals in the L-L League Tournament by winning the Flight Two singles semifinal match at Conestoga Valley on Saturday. The fourth-seeded Balepur defeated top seed Devon Clemmer of Pequea Valley 6-4, 6-4.
In Flight Four semis, Alex Cooke won a dominant 6-1, 6-1 singles match against Luke Yunginger of Donegal and will join Balepur in the finals.
Balepur teamed up with Dillon Otto in for a second-round victory of Flight One doubles. They won 6-2, 6-3. In the semis, however, the pair suffered a 6-0 6-0 defeat against top-seeded Jackson Muraika and Dylan Tull.
Balepur began his run through Flight Two back on Thursday when he topped Garden Spot's Andrew Bowman 6-3, 6-0. He followed that with a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of McCaskey's Christian Rodriguez.
In Flight Three singles, Nolan Deck made his way to the semis before losing to PV's Hunter Winey 6-1, 6-3. Deck posted a 6-1, 3-6, 10-3 opening-round win and defeated David Del Terzo of LCD 7-5, 6-1 in the second round.
Cooke opened with a 6-1, 7-5 win and later topped Evan Schneider of E-town 6-3, 6-1.
Deck and Cooke made it to the semis of Flight Three doubles where they lost to Conway and Durrett of LC. In their opening round, the Hempfield duo won 8-5 and went on to win a classic battle over PV's Gingerich and Heinrich 9-8 (3).
BOYS' LACROSSE
Opening the week with a decisive 19-6 defeat against league foe Warwick, the Knights headed into a showdown against arch rival Manheim Township.
On Tuesday night, the Knights tallied 12 goals in the second quarter as they downed Warwick 19-6 on the road.
"We had played Warwick earlier in the year and beat them 10-4," head coach Matt McAlpine recalled. "I think the boys are incrementally improving. We're playing much better as a team versus playing as individuals. I'm glad we're coming together as a team and learning more about ourselves. It's a good time because we're getting set for the playoffs."
The goal-scoring was shared by nine teammates, including five players who scored multiple goals.
Leading the way were Kohl Wesner with five goals and Bobby Griffith with four. Grayson Dague scored twice and assisted three times.
Tyler Gearhart and Bryce Witmer also scored twice each. Jacob Notoli, Tyler Blew and A.J. McAlpine each scored one and added one assist. Cole Fuller had one goal while Max Grube chipped in with an assist.
Hempfield was the host in Thursday's match with Manheim Township. The Streaks defeated the Knights 17-9 back on April 10 and were leading this one 8-2 at the half.
"I told the guys, 'Go out and play; don't worry about the score,'" said McAlpine. "We stuck to our principles and played within ourselves."
Though hat tricks by Matt Heuston, who added an assist, and Griffith led the way, a goal by defenseman Jackson Shand provided momentum in the second half.
"Jackson, one of our long stick defensemen, picked up a ground ball and ran it to the offensive end to score a goal," McAlpine described. "That sparked us.
"It was a good game," continued the coach. "It didn't end up the way we wanted it, but it was close."
McAlpine was asked if the close contest against the unbeaten Streaks was a confidence booster.
"I guess to some degree," he replied. "Our expectations coming into this season were very high. They still are. It gave us the confidence that at any point and time we can play against anybody if we put four solid quarters together."
In addition to the hat tricks, Witmer (2g, 1a) and Wesner (1g, 1a) also contributed. Goalie Matt Weist made nine saves.
The Knights had a chance to tie it in the final minute.
"It was 11-10 with 55 seconds left," McAlpine explained. "We had Bobby Griffith take a good shot. It bounced and hit their goalie in the leg."
The Streaks improve to 9-0 in the league while Hempfield fell to 7-2.
Saturday's opponent, Allentown Central Catholic, was also ranked in the top-15 in the state. The Knights came up short, 11-10. They dropped to 10-4 overall.
"We faced two of the top teams in the state and lost to them by a combined total of three goals," McAlpine pointed out. "We were leading 7-6 at the half but our shooting was off in the second half."
Griffith had a hat trick. Witmer scored two goals. Heuston (1, 2) and Wesner (1, 3) were among the scorers.
GIRLS' LACROSSE
The girls' lacrosse team got into a high-scoring match at Cocalico on Tuesday, coming on strong in the second half to win 20-14. The victory improved Hempfield's league mark to 9-0 (13-1 overall).
The Eagles kept things even in the first half. Hempfield pulled away from a 9-9 deadlock with 11 second-half goals.
Lizzie Yurchak of Hempfield and Claire Eberly of the Eagles each finished with six goals.
Lauren Dague (2a), Kelsea Dague and Lindsey Durkota each registered a hat trick. Regan Gillisse and Laura Morrison added two goals each. Brynn Axe scored one goal.
In front of the net, Kyah Peifer and Cassidy Roark snagged five and three saves, respectively.
SOFTBALL
With their 10-0 victory on Wednesday, the Knights improved to 9-3 in the L-L League.
Hempfield went on to improve to 11-3 overall by beating Carlisle in a non-league game Saturday.
Gabi Turner won that game with four solid innings, allowing one run while striking out five.
Asaysha Raihl entered in the fifth inning and finished the 11-1 victory with one inning of relief.
The Cedar Crest game was also shortened with the 10-run mercy rule. Raihl was dominant as the starter, going the distance and pitching a one-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in the book.
The week began at Solanco where a slugfest took place in the two teams' final Section One and Two crossover game. The Knights prevailed 13-11.
Hempfield came back from an early 5-0 deficit. After Solanco put up five in the home half of the first, the Knights cut it to 5-4 in the second inning and added three more in the third.
Solanco regained the lead 8-7 heading into the fifth where Hempfield scored three more runs. The final two runs of the game were in the top of the seventh, breaking an 11-11 tie.
Skylar Constable and Bella Rankin each drove in three runs. Rankin had three hits and scored a run. Constable went 2-for-5 with a run.
Raihl went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored two runs. Katie Bemesderfer had a 2-for-3 game, driving in two runs and scoring one. She and Constable each had a stolen base while Kendall Fruchti swiped two bags on a 3-for-4 day at the plate. She scored twice.
Hempfield had 17 hits to help Turner battle through seven innings, striking out seven.
VOLLEYBALL
The Knights were dominant in their two L-L League victories of the week, defeating both Penn Manor and Conestoga Valley by the score of 3-0.
Hempfield improved to 8-1 in the league with two of its three remaining league matches to be played at home.
On Tuesday, the Knights topped visiting Penn Manor by the score of 25-13 in all three sets.
Colsen Hunt tallied 25 assists and two blocks. Ryan Givens put up two blocks while Owen Hanzelman served up two aces. Adam Gallagher led the team with eight digs.
In Thursday's match at CV, the Buckskins made it very close in the second set before the Knights eked out a 26-24 win. That win was sandwiched by victories of 25-15 and 25-11.
Adam Brossman's swings were on the money as he finished with a team-high eight kills. Givens had a match-leading four blocks.
Hunt again led the way in assists with 23 while Hanzelman racked up nine digs and Ben Crabtree served three aces.
TRACK
The Hempfield girls' team earned its second win of the season and improved to 2-3 with a 91-54 victory at Penn Manor on Tuesday.
Hempfield won all of the individual events on the track while Ava Hostetler won both the long jump (15-8.5) and high jump (4-10) in the field.
Meanwhile, Marissa Martin took the triple jump at 31-1 and Amanda Keller pole vaulted to victory with an 8-foot effort.
Cahsia Page was a multiple winner as well, claiming the 300-meter hurdles in 46.0 seconds and taking the high hurdles in 16.3. She also dashed to victory in the 100 with a time of 12.6.
Alexa Pitts (26.8) came through in the 200 and Megan Grube (59.4) won the 400 dash.
Freshman Delaney Minder's time of 2:31.6 earned her first in the 800. Gabi Hollinger, with a time of 5:46.3, won the 1,600 and Ella Kielmeyer won the 3,200 in 14:24.4.
The boys' squad suffered a tough 88-63 loss and fell to 0-5 on the year.
Justin Rittenhouse won both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races with respective times of 4:32.1 and 10:02.8. Jack Mieszkalski won the 800 in 2:02.6 while the short-distance dashes went to Tanner Hess. The sophomore won the 100 in 10.9 and the 200 in 22.8 seconds.
Casey Deck, David Jackson, Mieszkalski and Rittenhouse teamed up for a first-place finish in the 4x800 relay, posting a time of 9:13.0.
Will Yeager owned the hurdle events, running the highs in 16.2 and the 300 hurdles in 42.1, winning both.
Jaden Lopez gave Hempfield its lone win in the field events, sending the shot put a distance of 47-3.75.
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