By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

Photo by Preston Whitcraftâ?©Warwickâ??s Rachel Mueller, shown splashing through the rain at the L-L League Meet, placed fourth in the 1,600 and sixth in the 800 last Saturday.

After four straight fouls in the boys discus, David Lucas had one final opportunity to show his stuff at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships last Saturday.

In the end, the Warwick sophomore’s last throw was his best throw.

Unleashing a heave of 145 feet, 7 inches, Lucas earned the bronze medal in his L-L Meet debut on a rainy day at Hempfield High School.

"I’m very happy about (winning L-L bronze)," Lucas said. "I’m glad that I could come out my very first year on varsity and get a third in the League. I came in seeded third, I finished third … I’m satisfied."

Lucas’ bronze was part of a mixed bag for the Warriors on the first step of the post-season. Overall, Warwick took home seven L-L medals, but expectations were higher for the Warwick boys and girls, who finished 12th (16 points) and 15th (11 points), respectively.

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

Photo by Stan Hallâ?©Warwickâ??s Robert Gerofsky breaks out of the batterâ??s box after delivering an RBI single to center field in the L-L playoffs on Monday.

Warwick will never know what would have happened if Lancaster Catholic center fielder Steve Long hadn’t caught Tyler Morris’ shot into the right-center field gap in the top of the fourth inning on Monday.

The Warriors had just taken a 2-1 advantage and had the bases loaded when Long made the inning-ending robbery.

But that play looked big when the Section Four champion Crusaders scored five unearned runs over the final two innings, following two Warwick errors, and earned a 7-2 win in a Lancaster-Lebanon League quarter-final playoff game at Ephrata’s War Memorial Field.

"The ball that (Long) tracked down from Morris, I think that was as key a play as anything that happened in the game," Warwick coach Bob Locker said. "If he doesn’t get to that, we score at least two more runs. I don’t know what happens after that. But … we can’t mistakes. I told the kids, when you get to this level, there are no bad teams. The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins games. We left too many people on base, made some mistakes at inopportune moments and we kinda did this to ourselves."

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

The Manheim Central baseball team felt like it had some momentum on its side after rallying from a 6-3 deficit to Lancaster Catholic in the top of the fourth inning on Tuesday night.

With the score tied 6-6, they were hoping to scratch across a run or two and celebrate a win in the L-L League playoff semi-finals.

Unfortunately for Central, it wasn’t to be.

The Crusaders’ Mac McCafferty snapped the stalemate with a sixth-inning RBI double off of Central reliever Blake Reiff and then Catholic added two more unearned runs on its way to a 9-6 victory at Ephrata’s War Memorial Field.

With the win, Lancaster Catholic advances to play Hempfield – an 11-1 winner over Solanco in Tuesday’s other semi-final game – in the L-L finals, set for Thursday at Ephrata.

Manheim Central (15-6), the Section Three runner-up, will now prepare for its District Three Triple-A opener next Monday, May 20.

"(I told the players) just to keep their heads up," Barons’ skipper Jason Thompson said. "Even though this was one of our goals and we didn’t meet it, we have bigger things to achieve yet. The good thing is we’re not going home. We have Districts to prepare for Monday."

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

By his own admission, Cole Proffitt’s form was "terrible" last Friday in the javelin.

So that meant an opening for his competitors at the L-L League Track and Field Championships, right?

Not so much.

Despite his struggles on the runway, the Manheim Central senior still managed to uncork three throws over 200 feet.

And in the end, his heave of 204-1 was plenty good enough to win his second straight L-L gold medal at Hempfield High School. Cocalico’s Jhett Janis took the silver medal with a throw of 176-4.

"For someone to say you threw it perfectly at 205 is kinda like, ‘Alright, what else can I do?’ So if I’m throwing 205 and my form is terrible," Proffitt said, "then that’s awesome for me. That’s great to hear."

Proffitt’s gold led the way for a Barons’ boys team which finished sixth in the overall standings with 41 points. Central also got a silver from Tyler Hoag in the shot put with his throw of 48-11#-R and bronze from the 4×400 and 4×800 relays among their medal haul.

By:

KEVIN GANNON Record Express Correspondent

, Staff Writer

Photo by Stan Hallâ?©Manheim Central senior hitter Josiah Hershberger finds an opening past a Hempfield blocker in the L-L League finals on Tuesday night.

The Hempfield boys volleyball team captured its 19th L-L championship on Tuesday night, defeating Manheim Central 3-0 in the League finals at Manheim Township High School.

The Barons (17-1) played extremely well early in games one and two, but Hempfield (14-0) rallied back and stole both games, 26-24 and 25-23. Manheim Central seemed to tire in game three, and Hempfield went on to win the game 25-16 to clinch the crown.

Central led most of the first game behind the stellar play of Josiah Hershberger. Hershberger recorded 10 kills along with three aces in game one, propelling his team to a rather comfortable lead. However, errors by the Barons would allow Hempfield to remain in the game. The Black Knights continued to rally and eventually tied the game at 24-24. A costly double-hit was called on the Barons and Hempfield re-gained its first lead since early in game one, 25-24. Hempfield sealed game one 26-24 after the Barons made a play on a ball headed out-of-bounds.

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

Photo by Preston Whitcraftâ?©Manheim Central shortstop Aerika High (third from left) gets a big hug from pitcher Sara McKee for her brilliant game-ending defensive play as the Manheim Central players leave the field following their 6-0 win over Manheim Townhip in the L-L League playoff semi-finals on Tuesday night.

The game was basically decided.

The only question was whether Manheim Central pitcher Sara McKee would finish with a shutout.

Shortstop Aerika High made sure she did.

With a Manheim Township runner on third base and two outs in the top of the seventh inning, the Lady Barons’ senior star dove to field a ground ball up the middle and threw out the Blue Streaks’ Alyssa Perkins, putting an exclamation point on Manheim Central’s 6-0 win at Willow Street’s Garrett Field and punching their ticket to the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship game.

"I wanted it to be a shutout, so I thought I’d better dive out there for the ball," High said. "At first when I landed on the ground, I didn’t think I had it, and then I realized I had something in my hand. So I just stood up quickly and tried to find first and got her."

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

Photo by Preston WhitcraftThe old freight station on Water Street was built in 1921. It might be demolished in 2013.

The Manheim Central boys have been knocking on the door for the past couple of years in the District Three Triple-A Tennis Doubles Championships.

In 2011, the Wolgemuth brothers, Drew and Colin, advanced to the semi-finals, where they suffered a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 setback to Cumberland Valley’s Andrew and Alec Grossman.

Then last year, Colin Wolgemuth teamed up with Josh Kaiser and the Barons again got to the final four before suffering a three-set loss (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) to Manheim Township’s David Musser and Andy Moshos.

Both times, the Central boys finished third.

Last Saturday, they not only got through the door. They kicked it down.

Colin Wolgemuth and Kaiser returned to the Hershey Racquet Club last Friday and Saturday as the number-two seed, where they went a perfect 4-0, winning all four matches in straight sets and capturing the District gold medal with a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Red Land’s top-seeded Ben Kunkel and Peter Landis.

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

Travis Reapsome recorded his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season and the Warwick baseball team remained tied atop the Section One standings with a 6-0 whitewashing of Cedar Crest in Cornwall.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Warriors (11-2 L-L, 13-4 overall) and Hempfield (11-2 L-L) are locked in a first-place tie in the Section One race.

Those two teams will meet next Monday in Lititz in their regular-season finale. Before then, Warwick played Manheim Township yesterday (Wednesday) and it will host McCaskey on Friday.

"They’re all key at this point," Warwick skipper Bob Locker said.

Putting a run up in the top of the first inning was key for Warwick, as Tyler Morris (4-for-4) got the first of his four hits, an RBI single, to give the Warriors a lead they never lost. Morris also slugged a solo blast in the fifth inning to help put the finishing touches on the Falcons.

"We talked a little bit ahead of time that we wanted to try to put a run or two on the board early," Locker said, "especially with Reapsome pitching today, because if you get him a couple runs, most days he will be OK."

Josh Kaiser and Colin Wolgemuth were hoping to leave Conestoga Valley on Tuesday with a perfect 9-0 record as a doubles team.

By doing so, they would also be carrying the L-L League Flight One Triple-A doubles crown with them back to Manheim.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

It was Hempfield’s No. 2-seeded pairing of Derek Hagino and Tommy Athey which won the gold, knocking off the Barons’ top-seeded duo by a score 6-2, 6-4.

"We knew what we were up against, they’re two really good players," MC coach Ryan Jeckel said. "We played well. We just got beat. It’s a good team and we got beat. The good news is that we can play better."

Despite the loss, Jeckel was very pleased with the overall performance of his players in the L-L League Tournament.

"I’m super, super proud of the guys," Jeckel said. "We played great tennis to get to the final, period, and we beat some real good teams along the way. So definitely positioned ourselves well going into Districts."

Central’s coach said the game plan against the Black Knights was just to play a well-disciplined game with the court space.

By:

BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor

, Staff Writer

Two weeks ago, the Manheim Central baseball team controlled its own destiny in the Section Three race.

Things have turned quickly, however.

With their 3-1 loss to Section-leading Donegal in Manheim on Tuesday, the Barons fell to 1-4 in their past four games. Manheim Central (9-4 L-L, 11-5 overall) now finds itself three games off the pace behind the Indians and two back of L-S for the Section’s final L-L League playoff berth with just three games left in the regular season.

"The guys just have to keep working," MC skipper Jason Thompson said. "(Wednesday) were back out in a game, so we don’t have much choice. I told them, ‘Baseball is probably one of the toughest mental sports out there, if not the toughest.’ It’s going to be a matter of who’s mentally tough and (who’s) going to get the job done."

For the Barons, that means finding a way to reverse the offensive slump that they are currently enduring. In their past four losses, Central has scored just seven total runs. The only exception in the Barons’ recent stretch of games was a 17-7 win over Pequea Valley last Wednesday, April 24.