What we learned last week
It was an exciting start for the L-L Beat last week as all of our featured games came down to the wire. After last week’s events, here’s what we have learned…
Cold weather makes for exciting softball: With temperatures in the low 40s, last Monday’s game between Lampeter-Strasburg and Pequea Valley featured some outstanding defense and pitching. Pequea Valley pitcher Amanda Houck got the win for the Braves and had a no-hitter into the sixth inning while L-S’s Courtney Martin only gave up one total hit while striking out eight. Pequea Valley eeked out a 1-0 victory.
Penn Manor/Hempfield girls lacrosse is a real heavyweight rivalry: After losing 10-9 to the Black Knights earlier in the season, Penn Manor took advantage of playing in front of a huge home crowd and upended Hempfield, 13-10. Both team fought vigorously to gain the upper hand throughout the game and I’m sure I’m not the only one who would love to see a rubber match between these two schools.
Never count out Hempfield: Both the Black Knights softball and baseball teams appeared to be down in out in their games last week only to storm back in the final inning and steal a victory. The softball team was down four runs in the seventh inning against Elizabethtown Wednesday night in very wet conditions. The Black Knights rallied back in the top of the seventh and put up five runs to take a 7-6 lead. Hempfield’s defense then closed out the Bears to snatch victory from the grasp of defeat.
As for the boys, they trailed Cedar Crest by five runs in the fifth inning during Friday’s game. The Black Knights offense chipped away at the lead in the final three innings while the defense blanked the Falcons in the in the sixth and seventh. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, senior Jared Pestcoe ripped a shot up the middle to drive in the winning run and cap off an unbelievable 8-7 comeback win.
Never take umpires for granted: As the highly anticipated baseball game
between Lancaster Catholic and Pequea Valley neared its 4:15 start time, one could not help but notice that there were no umpires. Such a problem makes it rather difficult to start a baseball game. After the game was rescheduled to Thursday to accommodate Pequea Valley’s prom, the news apparently failed to travel to the assigned umpires. After a forty-five minute delay, some umpires were located and Lancaster Catholic ultimately prevailed, 5-3.