Weekly Rewind: March 23 edition
Some crazy things happened this week across the district. Closer to home, the YAIAA crowned more spring sports champions and the league had a great showing in Shippensburg at the District 3 Track and Field Championships. There was also some strange things happening in the District 3 baseball playoffs that we'll also touch on.
1. York Suburban expected to win the YAIAA boys’ volleyball tournament after a perfect regular season. Turns out, it wasn’t exactly easy for the Trojans, who came within two points of losing in the semifinals to Dallastown. But, Suburban rallied to take the final two games against the Wildcats then beat Northeastern in four games to capture the league crown.
2. Kaden Hepler struck out 11 Delone Catholic batters in a masterful complete-game shutout to help West York cruise past the host Squires, 4-0, in the YAIAA baseball tournament championship game Wednesday. The game, which was twice postponed because of rain, saw an end to Delone’s 14-game winning streak. It was also the first time the Squires had been shut out this spring.
3. Taylor Rohrbaugh doomed Littlestown with both her arm and her bat Wednesday in the YAIAA softball championship game. The Central York standout belted a walkoff two-run home run in the ninth inning to lift the Panthers to a 4-2 win. Rohrbaugh also went the distance as a pitcher with 10 strikeouts and three walks.
4. Jay Stone had a big afternoon Saturday at the District 3 Track and Field Championships. The Central York sophomore overcame a couple setbacks to win gold in both the 300- and 100-meter hurdles at Shippensburg University. Stone might have had the biggest weekend but he wasn’t alone. The entire YAIAA was well-represented on the podium.
5. A dominant season for the Dallastown boys’ lacrosse team came to a close Thursday with a 12-6 loss to Hempfield. The Wildcats started slow and never recovered after the Black Knights scored five first-quarter goals. The loss ended a stellar season that saw the team win the YAIAA Division I title and the YAIAA tournament championship. The Wildcats finished with an impressive 20-2 record.
6. There is usually at least one double-digit seed that makes a run in the District 3 Class AAAA baseball tournament. Could South Western be that team this year? The No. 10 Mustangs opened the postseason with a 3-0 win over No. 7 Solanco. Eric Moul (five innings) and Parker Bean (two) combined on an impressive one-hit shutout.
But the road gets more difficult Thursday when the Mustangs take on Lancaster-Lebanon Section I champ Cedar Crest. The second-seeded Falcons squeezed by defending champ Cedar Cliff, 3-1, Monday.
7. Crazy baseball game from Mid-Penn territory on Friday in the play-in round of the District 3 Class AAA playoffs. After a back-and-forth struggle that stretched to extra innings, Bishop McDevitt finally took the lead on Trinity in the top of the 10th. But the bottom half was you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it nutty. It ended with a play at the plate when the runner, Trinity’s Joe Gagliardi, tried to score from first base. He was out and McDevitt won, 4-3. It was the first time a game had gone to double-digit innings since 2010 when Susquehannock outlasted Hamburg, 4-3, in 10 innings of a 3-AAA play-in game.
8. Some different bits of news from around the state this week. After a 3-17 regular season, the Steel-High baseball team caught fire in the District 3 Class A playoffs with wins over Lancaster Country Day and top seed Lancaster County Christian. But the Rollers violated PIAA pitching regulations vs. LCC and were forced to forfeit, baseball chairman Pat Tulley said Tuesday afternoon. ... The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mike White tweeted Monday that during a WPIAL baseball playoff game at North Allegheny, the home plate umpire ordered the scoreboard to be turned off. White tweeted that the reason was the operator ‘kept messing up the ball-strike count.’