F-F H.S. Highlights: JB suffers near-miss in states

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

James Buchanan's boys tennis team found that out the hard way Tuesday afternoon.

The Rockets suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle in the first round of the PIAA Class AA tournament. The loss ends James Buchanan's historic season with a 15-6 record.

"When you're in tournaments like this, that's what happens," JB coach Terri Beegle said. "Somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose. Too bad we didn't get to move on, but it's been a great, magical season."

Isaac Shenton and Hunter Sowers were the victors for the Rockets at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively.

Shenton started extremely strong, beating Vincent D'Andrea, 6-4, in the first set. But D'Andrea flipped the script in Set 2, going up 4-1, before Shenton came storming back. He eventually forced a tiebreaker, which he won 7-5.

"His serve was awesome; the kid just couldn't handle his serve," Beegle said. "He had to dig deep in that second set."

Sowers came out with a convincing victory, 6-3, 6-2. He finished the season with a 19-1 individual record.

"Hunter played pretty well, and he was moving well," Beegle said. "He tweaked his arm a bit, but he got back on track. He was moving the kid a lot, and hitting the ball well."

Despite the season-ending loss, the Rockets had nothing to hang their heads about. It was the first time in JB's history that the team advanced to the state tournament.

"This was a great group of guys; they played their hearts out, and I'm proud of them," Beegle said. "We had a tremendous crowd up there, and we've had great support all year. We went through a lot of adversity at different times in the season, and I'm so very proud of them."

SCORES

Softball

Waynesboro 10, Mechanicsburg 7: Waynesboro picked up a key non-league win to end the regular season. The Maidens (13-6) finished with 11 hits, including Chelsea Cover going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, and two hits apiece for Katie Wise and Tiff Stull. Nicole Kreimer drove in three runs. Mechanicsburg (16-4) was led by Taylor Clark, who went 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs.

Maidens coach Aaron Burke said, "We played a perfect game to beat a great team. We did not commit an error and big two-out hits. We kept chipping away and answering every run they made. I'm so proud of this team; this has been a remarkable turnaround."

Baseball

MDCC playoff, Heritage 7, Shalom Christian 6: The Eagles scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning and made them stand up to eliminate the Flames from the MDCC Tournament on Monday, despite Shalom out-hitting them 11-7.

For the Flames, who finished 8-8, Chase Martin was 3-for-4, and Colby Maun and Jacob Nicholas were each 2-for-4. Nicholas and Jake Holderman each drove in a pair of runs.

Boys Lacrosse

Kiski Prep 17, Mercersburg Academy 4: In the event that decided the annual Centennial Cup, Kiski Prep handed Mercersburg a defeat, which clinched the Cup. In 11 boys events played this school year, the Cougars won six and the Blue Storm captured five. Mercersburg finished its lacrosse season 10-8.