Extra Innings: Teams join together for good cause
Friday's softball game between Greencastle-Antrim and Waynesboro featured a heated rivalry in a crucial Mid Penn Colonial Division game.
But it was also much more than that. The teams joined together for their annual Pink Out game, during which players were decked out in pink T-shirts and their coaches wore pink hats.
The annual game is always dedicated to breast cancer awareness, with baskets passed around during the game for donations, but this year's game was also played in honor of Weston Rock.
Rock was a 2-year-old boy from Greencastle who died in February after a battle with cancer, and his family threw out the first pitch before Friday's game.
"The story just got out, and the softball team wanted to do something special," G-A coach Mark DeCarli said. "We had been keeping in contact with the family when Weston passed away, and we thought it was the right thing to do for his family."
In addition, the Blue Devil and Maiden players met prior to the game to say a prior for Violet Clark, a James Buchanan senior who recently died following a car accident.
FUN WITH COLOR: Chambersburg coach Chris Skultety was introduced to his first Color Day the hard way Friday morning when he awoke to a yard full of forks.
A number of Lady Trojans stuck hundreds of plastic forks in Skultety's yard as a bit of mischief on Color Day Eve, accompanied by the sign "We're hungry 4 a STATE title!"
F-M'S 1-2-3 PUNCH: Leadoff hitters are supposed to set the tone for a team's success. Fannett-Metal's one-, two- and three-hole hitters are doing all that and more.
All three have reached base safely in all 13 of the Tigers' game, via either a hit, walk or error.
Brooke Harris is continuing to be a force on the mound for F-M. She has thrown all but four innings this season and holds an ERA of 2.51. After going 0-for-2 with a pair of walks in the season opener, freshman Morgan Ritchey has gone on a 12-game hit streak. Mikayla O'Donel is hitting .463, and Emily Metcalfe isn't far behind with a batting average of .390.
MEMORABLE FIRST: Greencastle-Antrim's Ali Sherman has been hunting down her first home run of her career, and on Saturday, she did it at a prime time.
Sherman's first dinger was a grand slam in the semifinals of the Big Spring Bulldog Tournament, and it helped propel the Blue Devils to a 12-4 win over Shippensburg.
"We were hitting against (Courtney) Coy all day; Ally (Brown) shut them down; and the defense played well," DeCarli said. "That's something I told the girls - when we are up on good teams, we have to put the nail in the coffin, and that grand slam did it. I was proud of her."
STILL ON TOP: Chambersburg still remains atop the District 3 Class AAAA power rankings with a 13-1 record. Coming for the Trojans are Exeter Township (13-2), Lower Dauphin (13-1) and Central York (15-0).
Waynesboro is in 14th and Shippensburg 16th. In Class AAA, Greencastle-Antrim continues to move up and is now in the fourth spot, while James Buchanan has risen to 13th.