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Lampeter-Strasburg softball muscles past Warwick, 11-3


LITITZ — When tricky weather wrecked pitcher Jordan Weaver’s game plan Monday afternoon, it was nice of her sister, Kylie, to give her a pat on the back.

Or rather, hit her in the back with a softball.

With Warwick rallying in the first inning against Lampeter-Strasburg’s ace pitcher, Jordan Weaver, a potential stolen base nearly led to catastrophe for the Pioneers’ pitcher-catcher combo.

When Kylie, the Pioneers’ sophomore catcher, attempted to throw-out the runner into the teeth of a biting spring wind, her throw plunged into her older sister’s back, allowing the go-ahead run to score and pausing play while trainers saw to Jordan Weaver in the circle.

The elder Weaver not only stayed in the game, however, but she rebounded in a big way, holding the Warriors hitless the rest of the way as L-S (2-0) dominated from there with an 11-3 triumph.

RELATIVE SUPPORT

Warwick (0-2) led the Pioneers 3-2 after the opening frame in which Weaver ultimately struck-out the side. But coach Tim Shoff’s crew tallied four runs in the third, one in the fourth, and four more in the fifth to cruise to victory. Meanwhile, Weaver finished the contest with 14 strikeouts to five walks, allowing just Nicole Mengel’s RBI single in the first inning.

“I was just trying to keep her up, coming into the first inning with the wind and everything,” Kylie Weaver said about her sister’s performance. “(The wind) was a big factor in it but after that she killed it. She did amazing after that.”

This is the second year in which Kylie Weaver is behind the plate for her big sister, claiming Jordan “definitely” throws harder than she does.

“It hurt, yeah,” Jordan Weaver deadpanned when prompted about Kylie’s arm-strength.

“I think it helped me in a way,” said the senior all-star, sporting an ice-wrap around her back. “Woke me up. You gotta come back now, focus, and throw strikes so that stuff doesn’t happen.”

CIRCLING THE WAGONS

Jordyn Kondras led off the third inning with a triple over the center fielder’s head, scoring when a relay throw went out of play to tie the game at three. Singles by Delaney Baker, Jordan Weaver, and Robin Feaster preceded Caroline Braungard’s sacrifice fly, Delaney Groff and Natalie Carson bringing in two more with singles of their own, for a 6-3 lead after three innings.

In all, the Pioneers rapped out 15 hits, abedded by five Warrior errors, most of which can be blamed on the wind.

“It wasn’t fun,” Jordan Weaver said of the wind. “It’s something that both pitchers, we both had to deal with. There’s no point in it to complain at all anyway.”

“In the beginning of the game we were all like ‘this wind is crazy’ but we couldn’t let that affect us because everyone had to deal with it, so we just blocked that out and kept playing.”

WEST WIND

The Pioneers have another difficult test Wednesday when they host Penn Manor (1-0). The Comets’ game versus Lancaster Catholic scheduled for Monday was pushed back to Tuesday.

Warwick, on the other hand, looks to right the ship versus Manheim Central (0-1) on Friday night after a pair of difficult losses to powerhouse programs Donegal and L-S.

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Lampeter-Strasburg 11, Warwick 3

LS          2  0  4    1  4  0    0 — 11  15  2

WW       3  0  0    0  0  0    0 — 03  01  5

SO-BB — LS Jordan Weaver 14-5; WW Amanda Herr 3-1, Nicole Mengel 2-1

WP — Jordan Weaver (2-0)

LP — Amanda Herr (0-2)

2B — LS 2 (Jordan Weaver, Delaney Baker)

3B — LS 2 (Natalie Carson, Jordyn Kondras)

HR — none