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Baseball Team Falls Short Against Mules, Warriors

BY ARA GRIGORIAN

Donegal baseball coach Jeff Hartman described the recent losses to Solanco and Warwick as the kinds of games for which his players need to put behind them and move past.

On Thursday, May 12, the Solanco Golden Mules used a seven-run second inning to create a deficit too difficult for the Indians to erase and they went on to defeat Donegal 8-6.

Two days later, the Section One champion Warwick Warriors blanked Donegal 10-0 in an opening-round game of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs. Both losses happened at home for the Indians.

“Solanco and Warwick were two tough losses that we must flush, heading into district playoffs,” Hartman said. “We had a bad second inning and could not dig out against Solanco.

“We haven’t had many of these this year,” he added. “Story of our regular season was that we pitched well and played pretty clean defensively.”

The four errors by Donegal resulted in all eight runs being unearned runs by Solanco. Caden Evans was charged with the seven unearned runs in that second inning.

The Indians battled back and cut the deficit to 7-6 before Solanco managed to tack on an insurance run in the fifth off reliever Andrew Small - yes, another unearned run. Small helped with the comeback effort, going 2-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in at the plate. In relief, he went three innings and recorded four strikeouts.

Sophomore Jaden Fels finished with two scoreless and hitless innings in relief. He struck out three and walked two.

Senior Nick Eichelberger went 2-for-3 plus a walk. He also drove in two runs. Landon Sexton went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.

Donegal fell to 14-7 with the 10-0 loss to Warwick on Saturday. As far as the district playoffs to which Hartman alluded, the Indians fell to 11th in the District Three Class 5A power rankings while Warwick secured its status as the second-ranked team in Class 6A.

It was the case of another big inning. This time a six-run third inning put the Warriors ahead to stay.

“It was a tough matchup with Warwick,” Hartman said. “Our boys came to play and hung in early with them. The game got away from us in the middle innings.

“The score didn’t indicate it, but we are closing the gap with programs like Warwick,” Hartman went on. “We needed to play better that day.

“We have a very good team,” added the coach. “I believe the boys feel like they have something to prove and would like to extend our time together for as long as they can. They have earned the opportunity.”

TRACK

The L-L League Championships took place at Hempfield on Friday and Saturday, May 13-14.

Donegal sprinter Faith Garber earned fourth place in the 100-meter dash and sixth place in the 200-m with respective times of 12.84 seconds and 26.78.

Sophomore Nya Bantum finished first in the shot put with a distance of 38 feet 4.75 inches.

Bantum also took eighth in the javelin with a distance of 91-11.

“They both qualified for districts,” said Bryce Sadler, the Donegal coach. “I think they can both have the potential to qualify for the state meet.”

In the 3,200-m run, Kathryn Fernald finished fifth with a time of 11:46.94 while Hadley Shoaf’s time of 5:30.59 in the 1,600 was good for seventh place.

Shoaf and Fernald were part of the 4x800 relay team along with Emma Myers and Marleigh Ballard. The foursome finished seventh with a time of 10:16.80.

The Donegal girls finished 15th overall in the team standings.

The boys, who finished 20th, also had a seventh-place finish in the 4x800. The quartet included Braden Bristlin, Sam Rothstein, Hunter Gehman and Dylan Lenhart.

Senior Jack Dearborn took fifth in the triple jump at 40-11 while sophomore Mark Overlander earned eighth place with an 11-foot pole vault.

“We’re really proud of everyone’s performances this past weekend,” Sadler said. “There were many personal records or those who performed very close to their PR’s, which isn’t easy to do on a big stage against some really tough competition.”

Photo by Bob Diller

Colin Eckinger scores a run for the Indians in their 8-6, nonleague loss to visiting Solanco on May 12. for more photos, visit www.townlively.com