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8- MERCHANDISER - Elizabethtown Edition - June 16, 2021 SPORTS Conestoga Valley • Donegal • Elizabethtown Garden Spot • Hempfield Lampeter-Strasburg • Manheim Central Penn Manor • Pequea Valley • Solanco MORE SPORTS PICTURES and other high school sports news at

Bears Finish 3rd in District, Fall in PIAA Playoffs

BY ERIC PYLES

A championship it is not but a third-place finish in the District 3-5A tournament is still a great accomplishment for the 2021 Elizabethtown softball team. The Lady Bears secured that distinction by knocking off Exeter Township by a 9-5 final on June 2nd, improving to 20-7 on the year.

As she has all season, Kristin Geesey manned the circle for E-town, scattering 14 hits while collecting five strikeouts to go with one walk and those five Lady Eagle runs. Geesey’s help on the offensive side came from a quartet of Lady Bears led by Megan Gray and her three-hit, two RBI day. Gray just missed hitting for the cycle, instead kicking off her three-hit affair with a second inning triple that led to E-town’s first run. Gray’s first RBI, courtesy of a fifth inning double, helped the Lady Bears turn a 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 lead while her second RBI tacked on a final insurance run in the sixth.

Sydney Stewart was not part of the two RBI quartet, but she did push across Etown’s first run with a fielder’s choice in the second frame. Brooke Bryan and Ava Fair were part of that quartet, and both played a part in the game swinging fifth. Bryan capped the fiverun burst with her lone hit, pushing Stewart and Gray across with her single and making it a 7-3 game. Fair got the fifth inning rally rolling, driving in Carli Zerphey and Geesey to give Elizabethtown their first lead of the contest while setting the stage for Gray and Bryan. Jess Zimmerman was the final member of the quartet, splitting her two RBIs with a third inning single and a sixth inning double.

That third-place district finish sent Elizabethtown into the PIAA-5A bracket opposite District 2 winner, West Scranton in the Lady Invaders backyard at Marywood University. The Lady Bears were unable to get their offense going and the result was a 6-2 loss that closed the book on the 2021 season for Elizabethtown.

With the offense sputtering the Lady Bears produced just five hits, never more than one in a single inning. One of those hits did come early as Geesey led off the game with a double that eventually led to a 1-0 lead thanks to Fair’s bunt squeeze. That lead quickly evaporated as West Scranton plated two runs in the bottom of the first and followed with single runs in the second, third and fourth that made it a 5-1 game.

The Lady Invaders put one more run on the board in the sixth, effectively erasing E-town’s fifth inning score. Sophia Finch picked up that fifth inning RBI, plating Stewart who had doubled to lead off the inning one batter prior. Geesey took the complete game loss, allowing six runs on nine hits to go with three walks and four strikeouts.

Photo by Cheri Sine

E-town’s Astyn Calaman turns on an Exeter fast ball for a base hit in the Bears’ 9-5 district-playoff win at home on June 3.

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Photo by Cheri Sine

Carli Zerphey legs out a base hit for the Bears in their 9-5 victory over Exeter in the District Three Class 5A third-place final in E-town on June 3.

Photo by Cheri Sine

E-town’s Kristin Geesey windmills a pitch to the plate during her 9-5, complete-game districtplayoff victory over Exeter in E-town on June 3.

Camping Experience For Veterans Posted

Pennsylvania Lions Beacon Lodge Camp will host Project New Hope, a weekend retreat camping experience, free of charge to all Pennsylvania disabled veterans and their immediate family, regardless of what era a veteran served in. Two sessions will be offered, from Saturday, July 24,

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through Wednesday, July 28, and from Saturday, Aug. 7, through Wednesday, Aug. 11.

The facilities include a large outdoor pavilion, a playground, nature trails, outdoor bowling alleys, a wheelchair-accessible swimming pool, a pond for fishing, pedal boating, bicycles, camping facilities, a climbing tower, a zip line, and more.

For more details, contact 814-542-2511 or office@beacon lodge.org or visit www.beacon lodge.org.

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Concert Planned In Mount Gretna

The New Holland Band will perform in Mount Gretna on Sunday, June 27, at 7 p.m. The event will take place in the open air tabernacle at Third Street and Glossbrenner Avenue. The tabernacle has ample seating, although guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs to sit in under the trees.

Directed by Kenneth Laudermilch, the band will present patriotic and spiritual music. A freewill offering will be accepted.