The phrase "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" is true but the wins and losses do matter if you want to qualify for the postseason. And the Elizabethtown softball team wants to make the postseason, in fact the Lady Bears are currently fighting for both a L-L and District 3-5A spot. Having those berths on the line made their three-game winning streak even sweeter.

The highlight was E-town slipping by Hempfield on May 4th but before getting there the Lady Bears had to top Ephrata and Conestoga Valley. Elizabethtown had little trouble with Ephrata on April 28th, rolling to a 10-0, six-inning win behind Kristin Geesey's one-hit shutout. The senior hurler added seven punch-outs with no walks. Ava Fair and Megan Gray helped out during a six-run second that broke the game open. Fair picked up her second RBI with a double in the sixth that enacted the 10-run rule.

The Lady Bears hosted CV April 30 and picked up a 7-2 victory. Geesey earned the complete game win, adding three strikeouts to three hits allowed. Sydney Stewart recorded 2 RBIs on three hits. Stewart added RBIs while Fair and Madison Bell recorded one each.

Stewart and Geesey played central roles in the highlight win over Hempfield but did get help from Astyn Calaman and Sophia Finch. Geesey covered all seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four. The Calaman-Stewart-Finch trio combined to play the offensive hero accounting for all six RBIs. Finch drove in two runs with a sixth inning single, setting the stage for Calaman, who smashed a one out double that cut the deficit to 5-4. Two batters later Stewart ended the game with a triple to secure the win.

TRACK

Another week, another dual meet for the track and field teams. This time it was a trip to Denver to face Cocalico where the boy's dropped an 89-60 decision and the girl's an 80-70 final. Ethan Jones and Carlton Wise covered half the boy's wins, but it was Taidou N'Dikwe stealing the show. The junior clocked a 56.3 in the 400m but had to share the winner's circle with Cocalico's Jake Walsh, who finished with the same time. Jones did his damage in the triple and high jumps while Wise picked up wins in the pole vault and javelin. Nathan Johnson (1600m) and Owen Gensemer (3200m) rounded out the victors.

The Lady Bears had just one double winner, Carly Sedun who claimed the shot put and discus. Zoey Myers completed the throwing sweep with her javelin victory while Allison Evans (high jump) and Megan Handshew (pole vault) rounded out the field wins. E-town just missed a relay sweep but did take the 3200m relay and the 400m relay titles for a quick ten team points. Elizabethtown's final two wins came in the distance events with Jordan DiRisio taking the 1600m and Madeline Quinn the 3200m.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

Time has nearly run out on the 2021 girl's lacrosse season and the Lady Bears remain in search of a win. The most recent setbacks to Garden Spot and Cocalico leave E-town 0-15 overall. Elizabethtown had a close call on the 30th, falling to the Lady Spartans 7-3. Lizzy Carter, Kendall Davies and Success Beah scored once each while Jordyn Gutshall finished with 10 saves.

Flipping the calendar to May brought Cocalico to town and the Lady Eagles posted a 21-1 win on the 3rd. Gutshall added 14 saves to her resume while Moira Shott, with help from Kiaralie Santiago-Ortiz, accounted for the lone score.

TENNIS

The boy's tennis team made their annual season ending trip to Conestoga Valley for the L-L playoffs. Things started on April 29th with the Flight Two doubles pair of Jack Nyveldt and Hayden Musser pushing Annville-Cleona's Simon Domencic and Devin Gacono but falling short, 9-7.

Musser's shot at redemption over Gacono in singles play fell short as well with the two battling in the Flight Four quarterfinals. Once again Musser pushed the match to the limit but Gacono managed the 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 win. Musser earned his shot at Gacono by topping Lancaster Country Day's Luke Foreman in the opening round.

Nyveldt also played two singles matches, posting a win over ELCO's Michael Shade before falling to Nick Keener of Manheim Township in the Flight Three quarterfinals.

Steven Dupler's lone match in the Flight Two bracket was an opening round loss to the eventual champion, Annville-Cleona's Martin Svejk.

BOYS' LACROSSE

A light week for the boy's lacrosse team ended up being a good one with an 8-5 win over Cedar Crest on April 29th. Joe Zink turned away 15 shots while Jacob Wivell (three goals) and Sam Azzalina (2G, 2A) led the attack.

BASEBALL

The baseball team found a groove resulting in a three-game winning streak. The Bears opened with a 5-0 win over Ephrata on the 28th. Jack Black the pitcher surrendered five hits and no runs to go with nine strikeout and one walk while Black the hitter connected for a solo shot in the fifth and a run producing single in the seventh.

Two days later the Bears crushed CV 21-10 in five innings. Tyler Souders and Owen Zell recorded two hits and three RBIs apiece, but E-town spread the love as five other Bears finished with two RBIs. Josh Kreider got the start and the win but pitched only the opening frame. From there it was Alex Baker, Mitchell Garber and Cael Brandt finishing things off. Together the quartet had five strikeouts and four walks.

Elizabethtown opened the month of May with a 10-0 win over Hershey. Kreider tossed all five innings, surrendering five hits and two walks to go with seven Ks. Black enjoyed three-hits, producing four RBIs thanks to homes runs in the first and fourth innings coupled with a single in the third. Souders had just one hit, an RBI triple in the third but finished with a bases loaded walk in the fifth that ended the game.

On May 3rd, the Bears suffered an 11-4 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg. Souders covered four innings and took the loss with Garber and Braden Cummings covering the final three innings. Justin Black finished with a two-run shot in the seventh while Souders and Brandt drove in one run each.

VOLLEYBALL

The boys' volleyball team wrapped up a killer stretch with loses to Garden Spot, Mechanicsburg and Manheim Central. In the April 29th loss to Spot and the May 4th loss to Central, E-town led 2-1 in both matches only to fall by a 3-2 final.

After faltering in the opening game 25-16 E-town posted wins of 26-24 and 25-21 to put the Spartans on the ropes but the visitors closed out the match with wins of 25-20 and 15-11. Rudy Woitas (32 kills, four blocks) and Dylan Shephard (49 assists, five digs) led the way in the loss.

The loss to Central played out nearly the same only this time E-town claimed a 2-1 edge with a 25-20 game one win and a 25-23 game three win. Manheim took game two 25-13 before closing out the match with wins of 25-18 and 15-7. This time William O'Connell (22 digs) joined Woitas (27 kills) and Shephard (41 assists) atop the stat book.

In between was a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-19) loss to Mechanicsburg on April 30th.