The girls' softball team, with just two seniors on the roster, scored seven runs with two outs and picked up a 12-2 season-opening win over visiting Red Lion Wednesday, March 22.

After coming up empty in the first inning, Ava Fedoruk reached on a two out double, Kira Roark, Josie Janssen and Holly Grube followed with base hits and Delaney Gote (4 RBI) cleared the bases with a three-run homer to put Solanco in front for good. Solanco picked up two more runs in the third and added three in the fourth to seal the visitors' fate.

Grube went 2-3 with three RBI, Roark was 2-4 and Fedoruk was 2-3 with one RBI.

Roark, a freshman, got the nod to start and struck out seven and walked two in the win.

Monday's March 27 win over Pequea Valley was just as dominating but had a different flow. Solanco scored its second five-inning victory, 14-3, but this time fought from behind.

"Pequea is aggressive on the bases," said head coach Brett Miller. "They force you to make plays and we struggled at the beginning. But we did make the adjustments at the plate. Sometimes you find different ways to win," he continued. "Sometimes you win from the start and sometimes you give some runs away and battle back."

PV scored one in the first, tied the game in the top of the second and took a brief 3-2 lead in the top of the third.

But Solanco rallied, collecting four hits, working two walks and plating three runs to take the lead for good in the third. Anna Sexton's three run homer in the fourth pushed the lead to 8-3 while two run homers by both Gote and Fedoruk sparked a six run fifth and ended the game early.

Holly Grube was 4-4 with a pair of doubles, a pair of singles and one RBI. Fedoruk and Gote, both freshmen, went 3-4 with a combined seven RBI.

Grube started in the circle and pitched the first three innings, striking out two. Kira Roark pitched the final two innings and finished with four strikeouts.

"It was important for us to win the way we did," said Miller. "We gave up some runs and they earned some, but we found ways to come back.

"We're young with just one senior in the starting lineup but they have all played quite a bit of softball," he continued. "Now we need to find consistency at the varsity level. We've been changing the lineups, giving everyone a look, trying to see how things can play out. The goal is to be competitive enough to make the playoffs."

Solanco took another step in the right direction on Wednesday, outlasting defending District 3 6A champs Penn Manor 8-6. The team pounded out 16 hits and took advantage of four errors to prevail.

"We won the game, but they gave us some runs to make it easier," said Miller. "It was a good enough win but it's only one. We still have things we need to work on."

Solanco erased Manor's 1-0 lead with two in the third. Janssen's bunt single and Grube's base hit made it 2-0 in the third.

They batted around in the fourth and took their biggest lead of the game, 6-1, on five hits and an error. Ava Martin's double opened the inning while Gote's two run single to left capped the scoring.

In the bottom half, however, the Comets made things interesting, loading the bases on a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. Then Kaitlyn Ream lined a shot up the middle that hit Kira Roark, who had turned to deflect the contact, in the ribcage. The ball deflected to Gote for an out, but a run did score.

Roark left the game and Sexton moved to the circle. She gave up a two-run double and a RBI triple before finding her groove, allowing just five more hits, including a solo homer in the sixth, over the next three plus innings.

"Kira was throwing well and managing her pitch command," said Miller. "But Anna came in and did what she needed to do. We had a number of key plays," he added. "Olivia made a big two out catch in the outfield, Ava made a critical play at short and got the force at second. Josie singled to right and stretched it to second. We're getting contributions up and down the lineup.

"I was proud of the way the girls reacted after Kira went down," Miller said. "They responded in a positive way."

After Manor's four-run rally cut the lead to 6-5, both teams traded runs in the sixth and Solanco capped the scoring in the seventh.

"It was only the third game, but it was a big one," Miller said.

Janssen, Grube, Gote and Fedoruk all went 3-4 and Ella Sensenig, batting ninth, added two hits.

TRACK

Solanco's track teams opened the season with a sweep of Cocalico on a damp and chilly Monday, March 27 afternoon. The girls won all but three events and handled the Eagles easily, winning 108-42 while the boys' team pulled out a tight 79-71 win.

"The team did well for the first meet," said head coach Jen McDowell. "Several new athletes (Kiran Ludgate, Tucker Kylar, Anderson Miller, Claire Graybeal, Sarah Bard, Avery Caldwell and Maite Granji) all scored points. The girls' throwers gave up just two points and we won all three relays, which is huge.

"The girls have a lot of talent and should compete in every meet this year," she added. "We look forward to surprising a few teams along the way. We have strong returnees with Katie Urbine, Martha Weaver, Emma Housekeeper, Olianna Oravitz, Emma Baxter, and Daria Neaves. Along with some great newcomers, the team is very strong."

Weaver anchored the throwers, winning the shot (33-1), discus (93-3) and javelin (90-1) while Urbine led a sweep in the 100, with Bard and Oravitz taking second and third, and then cleared 12 feet to continue her mastery of the pole vault.

Oravitz also led a sweep in the triple jump, with Paige Althoff and Granji following, and won the long jump (16-10.5). Taelor Martin and Gabbi Kline were second and third in the shot, respectively, Caldwell was second in the discus and Althoff did the same in the javelin to outdistance the Cocalico throwers 25-2.

Back on track, Urbine and Oravitz led the winning 4x100 relay with Bard and Housekeeper keeping pace. Bard and Housekeeper also went 1-2 in the 200.

Christine Wagner, Neaves, Baxter and Emily Powl ran away with the 4x800 relay and Baxter and Neeves went 1-2 in the 3200.

Wrapping up the relay sweep was Powl, Groff, Tori Dunlap, and Ashley Mosteller in the 4x400. Groff also won the open 800, Graybeal was tops in the 300 hurdles and Granji cleared 4-10 to take the high jump.

The boys won ten of 18 events in a balanced victory. Josiah Forren was the only double winner, taking the long (20.-3.5) and triple (39-4.5) jumps and teaming with Johnny Garcia, Michael Bangura, and Riley Ford to capture the 400 relay.

Also in the field, John Sankus and Braden Caldwell went 1-2 in the discus and flipped in the shot put with Caldwell winning and Sankus taking third.

Kylar added a high jump win, clearing 6-0.

The Mules opened with a 4x800 relay win by Anthony Solis-Morales, Jimmy Hartigan, Wyatt Tomison, and Isaac Esh. Hartigan went on to win the 800 (2:18) and Morales was tops in the 3200 (10:36.4).

The boys also swept the 400 with Ian Althoff, Asher Eshleman and Aiden Rutherford securing nine team points.

BASEBALL

The baseball team fought off a three-run deficit, tying the score in the bottom of the fifth and then scored once in the sixth for a 4-3 thriller over visiting Manheim Township Tuesday, March 28.

"I was told this was the first time Solanco has beaten Township in over 15 years," said first year head coach Mike Miller. "It was a big win for us."

Township scored twice in the first inning and once in the fourth for the early advantage. Solanco responded with three in the fifth.

"Key RBI hits that inning came from Lucas Vilk, our lone freshman, Owen Underwood, who laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt, and Brayden Herr who helped himself with a RBI single to tie the game."

One inning later, Sawyer Weyman hit a double down the line for a 4-3 Solanco lead.

"We had great defense all around with big plays from Cody Moyer and Tyler Burger," added Miller. "It was an all-around team effort where every guy on our roster made a contribution to help us win. We've been preaching that everyone has a job to do, no matter how big or small, and we saw that payoff."

Nate Harnish went 3-3 to spark Solanco's seven-hit attack.

Herr started on the hill and threw five strong innings, striking out eight. Weyman closed out the last two innings on two hits and no runs.

At home again on Wednesday, the visiting Comets scored three runs in the first inning and settled for a 4-0 victory with just two hits. A walk, hit batter, RBI double, sac fly, and RBI ground out accounted for the scoring.

Solanco managed just two hits as well, singles by Cody Moyer and Weston Beiler.

Burger, Moyer and Beiler saw action on the hill. Burger struck out three, walked six and Beiler fanned three in the loss.