Sometimes it's not about the final score but getting the result you need in order to put yourself in a position to qualify for the post-season. Solanco's 16-0, 50-minute rout over visiting Lebanon on Friday, April 14 was the perfect example. The Cedars are winless on the year and have given up over 100 runs.

The hosts pounded out 12 hits, including five doubles, two by leadoff batter Ava Martin who matched Zoey Evans, batting ninth, with four RBI on the day.

Solanco scored eight runs on six hits, two walks and two errors in the first inning and tallied eight more runs in the second to put the game away early. Martin doubled, Janssen singled and both scored on Fedoruk's double. DeFrancesco followed with a run scoring double to highlight the hitting in that second inning. After an error, a hit batter and a walk, Evans pushed in the final two runs with her second base hit of the game.

In the circle, Holly Grube faced ten batters in three innings, striking out one.

While Solanco took care of Lebanon in less than an hour, Monday's cold and windy outing at Conestoga Valley went extra innings, took about 2.5 hours, and finished with another victory for the black and gold.

"We were playing, but we need to play to win the game," said head coach Brett Miller. "Their pitcher throws well enough, but we were hitting too many popups. This game was a case of giving a team the opportunity to be in the game. Fortunately, we were composed enough to make the plays we needed at the end."

Solanco slowly built a 3-0 lead, scoring single runs in the second, third and fifth innings. Then CV rallied, scoring three times, two on a throwing error on a bunt, and tied the score.

"We had some youthful play that inning," said Miller. "Sometimes you need to be able to make decisions during the play. Anna (Sexton) came in and struck out the last batter and CV didn't threaten after that."

Josie Janssen started the ninth with a base hit and stole second. Grube walked and with one out, Sara DeFrancesco smacked a two-run double. Sexton's single pushed DeFrancesco to third. Ava Martin's fly ball in outfield was dropped, scoring two more.

"There are different ways to win a game," said Miller, "but we got the result we needed.

"Kira (Roark) threw will until that inning and Anna came in and did what she needed to do. And then Sara (DeFrancesco, 3-5, 3 RBI) came up with the big hit. Wind was definitely a factor in the outfield, but it was still a big hit and what we needed."

Under the lights in E-town Wednesday, Solanco, down 5-4, took the lead for good with a pair of two out, unearned runs in the third inning and went on to defeat the Bears 13-5. Sexton's (4-5, 4RBI) homer sparked a four-run sixth inning.

Solanco pounded out 13 hits with Janssen (3-5) and Fedoruk (2-5) adding multiple hits.

Roark and Sexton combined for the win, striking out five, walking four and surrendering six hits.

TRACK

On a cold and windier than normal, even for Solanco's track, Monday afternoon in Quarryville, the Golden Mule tracksters topped visiting Manheim Central 91.5 - 58.5, due, in part, to their strength in the field events where Solanco out-pointed the Barons 42.5 - 20.5 and won all but one event there.

Noah Baber took the high jump (5-10) and the long (21-0.75). Josiah Forren won the triple (40-1.5) and was second in the long and Braden Caldwell won the discus (128-2) and was second in the shot behind John Sankus' winning put of 40-1.5. Armstrong rounded out the field firsts with the top jump in the pole vault (11-0).

Riley Ford matched Baber's two-win effort by taking the 100 (11.3) and 200 (23.7) meter dashes. He also anchored the winning 400-meter relay team with Johnny Garcia, Braighton Lenhart and Michael Bangura leading the way.

Anthony Solis Morales, Issac Esh and Jimmy Hartigan swept the mile and opened the meet, along with Wyatt Tomison, with a 3200-meter relay win. Tomison later claimed the two-mile run in 11:11.5.

Althoff topped the wins on the track with a 53.3 in the open 400.

The girls, despite a record-setting performance, were not as fortunate. They were outscored in every group of events and suffered a 94-56 defeat.

Highlighting the day was a 49.7 run by the 4x100 team of Katie Urbine, Oli Oravitz, Sarah Bard, and Emma Housekeeper for first place. "That is a new school record," said head coach Jen McDowell. "Emma, Oli, Katie, and Carly Rose broke the old record (50.8 from 1988) at leagues last year with a 50.51.

"The Manheim girls are tough," she continued, "but Oli did beat Maddie Knier in the triple jump!"

Knier is the defending league champ in both the triple and long. Oravitz won the triple with a 35-8, over a foot better than Knier's 34-5.5. Knier did win the long (17-10) with Oravitz taking second (17-0.75) and Urbine adding a third.

Urbine and Oravitz also went 1-2 in the 100 while Bard and Housekeeper did the same in the 200.

Emma Baxter rounded out the track firsts with a 12:17 win in the 3200 while Martha Weaver claimed the shot (34-5.5) and added thirds in both the discus and javelin, where she finished behind Paige Althoff.

The track teams attempted to compete at the Black Knight Invitational on Saturday, April 15 but the weather eventually forced the meet to cancel early.

"We were pleased with everyone's performance but wished we could have completed the meet," said McDowell.

Urbine topped the place-winners category with Solanco's only victory, a first in the pole vault. She was also third in the 100 where Sarah Bard settled for sixth.

Other place-winners included the 4x800 relay team of Baxer, Wagner, Granja and Powl (4th), the boys 4x800 team of Althoff, Tomison, Hartigan and Solis Morales (5th), Forren (8th in the triple jump) and Weaver (8th in the shot put).

BASEBALL

Despite a 7-3 advantage in hits, the baseball team suffered a 5-0 shutout on Friday, April 15. The hosting Cedars took advantage of four walks and three errors on the day and took the lead for good with three runs in the third inning.

"That was a tough loss," said head coach Mike Miller. "While the errors certainly played a factor, it was the lack of offense that ultimately cost us the game. We just could not get into a groove and it seemed like even though we hit the ball hard it was always finding someone's glove."

Solanco left runners on base in every single inning including two in the third and fourth innings. Austin Wenger doubled, and, with two outs, Nate Harnish was intentionally walked. A groundout ended that third inning threat. Weyman picked up a two out walk in the fourth and Vilk singled before a pop out ended the inning.

Wenger went 3-4 with a pair of doubles.

Weyman got the start and lasted two innings, giving up two hits and three runs while striking out one. Kaden Strong, Burger and Cody Moyer each contributed in relief and combined for three strikeouts and two walks.

Monday the Mules bounced back with an 8-3 win over visiting CV, their second win of the schedule against the Bucks.

"This was a great bounce-back win for us," said Miller. "Ty Burger (13 strikeouts, 2 walks) gave us a great start on the mound and even went deep to help himself for his third homerun of the season."

The Mules scored single runs in each of the first three innings and then, after CV cut it to 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Solanco broke the game open with a five-spot in the bottom half.

"We got a lot of help in the fifth from the bottom of our order and both Dillon Dean and Nate Harnish led the way," noted Miller. "Weston Beiler had two RBI and helped turn the lineup over a few times. It was a great team win overall."

Lucas Vilk went 2-3 and both Brayden Herr and Burger were 2-4. All three knocked in one run.