Eight is Great was surely not a saying created to talk about sports, but it does apply to the Manheim Central baseball team. With a 9-7 win over Garden Spot on May 2nd the Baron's pushed their winning streak to eight straight.

Cole Lawhorne picked up the win despite recording just two of the 21 outs. His stint on the mound was sandwiched between starter Cael Martin (1K) and Cayde Connelly (5K). All seven Spot runs were on Martin's watch, leaving him with no decision.

Nolan Book enjoyed a three RBI game, adding a two-run double to his first inning sac fly. Ky Watson and Brady Harbach drew back-to-back walks in the fifth with each pushing a run across. Watson added a seventh inning single to his day to finish with two RBI. Connelly and Jared Murray wrapped up the offense with matching fifth inning RBIs.

Central's seventh game of their streak came one day prior with a 3-1 win over Donegal. Murry covered all seven innings, allowing just one hit and one earned run while mowing down 10 Indians. Harbach put Manheim on the board with a first inning single while Landon McGallicher picked up his RBI with a third inning sac fly.

The streak ended on May 3rd with Octorara stealing a 3-2 win. Chase Travitz surrendered all three Brave runs and despite just one coming as earned the junior still took the loss. Travitz issued three walks with two strikeouts over his four innings. Lawhorne and Book finished the remaining three innings, allowing just one hit while striking out three and walking two. Harbach accounted for Manheim's lone RBI with his first inning sac fly.

TENNIS

The boy's tennis season came to a hard close with the Barons participating in the L-L's Flight Tournament starting April 27th. Only one of Central's seven entries was able to collect a win before bowing out with the duo of Zach Spangler and Jon Breinich taking that honor. The pair enjoyed a default win over Elco's Moses Chekanov and Santiago Areiza in the Flight Three bracket before falling to Pritesh Tanna and Chris Hanger of Manheim Township.

Central's Flight One doubles team of Ben Ginder and Owen Patten dropped their opening match to Donegal's Akilan Murugesan and Landon Keller. Aaron Cassel and Rodney Sauder met the same fate in their Flight Two doubles match opposite Conestoga Valley's Fabian Heine and Boro Krstic.

Singles play went much the same way with Ginder dropping his first match in the Flight One bracket to Hempfield's Cooper Lehman. Patten lost his Flight Two match to Ephrata's Todd Weist while Sauder fell to McCaskey's Garaub Ghimire in Flight Three action. Cassel was the final Baron to fall in singles, dropping his Flight Four match to Sam Kenner of Hempfield.

VOLLEYBALL

The boys' volleyball team continues to collect wins as they march to the postseason. The Barons improved to 10-0 with wins over Lancaster Mennonite and Ephrata.

Against the Mountaineers on May 2nd, Central started slowly, leading to a 25-21 Ephrata win, just Manheim's second dropped game all season. That was enough to shake off the bus ride blues with Central flipping the switch for wins of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-12. Dylan Musser finished with 54 assists and Logan Groff 17 kills. Groff added two aces while Colin Rohrer had 16 digs.

Manheim Central had no such trouble with the Blazers on April 27th, using easy wins of 25-7, 25-15 and 25-18 to secure the 3-0 win. Musser had 22 assists and three aces. Jacob Moyer tallied seven kills and Landan Mattiace two blocks.

SOFTBALL

With the end of the regular season in sight the Lady Baron softball team continues to close in on a playoff berth. Central used wins over Garden Spot and Octorara to counter a loss to Donegal, maintaining their hold on second place in the Section Three standings.

The setback to section leading Donegal happened on May 1st with the Lady Indians handing Manheim a 12-6 loss. Riley Hostetter was hit with all 12 Donegal runs but four Lady Baron errors pushed seven of those runs to the unearned category. Hostetter did have six walks to go with four strikeouts.

Brynn Lehman paced the offense with two hits and four RBI, including a three-run blast in the third. Hailey Peterson added two hits of her own with a second inning single accounting for her lone RBI.

Central entered the Donegal game coming off an 18-3 thumping of Garden Spot on April 27th. Eleven hits coupled with four Spot errors left the Lady Barons needing just three innings to secure the 15-run victory. Adriana Sheaffer led the offense with two hits and four RBI including a two-run double that ended the contest in the third. Kayleigh Detz and Brianna Mylin both homered in the third with Detz's coming as a three-run variety while Mylin's was a two-run shot. Paige Garner added two RBI on one hit to round out the offensive leaders. Hostetter picked up the easy win, allowing three hits and three runs to go with six strikeouts and no walks.

The Lady Barons got back to winning on May 3rd, using a late surge to cruise to a 14-4 win over Octorara. Hostetter covered six of the seven innings to get the win with Garner taking over for the final three outs. Garner also got things rolling at the plate with a second inning single that made it 1-0. Manheim blew the game open with a five-run fifth that included RBI producing hits from Hostetter, Detz and Abby Logan. Another four-run burst followed in the sixth thanks to Mylin's two-run home run coupled with another two-run single by Detz. Mylin and Hostetter capped the scoring with matching one run singles in the seventh, helping set the 14-4 final.

TRACK

The track team hosted Ephrata on May 1st and suffered their first double loss of the season with the boys falling 97-53 while the Lady Baron fell just short in a 76-74 loss.

Maddie Knier was responsible for four of the Lady Baron's seven wins, taking the top spot in the high jump (5-2), long jump (16-10.5), triple jump (35-5) and javelin (124-2). Abbie Reed (300H) and Kylie Mattiace (100H) teamed up to sweep the hurdles while the 3200m relay team opened the meet with a win. Julianna Lindberg, Reagan Ibach, Julia Kahler and Sarah Forry turned in a 9:59 in that win.

The boy's managed five event wins during the loss to Ephrata. Landon McGallicher was responsible for two of them thanks to a 14.9 in the 110 hurdles and a 40.5 in the 300's. Carter Bruckhart seized the final win on the track with a 10:55 in the 3200m.

Victor Paskings claimed one of the two field wins, topping out at 19-1.5 in the long jump. Wyatt Kupres claimed the other with a toss of 135-8 in the discus.