Pequea Valley's baseball team received a boost thanks to the stellar pitching of Myles Furlong, Stephen Smucker, and Logan Zynn. The Braves downed Columbia 3-1 in a Lancaster-Lebanon League home game on Friday, April 27 with Smucker going six strong dominant innings and Zynn coming on for the save - a 1-2-3 seventh inning that included two strikeouts.

Furlong pitched a complete game on Wednesday, May 3, in another Section Four victory - a 4-1 defeat of Annville-Cleona.

In both starts, the pitchers helped their own cause, as the saying goes. Smucker, who struck out 13 Crimson Tide batters and allowed only one base hit, stroked a two-run single to make a big difference for Pequea. The only Crimson Tide base hit was a Loudon Rupp RBI single.

Elijah Smucker went 2-for-3 with the other Pequea RBI. Peyton Temple was 1-for-2 with a stolen base and a run scored. Nick Ammon and sophomore Trevor Vollmer also stole one base each.

In Wednesday's game against visiting Annville-Cleona, Furlong struck out seven and only issued one free pass to a Dutchman batter. At the plate, Furlong went 2-for-2 with two runs batted in. Temple also drove in a run as he went 2-for-3. Senior Kenny Merrara Sanchez came through with a sacrifice fly RBI.

The Braves improved to 11-6 on the year (8-4 league).

SOFTBALL

The Braves posted consecutive decisive victories over L-L League rivals Columbia and Annville-Cleona, drawing to within a game of the latter in the Section Four standings.

"They were two games up on us in the Section Four standings and now we're down by one game for second place," Pequea coach Doug High pointed out. "That's for second place in the section so we have an outside chance of making the league playoffs."

On Friday, April 27, Columbia fell victim to the Braves. Pequea posted a 12-2 victory on the road.

"I got most of the kids into the game," said High. "We had 21 kids there and I think 18 of them got into the game. So, we had a lot of different contributors."

Mackenzie Musser pitched four innings and Sydney Roye went one inning as the mercy rule caused the game to end after five innings.

With seemingly endless rains, most other games were rained out.

The Braves did play at Annville-Cleona on Wednesday, taking an 8-0 lead into the seventh inning and tacking on three more for an 11-0 victory.

"We had lost 10-6 to them twice," High pointed out.

Musser pitched five strong innings, allowing only one walk. Roye came on in the sixth inning and faced only six batters in her two innings of relief work.

"Mackenzie Musser is really doing a fantastic job for us," High said.

Senior Sarah Arment went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. She also scored two runs. Carissa Mulder drove in two runs and stole two bases.

"Chavelle Fisher has been swinging a hot bat for us," High added. Fisher went 2-for-4 and knocked in two runs on Wednesday.

Remaining in the hunt for the District Three Class AAA playoffs, the Braves entered Wednesday's game ranked sixth while the Dutchmen were ranked eighth. According to the district website, the top six teams qualify for districts.

TENNIS

The L-L League Flight Championships took place from April 27 through May 1 with some matches being held at the Hempfield Rec Center, due to rain in the forecast, as well as on the courts at McCaskey and Conestoga Valley.

The Pequea pair of Cole McEvoy and Hayden Whiney played through to the semifinals of Flight Two doubles. They won 8-4 in their first match, following it up with an 8-3 victory before finally being stopped in the semis by Cedar Crest's Glover and Sheffield, the eventual champs.

In Flight Three doubles, the Braves were represented by Joel Peifer and Bailey Scott. They outlasted the competition in a tough 9-7 victory only to lose to the Hempfield duo of Tristan Coyne and Ryan Malesic, 8-5.

At the Flight One doubles for Class 2A, Wade Stoltzfus and Cole Stoltzfus went 1-1 on the day, winning 6-2, 6-0 before dropping a 6-1, 6-0 result against Lancaster Country Day's Georgelis and Weigle.

Whiney had an 8-2 victory over Octorara's Daniel Keane in the first round of the Flight Two singles. He lost to the eventual runner up, Hempfield's Eric Jordan, by an 8-2 score in the second round.

Cole Stoltzfus fell to Carson Weigle of Lancaster Country Day in the first match of the Class 2A Flight One singles. In the consolation matches, Stoltzfus won 6-0, 6-2 over Octorara's Declan Lomboy. In the fifth-place match, however, he again ran into Weigle, who narrowly won 2-6, 7-6 (2) and 6-1.