The phrase 'better late than never' typically does not apply to baseball but with a bit of massaging one can make it work for the E-town baseball team. The Bears stumbled to a 2-6 mark but with three wins over their last five, E-town has clawed their way to a 5-8 record heading into the home stretch.

The first of those wins came on April 20th via an 8-3 final over Cedar Crest. Alex Baker paced the offense with four RBI while Mitchell Garber and Ben Wentling provided backup with one RBI each. Isaiah Shayter scattered nine hits over seven innings and finished with nine strikeouts to earn the win.

The second win came on the 23rd with a 14-5 against Reading. E-town plated 12 runs in the sixth flipping a 5-2 deficit into the 14-5 win. Kaleb Daley was the beneficiary of that surge, taking over for Pike Burkett in the sixth and picking up the win. The pair combined for 12 strikeouts and no walks. Luis Perez-Alfaro pushed a run across with each of his three hits while Garber and Elijah Macfarlane split four RBI.

Elizabethtown's final win of the stretch came on the 26th with a 6-1 final over McCaskey. Shayter pitched another gem, with 11 punchouts and one run on five hits. Ben Heckman covered the final two outs. Jonathan Hinkle collected two RBI on two hits while Perez-Alfaro had one hit and two RBI.

Mixed between those wins were losses to Lebanon, 7-4 on the 21st and Warwick on the 25th. Garber, Perez-Alfaro, and Baker covered the offense with seven of Elizabethtown's eight hits and all four of their RBI against Lebanon. Garber fronted that trio with three hits and two RBI including a two-run blast in the second. Kaden Kimble took the loss for his five innings on the mound while Daley covered the final two innings.

A quartet of pitchers were needed in the 9-3 loss to Warwick on the 25th with Baker getting the start and taking the loss. Hackman covered one inning, Daley two-thirds of a frame while Thaddeus Poff was chased before recording an out. Garber posted another multi-hit, multi-RBI game, going for two of each while Hinkle added one hit and one RBI.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

The E-town girl's lacrosse team wanted no part of another losing streak after snapping their 28-game slide. So, the Lady Bears went out and picked up two more wins along with a tie. The rare tie came on the 25th in a 10-10 final with Conestoga Valley. Three goals apiece by Moira Shutt and Dani Bruno along with five Sydney Pope saves were not enough to avoid a deadlock. Charley Lengel-Kramer tacked on two scores while Aiesha Rios and Hailey Mertz added one goal each.

Elizabethtown made it two wins in a row by topping Mechanicsburg 12-2 on the 20th. Pope needed just six saves thanks to a trio of hat tricks by Shutt, Mertz and Bruno. Josie Spayd added two scores while Rios picked up the final tally.

The Lady Bears returned to the L-L for a 14-10 win over Lancaster Country Day on the 26th. E-town posted a 7-5 edge in both halves with nine Pope saves just enough. Bruno led the attack with seven goals while Lengel-Kramer and Spayd added two each. Shutt, Rios and Joy NgaFua cleaned up the remaining scores.

BOYS' LACROSSE

The boy's lacrosse team was not able to find a similar grove with losses to Warwick and Cedar Crest dropping the Bears to 0-11. Elizabethtown fell to Warwick by an 8-4 final on the 21st and to the Falcons by a 9-7 final on the 25th.

Elijah Poulos, Carson Nye Smith, Holden Haver, and Hayden Klose picked up one goal each against Warwick with NyeSmith and Addison Johnson going for two scores against Cedar Crest. Haver tacked on two scores and Matthew Cruz one in the loss to Crest.

VOLLEYBALL

The boys' volleyball team split a pair of matches, falling to York Suburban on the 25th after knocking off Ephrata on the 21st. Both ended in a 3-0 final with Elizabethtown posting wins of 25-12, 25-15 and 25-21 to top Ephrata. Dylan Shepperd (16 assists) and Bryan Murray (nine kills) led the offense while Elijah Miller (12 digs) and Cooper Torborg (three blocks) led the defense.

SOFTBALL

The softball team hit a rough patch, going 2-2 over their last four to sit at 8-4 with seven games remaining. The rough patch started on the right track with a 5-4 win over Cedar Crest on the 20th but losses to Penn Manor and Warwick followed before a win over McCaskey put the Lady Bears back on track.

Brooke Bryan scattered 12 hits while allowing four runs but still managed the win over Cedar Crest with help from own bat. She plated a single run in the second with a single which Astyn Calaman matched in the fourth. Ave Fair matched both with RBI singles in the second and fourth to lead the way.

The Lady Bears were unable to get by Penn Manor on the 21st, falling by a 7-2 final with Bryan taking the loss. She struck out five to go with 11 hits and no walks. Julie Zook produced the lone RBI with her second inning sac fly.

Another 8-4 final followed on the 25th only this time Elizabethtown was on the wrong side, falling to Warwick. Bryan took the loss after pitching all seven innings but helped her own cause with a fourth inning RBI single. Zook added a RBI single in the fifth.

Elizabethtown bounced back on the 26th with a 15-0, three inning win over McCaskey. Breonna Edgell picked up the "W" thanks to two RBI games from Sydney Stewart, Finch, Leah Aldous, Nizaly Ortiz-Kreiner and Madison Bell.

TRACK

The track team closed out April with losses to Ephrata on the 25th, 93-57 for the Lady Bears and 113-37 on the boy's side.

Points were difficult to find for the boys with only Jaycen Conrad (3200m) and Carlton Wise (pole vault) posting a win.

The Lady Bears earned points with two relay wins, taking the 400m and in the 1600m. Ali Fink won the 1600m with Julie McAlonis taking the 3200m. Anna Rank (pole vault) and Charlotte Hershey (shot put) rounded out the victors.

Elizabethtown made the short trek to Elizabethtown College on the 23rd to take part in the Blue Jay Invitational where the boy's finished 10th and the girls 3rd.

The Lady Bears were buoyed by a win in the 3200m relay, silver in the 400m relay and fourth in the 1600m relay. Rank added a silver in the pole vault while Hershey (shot put) and Heistand (400m) tacked on bronze.

For the boys it was two bronze producing relays coupled with a third-place finish from Juan Lopez in the 400m paving the way. Taidou N'Dikwe was fifth in the 400m.