The Garden Spot boys' lacrosse team kept pace with Ephrata in a Lancaster-Lebanon League match on Thursday, April 21, holding off a Mountaineers' comeback. With two late goals, the visiting Spartans edged the Mounts 10-8.

In the second stanza of this contest, the Spartan's offense came alive, tipping things in Garden Spot's favor with six goals. The 7-4 halftime lead nearly evaporated when Ephrata found the netting of the Spartans three times in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to one.

Ephrata's comeback effort was led by Jordan Devonshire, who notched a hat trick.

Ayden Naranjo led the Spartans with five goals and an assist. Jared Patton pulled off a hat trick while Armoni Slaymaker and Nicklas Gleason each netted one goal.

Garden Spot out-shot Ephrata 18-17. Cole Leaman had nine saves for the Spartans.

The win evened Garden Spot's league mark at 3-3. Garden Spot fell to 6-5 overall with a non-league loss at Wyomissing on Saturday. The Spartans did rally for four late goals.

Patton put in four goals and assisted on one. Naranjjo had a hat trick while Logan Lessley scored once.

Cocalico had five fourth-quarter goals to pull away for a 12-5 win in Monday's match at New Holland.

Patton scored two of Spot's goals. Lessley, who had two assists, Slaymaker and Kane Leaman each scored once. Naranjo provided three assists.

SOFTBALL

Most coaches and fans, and sometimes athletes themselves, would prefer that if the team were to lose, it would do so after giving a great effort.

The Spartans' softball team's three recent losses included two such games - not the 14-2 loss to Donegal on Wednesday, April 27.

"In this game, we played poorly," said Kim King, the Spartans' head coach.

The previous Friday, the Spartans fell to Lancaster Catholic by a 9-6 score. On Monday, they lost to Manheim Central 12-4

"With some losses, you know you played well," she continued. "Of course, you want to win. In the Lancaster Catholic game, we were hitting the ball hard, and they were making their plays. We also played good defense. We just needed to outhit them and score more runs."

Rylee Manning and Lyndsay Lapp each had two hits. Emma Royle had one hit and scored two runs. Sydni King stroked a triple and drove in a run. Makayla Barr had a double.

In the game against Central, Royle and Kylie Weinhold each drove in a run.

"Lindsay Lapp had two line-drive hits," King noted. "Her other at bats were screaming line drives that were caught."

Amanda Hoover and Rebecca Hoover each had two hits as well.

"We had a couple of errors, but they didn't figure into how they scored," King explained. "Ten of their runs were earned. They had 14 hits."

In the loss at Donegal, which dropped the Spartans' record to 3-10 (3-8 league) Rebecca Hoover hit a two-run home run for Garden Spot's only offensive highlight.

TRACK

The Garden Spot boys' team (2-3) fell to Lampeter-Strasburg 82-67 in an away meet on Monday, April 25. The girls' team also lost a close one, 89-61.

Among those earning points for the Spartans were Finn Wenrich and Gavin Reimers - the winners of the 400- and 3,200-meter races.

Alan Krock, Cole Humphreys, Evan Graham, and Sean Kelch took the 4x800 relay. Krock and Kelch joined Joel Benedick for a win in the 4x400 relay.

While Zechariah Nagle won both hurdling events, Kaleb Zimmerman won the shot put and the javelin.

Gavin Lee Miller claimed another triple jump while Angel Rodriguez came through in the high jump.

Lauren Horning was solid in the girls' 400 and Melanie Esh won the 1,600.

It was another hurdles sweep for Bryna Kelly, who also took the high jump event. Chloe Grady's 31-foot-10.5 triple jump was good for first.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

Playing four matches in six days, the Garden Spot girls' lacrosse team faced two of the toughest L-L League teams in Manheim Township and Hempfield in the beginning and the end of the busy week.

Hempfield's Kelsea Dague scored six times in the Black Knights' 11-1 win at Garden Spot on Tuesday, April 26. Back on Thursday, April 21, Township's Sydney Witmer scored six times in a 23-3 victory in which Gwen Varley, Emma Gruber, and Brielle Moyer each scored for Spot. Varley also had the lone goal in the Hempfield match.

Sandwiched in between were two closer contests, including Garden Spot's sixth win of the season - a 21-9 non-league win at Conestoga Christian on Monday, April 25.

In a Saturday morning contest, Penn Manor edged Spot 15-12 despite a six-goal output by Varley. Moyer and Gabriella Mansi each tallied two goals while Gruber, who also assisted on two goals, and Ashton Gonzalez netted one goal each.

Olivia Scarle, with her 12 saves, matched that total in the Township game.

The win at Conestoga Christian featured a five-goal performance by Moyer and four goals each by Varley, who also assisted three times, and Mansi. Other point scorers included Gruber (2g), Michaela Berneck (2g, 1a), plus Gonzalez, Jane Umbel, and Skylar Hynson, each of whom had one goal and an assist. Amber Scritchfield also finished with one goal.

In the win, Scarle snagged eight saves.

VOLLEYBALL

A tough 3-2 loss at Lancaster Mennonite on Thursday, April 21, dropped the Spartans to 7-4 (5-2 league) on the year. The teams played four closely contested sets with Spot winning the second and fourth ones 29-27 and 25-22, respectively. Mennonite snuck in 25-23 and 25-20 wins plus a 15-9 tiebreaker win.

Tanner Laukhuff pouring in 26 kills and Tyler Martin finishing with 40 assists were among the Spartans' highlights. Josh Martin served up three aces while Jethro Martin and Derrick Lambert each registered three blocks.

Garden Spot posted a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 27-25) win at Ephrata on Tuesday, April 26 as Lambert led the team with 13 kills and four blocks. Tyler Martin recorded 19 assists and Laukhuff served up five aces.

BASEBALL

Senior Josh Tudor has gone out to the mound and given Garden Spot plenty of quality starts this year.

On Wednesday, against Donegal, he went the distance, striking out eight batters and holding the Indians (11-2) to only one run. Tudor's teammates plated a pair of unearned runs off Nick Eichelberger in the bottom of the sixth inning to eke out a 2-1 win.

Garden Spot was coming off a tough 4-2 loss at home to Manheim Central on Monday. Caleb Zimmerman started and went five innings, striking out 11 while scattering four hits. Madix Bracken came on for two solid innings in relief.

Senior George Rohrbaugh went 2-for-3 out of the leadoff spot. Evan Myers also had two base hits and scored one run. Caiden Murphy (1-for-4) drove in a run as did Joel Martin.