The Garden Spot girls' lacrosse team finished strong on a match that may have sent statisticians scrolling through record books. The Spartans wrapped up the regular season with a 9-8 record, defeating Harrisburg Christian 27-3.

The victory on the Spartans' home turf featured Emma Gruber's five-goal game plus hat tricks from Gwen Varley, Emily Ferris, and Briele Moyer.

The Spartans launched 41 shots on the goal of their non-league opponent. Also finishing with multiple goals were Jalynn Graybill, who also notched an assist, Jane Umbel, Amber Scritchfield and Gabriella Mansi - all of whom scored twice.

Skylar Hinson, who assisted on two goals, Keira Steiner, Eden Nagle, Ashton Gonzalez, and freshman Alivia Backes each netted one goal.

In front of the Garden Spot net, Olivia Scarle grabbed two saves.

SOFTBALL

With the regular season winding down, the Garden Spot softball team faced two Lancaster-Lebanon League opponents last week.

The Spartans traveled to Northern Lebanon on Monday, May 9, to face a tough opponent.

"They are unbeaten in league play," Spartans coach Kim King noted.

The Vikings stayed unbeaten (9-0) in league play with their 10-0 defeat of the Spartans. It was a shutout loss in which the Spartans did threaten to break out early.

"They walked Sydni King and Rylee Manning in the first inning," King explained. "They also had an error.

"So, we had the bases loaded in the first inning," continued the coach. "We did not score; they got a couple of strikeouts.

"We had been working on two-strike approach to hitting," King added. "Had we scored there, it may have been a different game - gotten more energy."

It was only 1-0 after the first inning and the Spartans were very much in the game.

"We just couldn't put anything together," King said. "Then they started hitting the ball well - a home run and a couple of triples."

Two days later, the Spartans fell to Elizabethtown at home on what was Senior Day. The Bears came away with a 13-0 victory in six innings.

"We came out kind of sluggish and gave up three runs in the first inning," King explained. "They're a good team and were hitting the ball well - two doubles in the first inning.

"Overall, we played good defense," King added. "Makayla Barr at third base made some really good plays."

The Spartans' offense included a double by Amanda Hoover plus singles by Manning, King, and Nikki Zeiset.

Speaking of Senior Day, the Spartans and their head coach will bid adieu to three starting seniors - Hoover, Emma Royle, who was the starting second baseman this year, and center fielder Lindsay Lapp.

Emma Royle was first-team all-star and so was Sydni King according to the Section Three all-star voting by coaches. Lapp and Manning were honorable mention.

"Lindsay Lapp was dealing with some injuries this year," said King. "She stuck it out and was a great leader in the outfield. She is one of the captains.

"Emma Royle was a four-year starter," she added. "She is one of our captains also. She's just a solid defensive player who started hitting the ball well this year. She was one of our best all-around players."

King also expressed pleasure with Hoover, a first-year starter.

"I was very happy with how she hit the ball this year," she said.

Another senior contributing this season was Cheyann Fuller, who spent the year on the junior varsity team.

"She was an amazing leader at junior varsity," King said. "She did a great job with them."

The Spartans finished 7-12 overall and 6-9 in the L-L League.

"We've grown so much this year," said King. "Next year is going to be that much better. We came back and beat a couple of teams in our section who had beaten us earlier in the season."

TRACK

Garden Spot came away with victories over Elizabethtown in a Section Two dual meet in New Holland on Monday, May 9 with the girls' winning 89-61 and the boys' squad narrowly shading the Bears 75-74.

The boys' team battled to overcome after the Bears had won all three relay events. Alan Krock won both the 800- and 1600-meter races while Zechariah Nagle took both hurdling events. Finn Wenrich sprinted to victory in the 100-m.

Also posting multiple wins was Kaleb Zimmerman. In field events, the junior claimed both the shot put and discus while Jaden Burkholder made it a Spartan sweep in the throwing events with a javelin win.

Rodriguez and Aiden Durante won the long jump and high jump, respectively, while Gavin Lee Miller earned his sixth triple-jump victory of the year.

The boys' team improved to 3-4 and the girls raised their mark to 4-3.

Bryna Kelly's versatility led to three victories - the high jump and the two hurdling events. Angela Nuse dashed off with the 100-m while Lauren Horning outran the competition in the 400.

In field events, Chloe Grady claimed both the long jump and triple jump. Ajjiah Fox (discus) and Ainslee Binkley (javelin) won two of the throwing events.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Despite defeating Lebanon and Manheim Central in their final two matches of the year, the Spartans could not catch Lancaster Mennonite for the Section Two crown. With a 3-0 defeat of Lebanon on May 9 and a 3-2 victory over Central two days later, the Spartans (12-4, 10-2 league) finished in second place behind the 11-1 Blazers.

Derrick Lambert and Tanner Laukhuff each registered six kills in the Lebanon match at home. The Spartans defeated the visiting Cedars 25-18, 25-16 and 25-20.

Lambert also had three blocks on the night while Tyler Martin led the team in assists (21). Chris Wehn came through with six digs while Luke Steiner added four aces.

The Spartans came back from 2-1 down in sets to win at Central. They forced a tiebreaker set by winning the fourth set 25-19. After having won the first set 25-21, the Spartans dropped two in a row - 26-18 and 25-14. In the tiebreaker, Garden Spot maintained momentum and won 15-7.

Laukhuff had an incredible 25 kills and also 12 digs. Tyler Martin again led in assists, distributing 40. Josh Martin and Tristin Sadowski each registered two blocks.

BASEBALL

Joshua Tudor pitched a complete game and struck out 10 Vikings in the Spartans' 5-2 victory on Monday, May 9. Garden Spot improved to 4-8 in league play and 6-12 overall, snapping a three-game losing skid.

Evan Myers and Luke Steiner (2-for-3) each doubled. Bryce Clymer had a productive day without a hit, drawing two walks and also driving home a run on a sacrifice fly. Joel Martin went 1-for-3 with a run scored.

In their regular season finale, the Spartans fell to Elizabethtown 4-0 on the road.