Garden Spot's offense poured in seven first half goals in a Lancaster-Lebanon League girls' lacrosse match on Friday, April 16. The Spartans were playing Lancaster Country Day on the road and headed into the second half trailing 11-7.

The Cougars came out of the gate iwth a strong second half, handing the Spartans a 19-8 defeat.

Leading the way for LCD was Cassidy Gleiberman who scored nine times.

Emily Ferris, Ashton Gonzalez and Brielle MOyer each scored twice while Emma Gruber and Gwen Varley netted one goal each.

In a non-league girls' lacrosse game in New Holland, the Spartans offense could not keep up with Palmyra. The Cougars scored eight times in the second half to take the match 15-4.

Emma Gruber came through with two goals for Garden Spot while Diana Redcay dished out two assists. Ashton Gonzalez and Gwen Varley each netted one goal.

Lexi Horning made 11 saves.

BASEBALL

The Spartans suffered a tough 6-4 loss in Annville-Cleona on Monday, April 19.

It was a frustrating loss, as head coach Greg Reiff expressed. In a game that has three outs allotted per inning for each team, the coach pointed out that the Garden Spot defense had an inning where they gifted additional outs to the Dutchmen.

"They scored five of their runs in the third inning," Reiff explained. "We gave them seven outs that inning by throwing the ball around. They had five unearned runs.

"The box score shows they had 10 hits," continued the coach. "But [starting pitcher] Mason Graybill should have only given up five hits. Graybill pitched a great game."

The Dutchmen managed to escape multiple threats as the Spartans stranded 13 runners.

Despite the errors, which extended the Dutchmen's rally, and a questionable call that killed a Garden Spot rally, Spot did battle back in this one.

"We struck out 14 times against their pitching," Reiff noted. "We were down 6-1. But even with everything that happened, we made it close. We had the tying run up to bat three different times. We fought valiantly to the end."

Ty Stanley had an RBI double. Justin Petersheim was on base three times and stole three bases.

The questionable call was a hit that appeared to drive in two Garden Spot runs.

"In the top of the third inning, we had the bases loaded and our leadoff hitter hit a line drive down the third base line," Greiff explained. "Their third baseman dove in fair territory and knocked the ball foul.

"We had runners crossing the plate and the umpire said they had to go back," continued the coach, "that he had called it foul."

Another challenge for the Spartans is roster depletion due to injuries and other protocols.

"Between varsity and junior varsity, we have eight kids out," Greiff explained.

TENNIS

There were some closely contested tennis matches in New Holland on Monday, April 19 in a Section Three battle between Lebanon and Garden Spot. The Cedars prevailed 5-2 despite some remarkable performances by the Spartans.

One such performance was Nate Vreeland's comeback win at number four singles. Down by a set following a 7-5 loss, Vreeland defeated Adrian Cruz 6-1, 10-4.

The other team point for the Spartans came with Vreeland and Dylan Esbenshade teaming up for a gutsy 9-8 (7-2) win at number two doubles.

Ani Kulkarni and Cole King were a solid twosome at number three doubles, falling just short to Cruz and his doubles partner Jean Duran-Santana, 8-6.

Spot's Will Culbert and Alan Krock made the number one and number two tennis singles close. In those respective matches, they lost by identical scores of 6-3, 6-4.

Garden Spot fell to 0-6 in league play (1-12 overall). The Cedars improved to 2-9 (1-4 league).

TRACK

In a Section Two track and field meet, Manheim Central's girls defeated Garden Spot 90-60 in New Holland on Monday, April 19. The Spartans fell to 1-3 on the year.

Lauren Horning was one of the leaders for the Spartans, dashing to two first-place finishes - the 100- and 200-meter events with respective times of 13.4 and 27.8.

Melanie Esh won the 1600 in 5:51.7 and crossed the finish line at 12:54.4 in the 3,200.

The high hurdles went to Bryna Kelly with a time of 15.4.

The boys' track team (0-4) suffered a 130-20 defeat. Alexander McFalls posted a winning time of 2:08.7 in the 800.

BOYS' LACROSSE

It was an exciting victory for the Spartans as they posted their first win of the season - a commanding 12-7 triumph at Elizabethtown on Monday, April 19.

The big difference was a five-goal fourth quarter for Garden Spot as the two teams entered the final period with the visiting Spartans holding only a two-goal lead.

Senior goalie Gabriel Myer made 12 saves.

On offense, six different Spartans contributed to the scoring with Gavyn Naranjo netting seven of his team's goals.

Blake Weaver and Logan Lesley each finished with two goals while Cam Promar netted one. Lesley also assisted on two goals while Ayden Naranjo dished out three assists. Kyle Boyer also had an assist.

Garden Spot fell to 1-9 on the year (0-7 league) with a Tuesday afternoon loss to Lampeter-Strasburg. The Pioneers posted an 18-5 win in New Holland, featuring a seven-goal production by Zach Labreque and six goals by Collin Sullivan.

Gavyn Naranjo recorded a hat trick for Garden Spot while Lesley and Ayden Naranjo each scored one.

BOYS' VOLLEYBALL

In an intense Section Two volleyball match, the Spartans topped Manheim Central 3-1 on Tuesday, April 20, remaining undefeated (6-0) in league play.

The Barons did not make it easy on their home court for the first-place Spartans. In the opening set, Garden Spot escaped with a 25-22 win. The second set was similar, ending in a 25-21 Spot triumph.

The Barons trimmed the lead in half with a 25-23 victory in the third set before the Spartans finally wrapped it up with another 25-22 win.

While the Barons' Blake Wagner was swinging with a match high 19 kills and leading his team with three blocks and three digs, Joseph Sharp poured in 13 kills for the Spartans.

Keegan Redcay had a match-high five aces. Jordan Martin paced the Spartans with a brilliant match, compiling 44 assists and registering three blocks. Tyler Martin finished with 26 digs.

Garden Spot raised its overall mark to 9-1.

SOFTBALL

It was a 3-2 ballgame heading into the third inning on Monday afternoon at Garden Spot's softball field. Annville-Cleona extended its lead to 5-2 in the third and added a seven-run fourth inning en route to a 15-5 victory.

The Spartans were hurt by their own fielding miscues, recording 10 errors in the game and fell to 4-5 (4-4 league).