Solanco's track teams competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships at Hempfield High School Friday and Saturday, May 14-15 and brought home five medals.

Pole vaulter Katie Urbine, with the second highest qualifying jump in the league, cleared 11-0 to grab gold. The sophomore also settled for second place in the 100, clocking a 12.67, just missing gold as Urbine was edged out by McCaskey's Kamyah Wright (12.65).

Joining Urbine on the medal stand was Hanna Wood. The junior thrower settled for seventh place in the discus with a toss of 99-8.

McCaskey, coached by Solanco Hall of Famer Derek Jennings, captured both the boys' and girls' team titles.

In the boys' competition, Ryan Vanover was the top place-winner, settling for a bronze medal in the tightly contested 100-meter dash final on Saturday. Hempfield's Tanner Hess pulled away for first with an 11.09 but Vanover and Lampeter's Teagan Weaver were neck-and-neck with Weaver nosing out Vanover 11.36 to 11.38. Vanover held off Weaver during the regular season.

Also, for the boys, Elijah Reimold cleared 5-10 in the high jump, along with three other jumpers, and finished in sixth place on misses.

"The coaches and I are very pleased with the season," said head coach Jen McDowell. "Each athlete grew throughout the season, and many stepped up, trying new events. With only seven seniors this year, we are expecting some big things next season," she added. "Most of our points came from sophomores and juniors and they will only get stronger. We had some injuries to athletes early on that would have given us more points. I would say we hit our goals for the season and are ready to set new ones!"

BASEBALL

In a 'must win' game Thursday, May 13 Solanco's baseball team qualified for the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs with a come-from-behind 5-3 thriller over visiting Lebanon.

"We have qualified for the league playoffs six times in the 10 years since I've been here," said head coach Tom Fish. "That's something I'm proud of."

And something Solanco needed to work for Thursday. Despite a one-run lead in the first inning, Lebanon pushed ahead with two in the third and one in the sixth before Solanco's rally in the bottom half.

"What an exciting game," said Fish. "While Lebanon doesn't have a great record (3-14), they do have a great pitcher and we saw him. He was tough today and we managed just three hits. But when we reached, we stole bases and each of our three hits drove in runs."

Solanco took the brief early lead on a Nate Harnish two out single in the first.

Then, in the sixth, Garrett Worthington smacked a clutch two run single to tie the game and Nate Miller, two batters later, sent the game-winning, two out, two run homer over the fence.

"Believe it or not, this was Nate's second late inning, game-winning home run in a week," Fish pointed out. On Friday he homered to beat E-town in the seventh. Today, this home run sends us to leagues and eliminates E-town."

All three of Solanco's home runs this season belong to Nate Harnish.

Saturday morning, May 15, the Mules traveled to Manheim for the opening round of the L-L League playoffs looking to avenge a 4-2 league playoff loss to the Barons suffered in 2019. The 18-1 hosts, however, would not be denied and advanced with a 6-2 victory.

Manheim set the tone early, scoring four in the first and one in the second before Solanco got on board with a pair in the fourth. The hosts got one back in the bottom half, wrapping up the scoring for the game.

"We knew it was a tough test and we really sold out just to get there," said Fish, "but I'm proud and happy that we did. It was a great experience for the younger guys and a great atmosphere. And our seven seniors experienced a playoff game. I thought we played well after the first inning."

Solanco scored on a two-run double by Mitchell Moyer, plating Nate Miller, who was hit by a pitch, and Nate Harnish, who reached on a fielder's choice.

"On the mound, we used five pitchers," said Fish. "Logan Wagner and Mitchell Moyer pitched well and kept us in the game. They did a nice job keeping the league's highest scoring team off balance.

"Overall, we faced some good teams and some really good pitchers this year. We came in low on experience and had some injuries along the way, as all teams do," he continued. "But we kept fighting and earned a playoff spot. Our season ends at 6-4 in league play, 9-10 in the regular season, and 0-1 in the post-season. We had some cool moments along the way."

SOFTBALL

While the rest of the league was focused on the L-L League playoffs, the softball team was playing to keep their district hopes alive. They wrapped up the league portion of the season with a 3-1 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg (19-1) Thursday, May 14, and picked up non-league wins over Susquehannock and Central Dauphin East last week.

L-S scored all the runs they needed, two in the fourth inning, gave up a homer in the fifth, and tacked on an insurance run in the seventh to sweep the series. They defeated Solanco 18-1 on April 9.

"Playing our fourth straight game, it was a good performance in the sense of getting better," said head coach Brett Miller. "We're a bit generous at times but we had some opportunities. Anna Sexton kept them off-stride, and we made some plays behind her, including Alyssa Schlagnhaufer who made all the catches in left field. But at times, we're too generous."

Such was the case in the fourth inning when two errors played a role in Lampeter's early lead.

Taryn Britigan belted her first home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth and Solanco had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth but could not capitalize.

Last Monday, with the game tied at 2-2, Solanco took control with seven in the top of the fourth and cruised to an 11-3 win at Susquehannock.

"We literally had seven hits in a row, all with two outs," stated Miller. "And Emily Sims had a two-run homer in there. She went 5-5 with three RBIs. She just hit the ball. Marlee Haupt had some key hits in there as well and Jade Eshleman hit one off the fence for a double.

"We had an error in that first inning and they hit a home run for the early lead," he added.

Sims and Mia Grinestaff responded with RBI base hits in the second inning to tie the game.

"Marlee pitched well but then she got tired, so we brought Anna in for two outs and then the seventh," Miller noted. "We were up 11-2 with a chance to shorten the game but didn't. We're making progress," he added. "This was an important win against a 5A school. I was pleased."

Haupt, Sexton and Kendal Janssen all finished with two hits, and Grube added three.

Solanco turned in another solid performance, upending CD East 13-2 in five innings last Wednesday. Up 3-0 after three innings, Solanco plated ten runs over the fourth and fifth innings to pull away. Eshleman went 2-4 with a home run and three RBI's. Holly Grube's first inning triple put Solanco up 2-0.

Sexton scattered nine hits and picked up the win with six strikeouts against zero walks.