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8- MERCHANDISER - Donegal Edition - May 5, 2021 SPORTS Conestoga Valley • Donegal • Elizabethtown Garden Spot • Hempfield Lampeter-Strasburg • Manheim Central Penn Manor • Pequea Valley • Solanco MORE SPORTS PICTURES and other high school sports news at
Donegal’s Win Streak Moves to Eight Straight
BY LEAH SINTIC
Make that eight wins in a row for the Lady Indians and their sophomore pitcher Cara Biesecker, recently picking up victories over Garden Spot and ELCO.
Last Wednesday the Tribe topped Garden Spot 9-1 on the road, outhitting the Spartans 12-6.
Aysha Gibbs and Madeline Gohn led the hit count with three apiece, Bella Mackison added two while driving in three runs, and a hit each came from Biesecker, Natalie Colwell, Emma Garber, and Esther Myers.
Biesecker’s hit was a burst of momentum in the second inning, a crushed homer to center field also scoring Myers. The sophomore also pitched all seven innings, collecting her eighth consecutive win in the circle.
The Lady Indians outplayed ELCO 13-3 last Monday at home, coming up with 12 hits in the runaway win.
ELCO managed to cross two of their runs in their first at bat, but Donegal responded with a four-run frame, and then added six runs in the second to extend their advantage.
Power hitters Mackison and Gohn slammed back-to-back homers in the opening inning, with Mackison’s pushing Biesecker across the plate. A double from Garber and singles from Kara Heidlauf and Myers continued the infectious hitting streak before ELCO was able to retire the side.
Biesecker picked up two of her three strikeouts in the subsequent frame, complimented by an out from catcher Garber to make quick work of the Raiders and allowing the Tribe to get right back to batting-and driving in runs.
Mackison finished the day with three hits and three RBIs. Gohn and Heidlauf each drove in three runs on two hits apiece, Myers had two hits and two RBIs, and Gibbs added a homerun of her own in the fourth.
Coach Emenheiser took a moment to point out just how important senior leadership has been to the overall success of the club, commending each of the team’s three seniors, Julianne Wheeler, Gibbs, and Gohn.
“Senior leadership with such a young group is vital, and we have it with these three. Always taking time to help and explain things that are new,” he praised the trio. TRACK
Donegal girls won their meet against Octorara on April 26th by a margin of 98-50.
The races featured a slew of Donegal runners breaking the tape with wins coming from Faith Garber (100m), Anna Brubaker (200m), Amanda Fry (400m and 1600m), Sarah Hinkle (300 hurdles), Myra Naqvi (800m), and Rachel Fernald (3200m).
Hinkle and Brubaker also found success in the jumping events, with Hinkle claiming the triple and Brubaker the high.
Freshman Zoe Snyder made her mark on the contest with a pair of third place finishes in the hurdle events.
Fellow freshman Nya Bantum gave Donegal a victory in the shot put (288.5), accompanied by a second-place effort from teammate Katherine Rupp who achieved a personal record with her 25-6.5 throw.
The club also earned two relay wins over Octorara. Fry, Tabitha Clark, Marleigh Ballard, and Hadley Shoaf cruised to a 4x800 win clocking 12:32.6, and a combination of Rayahna Clerico, Garber, Lillian Stehman, and Brubaker sprinted to first in the 4x100 (55.1).
The afternoon held a tightly contested 79-73 loss for the Donegal boys to visiting Octorara, but the showdown featured Donegal’s depth in throwing, only surrendering a single point in all three events.
Senior Zachery Nissley had a standout performance, winning all three throwing events with his 1616 javelin, 44-3 shot put and 127-7 discus.
Teammate Owen Champ took second in both shotput and discus and Ashton Robertson was the runner up in javelin.
Sophomores Keaghan Cote and Caleb Kendig stepped in to supply third place finishes in the shot put and discus respectively. Kendig’s 96’ discus throw was a personal best.
“The young throwers are coming along nicely,” praised head coach Bryce Sadler.
Jackson Dearborn produced a double win with his 37-5.5 triple jump and 5-6 high jump, and Brock Overlander also achieved two victories, clocking a 4:42.9 in the 1600-meter race and a 10:51.1 in the 3200. Logan Fry crossed the finish first in the 800.
Mark Overlander accomplished a second-place pole vault, clearing 8-6 for a new personal record.
Relay success came from one Donegal foursome comprised of Sam Rothstein, Fry, Braden Bistline, and Hunter Gehman in the 4x800.
“This time of the year is really exciting for us, because it’s when things begin to start clicking for the athletes. The technique starts becoming second nature and the athletes can begin to better apply what they’ve been learning during practice,” commented Sadler. “The beautiful thing about track is that it only takes one big throw, jump, run at the right moment. Anything can happen at any moment.” BASEBALL
On Wednesday April 28th, Donegal hosted Garden Spot and battled their way to a come-from-behind walk off win, 7-6.
The contest was 2-2 after one inning, but the Indians trailed by as much as 6-2 before rallying to once again level the scoreboard, this time 66 at the end of the seventh.
Extending into extra innings, the two clubs traded scoreless frames before a walk off double from John Holmes scored AJ Small to win the ball game.
Landen Baughman led the team in hits with two, and Small drove in Donegal’s first run of the contest with his single in the first. The remainder of Donegal’s hits were supplied by Colin Eckinger, Xavier Cannon, Nicholas Eichelberger, Micah Brown, and Ian Brown.
Jaden Fabian started on the hill and lasted for three and a third innings, striking out two. Caden Evans pitched in relief and picked up the win, striking out one.
Earlier in the week, the Tribe fell 10-1 on a Monday trip to ELCO. The Indians collected four hits in the loss, with two coming off Cannon’s bat, who drove in Donegal’s one run with a double in the top of the sixth.
Small and Eckinger each supplied a hit.
Eichelberger, Evans, and Brandon Coco all spent time on the mound and struck out one ELCO batter each. Eichelberger was saddled with the loss after four and a third innings.
On the 23rd, the Indians held a 3-0 lead over Twin Valley after three innings, but ultimately lost the contest 5-3.
Fabian got things started on the mound, with three strike outs in four innings of work, allowing just two hits and one run. Small pitched in relief and took the loss after allowing one hit and three runs.
Donegal’s five hits were supplied by Baughman, Eckinger, Cannon, Eichelberger, and Holmes.
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R070146 Photo by Cheri Sine
Aysha Gibbs rounds third base after ripping a home run for the Indians in their 13-3, Section Three victory over Elco last Monday at Donegal.
Donegal softball seniors (from left), Aysha Gibbs, Madeline Gohn and Julianne Wheeler.
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