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6- PENNYSAVER - Garden Spot Edition - April 21, 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

Spartans Host CV in Girls’ Lacrosse Action

BY ARA GRIGORIAN

Garden Spot came up against a Conestoga Valley offense that had precise execution working in a Lancaster-Lebanon League home match on Friday, April 9. The Buckskins earned an 18-5 victory, dropping the Spartans’ league record to 0-3 (2-5 overall).

CVs Abigail Morley was the major menace for the Garden Spot defense. She scored nine times and assisted on two goals. Teammate Ellie Livingston added five goals.

The defense has impressed head coach Jen Lehman this year, despite what the scores may imply.

“Our defense is a solid corps,” Lehman said. “They are playing a different zone this year and they’ve accepted that - taken to it.

“The problem seems to be in the transition game,” continued the coach. “We aren’t holding on to the ball. Our defense gets the turnover, and the offense cannot hold on to the ball. So, we’re caught playing defense the whole game. When you give the ball over to the other team 90 percent of the time, you’ll give up a lot of goals.”

The Garden Spot offense featured Gwen Varley. Not to be outdone by her opponents, Varley tallied four goals while Emma Gruber added one. Emily Ferris finished with one assist.

Lexi Horning got 11 saves in the game as well as the Cocalico game on Wednesday, April 14. The Spartans came up short in that game 15-1.

BASEBALL

Garden Spot dominated Lancaster Mennonite 21-0 on Wednesday, improving to 2-5 on the season.

“We have been struggling lost four games in a row,” head coach Greg Reiff pointed out. “This was a good game. A lot of the young er guys got some experience tonight,” he added.

Speaking of young players, catcher Caiden Murphy went 3for-3 in the victory. “I got my freshman starting catcher back today,” said the coach of Murphy.

Murphy caught a two-hit shutout as senior Mason Graybill earned the victory.

“We hit the ball really well,” said Reiff. “Colin Smith hit a double off the fence in the first inning. He had two hits.”

Justin Petersheim added two hits and drove in two runs. He scored all four times he was on base.

“Justin is batting right around .400 with a .500 on-base percentage,” said Reiff. “Outside of Petersheim, Joel Martin, who’s hitting around .370 and Evan Myers, who’s hitting .350 after this game, we are struggling as a team.”

In terms of pitching, Graybill, Josh Tudor and Ben Metz have been carrying the load.

“Those three have been pitching deep into games,” said Reiff.

The Spartans were coming off a rough 10-5 loss to Northern Lebanon on Tuesday. “We had as many errors as we had runs,” Reiff remarked. “Of the 10 runs only five were earned.”

The Spartan bats did wake up for a five-run sixth inning. But it was not enough.

“They are playing the game of baseball after being two years away from it,” added the coach. “It’s exciting to see the kids on the field.”

BOYS’ LACROSSE

In a Section Two contest at home, the Spartans came up short in a 10-6 loss to Conestoga Valley on Friday, April 9.

The Buckskins took a 4-1 lead into the second quarter. But the Spartans kept pace score for score until it was 7-4 at the half. The Spartans finished with 29 shots on goal.

Scoring two goals each were Logan Lesley and Ayden Naranjo while Gavyn Naranjo and Jared Patton each netted one goal for Spot.

Gabriel Myer grabbed 12 saves for the Spartans in goal. Cole Leaman recorded two more saves.

Photo by Mark Palczewski

Garden Spot’s Gwen Varley shoots and scores one of her four goals in the Spartan’s 18-5, L-L League loss at Conestoga Valley on April 9.

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Photo by Mark Palczewski

The Spartans’ Emma Gruber puts defensive pressure on Conestoga Valley’s Olivia Hess during Garden Spot’s 18-5 loss to the host Buckskins on April 9.

The Spartans upped their production to nine goals and kept on the heels of Lancaster Country Day in Monday’s league match on the road. However, the home team scored six times in the fourth quarter to win 19-9 and drop Garden Spot’s record to 0-6 on the year (0-4 league).

Fisher, Lesley, Ayden Naranjo, who also had two assists, and Gavyn Naranjo tallied two goals each. Cameron Proviano scored one.

SOFTBALL

The Spartans came off a disappointing 6-1 loss at Northern Lebanon on Tuesday, April 13, by posting a 13-6 home victory against Lancaster Mennonite.

With the win, the Spartans evened their record at 4-4 and improved to 4-3 in league play.

Amelia Mercado struck out eight batters.

“She was hitting her spots and she also had two hits,” remarked head coach Kimberly King. “She has been pitching well all year.”

Offensively, it was a team effort.

“It was nice to get the bats going,” said King, alluding to the loss the previous day. “Whenever we travel to Northern Lebanon, we seem to come out flat. We just couldn’t get the energy up.

“We scored two runs tonight and I told them ‘Show me that you are better than this,’” continued the coach. “They responded by scoring five more runs the next inning.”

Lindsay Lapp had three hits as did Ally King. Sydnie King, Abi O’Neill and Britney Esh each stroked two base hits.

“Up and down our lineup, everybody helped,” King added. “We put the ball in play and got on base.”

TRACK

The girls’ track team won an exciting 86-65 meet at Lebanon while the boys’ fell to 0-3 with their 95-54 defeat on Monday, April 12.

The girls’ win included Lauren Horning’s first-place time of 1:04.6 in the 400m. Nicole Kelch won the 800 in 2:41.

Kelch also anchored the 4x800 relay that took first place in 10:56.

Kaleigh Watkins, Julia Hoover and Christy Martin made up the rest of the relay team.

Melanie Esh had the winning pace of 5:55 in the 1,600 while Bryna Kelly won both the high hurdles (16.5) and the 300m hurdles (49.3)

Chloe Grady’s long jump (155.5) was first. Logan Martin’s 108-4 in the javelin was also a winner.

Kelly returned to the field to win the high jump (5-0).

Jason Kulp, Alex McFalls, Sean Kelch and Finn Wenrich won the boys’ 4x400 relay in 3:45 while Wenrich took the 400 (54.5) and McFalls the 800 (2:08).

Kelch also took the 300-m hurdles in 48.3.

VOLLEYBALL

The Spartans topped Governor Mifflin in three straight sets - 2510, 25-18 and 25-21 - in Tuesday night’s non-league boys’ volleyball match at Mifflin.

Derrick Lambert’s 11 kills, Tyler Martin’s 15 digs and Jordan Martin’s 32 assists led the way. Joseph Sharp and Jordan Martin had two blocks. Chandler Xiong served two aces as the Spartans improved to 7-1.

Three days earlier, the Spartans improved to 4-0 in the league, shutting out Elizabethtown 3-0. On their home court, the Spartans won 25-19, 25-17 and 25-16.

Sharp registered 11 kills while Jordan Martin and Griffin Witmer each notched three blocks. Martin also had 32 assists. Tyler Martin had 18 digs and Xiong three aces.

TENNIS

Hosting Ephrata, the boys’ tennis team fell 7-0 in a Section Two tennis match on Wednesday. The Mountaineers won all four singles matches in straight sets. The Spartans’ twosome of Ani Kukarni and Cole King avoided being shut out in number three doubles, but were on the short end of an 8-2 final.

The 7-0 non-league loss at home two days earlier featured a good effort by Dylan Esbenshade at number two singles. He came up short as Townships’ Dharav Kakkad prevailed 6-2, 6-2.

With the setbacks, Garden Spot fell to 1-10 (0-4 league).