VARSITY: Kurtz’s walk-off grand slam gives Township huge win on Senior Night

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With storms headed toward Neffsville on Friday evening, Manheim Township's largest crowd of the season was preparing to celebrate Senior Night and MTBSA Night at Westfield Insurance Park. A 5-minute drizzle wasn't going to ruin the night for anyone in attendance - especially for everyone who stayed until the end of this game! MTBSA provided t-shirts and sponsored raffle prizes for all the young (and upcoming) Blue Streaks players and their families that were out at the field to watch the Varsity team face the J.P. McCaskey Red Tornado.

Before the Varsity game, we celebrated our 2018 seniors as they were recognized with their families for their contributions to the baseball program over the past 4 seasons. Congratulations to Rece Bender, Josh Long, Ethan Kile, Tom Cesarone, Travis Kraft, and Jordan Yablonski! Look for pictures of our seniors and their families in the photo gallery link above.

Ethan Kile got the start on the mound for the Blue Streaks who were wearing their new alternate jerseys for the first time this season. McCaskey capitalized on an early Township infield error to bring a runner across the plate and take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 1st. Township's bats were held in check through the first 3 innings as McCaskey's pitcher faced the minimum amount of batters (9) over that stretch. Kile settled in and picked up 2 of his 9 strikeouts in the top of the 3rd inning to keep McCaskey's lead locked at 1-0. With 2 outs in the top of the 4th, the Red Tornado struck again for another run to increase their lead to 2-0.

The Blue Streaks finally woke up at the plate in the bottom of the 4th inning. Ben DeMarco led off with a single to left field and was followed up by Nick Kurtz who was hit by a pitch that was high and inside. With runners at 1st and 2nd, Kile helped his own cause and drove a double into left field to score DeMarco from 2nd and move Kurtz to 3rd. Brenden Moshos tied the score at 2-2 on a single to right field that brought Kurtz across the plate. Township's half inning ended when Will Greiner (courtesy running for Moshos) was sent home and tug out at the plate on a Rece Bender single.

McCaskey responded in the top of the 5th inning to take a 3-2 lead over Kile and the Blue Streaks. Township's bats went quiet again in the 5th and 6th innings and that allowed McCaskey to drive in 2 more runs in the 6th. Colin Morrisette came in to pitch in relief of Kile and was able to keep McCaskey off the board in the top of the 7th inning. Trailing 5-2, things looked bleak for the Streaks, but this team's "never quit" attitude showed in the bottom of the 7th.

With 1 out, Bender reached base on an infield single. Colin Fitzgerald walked to bring the tying runner up to bat at the plate. Tom Cesarone dropped a bloop single into left field to score Bender from 2nd and move Fitzgerald over to 3rd. Township now only trailed 5-3, but after the 2nd out of the half inning, DeMarco had a chance to bring home the tying runs. DeMarco walked on 5 pitches to load the bases and McCaskey needed a pitching change after their starter crossed over the 100 pitch limit. With the new pitcher on the mound, Kurtz took 2 early strikes to fall to an 0-2 count before he turned on an inside fastball and ripped a line drive that cleared the fence in right field by what seemed like a mile. Kurtz's walk-off grand slam gave Township the 7-5 victory and another reason to party on the field on this celebration-filled night! This was Township's 2nd grand slam of the season after Moshos launched a late inning grand slam over the right field fence earlier this year.

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Township Varsity is now 7-10 on the season (6-9 in league play). With the win, the Blue Streaks keep their District playoff hopes alive as they head into their final week of the season.

JV: The JV Blue Streaks finished today's game in a 5-5 tie with the McCaskey JV team. Find stats from the game on the game page.

Next Game: The Blue Streaks will travel to Cedar Crest to take on the 1st place Falcons on Monday (5/7) afternoon at 4:15pm.