Trio of Township pitchers, King 3-run HR sink Warwick 9-2 in regular season finale

Although they clinched first place in Section I with their win at Cedar Crest on Thursday, the Manheim Township Blue Streaks had a lot left to play for in their final game of the regular season with the second place Warwick Warriors visiting Neffsville on Saturday afternoon. Not only was the Blue Streaks’ perfect season and section record on the line, but the rivalry between these two teams continues to run deep after a close 2-0 Township win on April 12th in Lititz.

Both starting pitchers traded 0 spots in the first inning even though Township put runners on base with a leadoff single from Kyle Musser and walk to Drew Sassaman. Township starter Ben Shenosky pitched only the first 2 innings for the Blue Streaks, but gave up no runs and amassed 4 strikeouts over the 7 batters he faced. JT Weaver (3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 5 K) took over from there.

The Blue Streaks offense, which had been less productive than usual earlier in the week, returned in a big way just in time for the upcoming playoff push. A 2-out single for Weaver in the 2nd, walk to Michael Heckman, and infield single for Musser sparked Township when they needed it most. Sassaman picked up his 26th and 27th RBIs on the season with a hard ground ball single through the left side of the infield to give the Blue Streaks their first lead of the day, 2-0.

With Weaver in to pitch, the Warriors struck for two runs of their own in the top of the 3rd, but his command on the mound only strengthened from that point forward. Weaver faced only 7 batters over the 4th and 5th innings, striking out four of them. Township’s offense broke the 2-2 tie in the 3rd thanks to a pair of Warriors’ errors and a SAC fly from Ryan Flury. Leading 4-2 in the bottom of the 4th, the Blue Streaks blew the game open with 4 more runs on 4 hits to make it 8-2. The biggest hit of the inning, a 3-run homerun over the fence in deep left-center field, came off the bat of Dylan King.

An additional Township run in the 5th put us at 9-2 with two innings to play. Weaver was replaced by Fisher Druck on the mound with 2 outs in the 6th, but the combination of pitchers continued to hold the Warriors scoreless. Druck, as he has all season, pounded the strike zone and shut down the Warriors in the 7th to give Township the 9-2 victory and a perfect regular season record of 19-0.

With this being the conclusion of the regular season, the Blue Streaks currently sit as the #1 seed in both the L-L League playoff bracket and District III rankings. The first league playoff game is currently set for next Saturday (5/15) at Westfield Insurance Park (Time TBD).