Blue Streaks land late knockout punch in back-and-forth Section I/II crossover match at L-S, 9-7

On the road for their first night game of the season, the Manheim Township Blue Streaks visited the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers for their annual L-L section crossover matchup. The Blue Streaks won a heated contest against L-S in Neffsville last season, 6-5.

Senior JT Weaver continued his torrid streak at the plate to kick off a productive first inning for the Blue Streaks on offense. A leadoff single past the L-S shortstop for the centerfielder put a runner on for Township with no outs. After Weaver stole 2nd for the first time on the night, Michael Heckman moved Weaver to third with a single to right field before being tagged out at 2nd on the relay. Even with 1 out, the Blue Streaks had a man in scoring position for Ryan Flury. Flury lined out to the left fielder, but it was deep enough to send Weaver home on the SAC fly. 1-0 MT. L-S used a leadoff walk for Malatesta from Township starting pitcher Fisher Druck to produce some offense of their own in the 1st. A double from Parido and a ground out for Long tied us a 1-1. A fielding error for the Blue Streaks on the next batter let Parido cross the plate to give L-S their first lead, 2-1.

A single for Ryan Brader and a dropped 3rd strike during Tyler Mulholland’s AB allowed both Township runners to reach base in the 2nd. Unfortunately, both men would be left stranded in scoring position after 3 outs. Druck faced only 3 Pioneers’ batters in the bottom of the 2nd – striking out 2 of them. Another run arrived for the Blue Streaks in the top of the 3rd as Weaver once again reached base on a leadoff single through the infield. A SAC bunt from Heckman following another stolen base for Weaver put a man at 3rd for MT with only 1 out. Druck reached base two batters later on an error and Weaver crossed the plate to tie us 2-2. L-S again only sent 3 batters to the plate in the bottom half of the 3rd as Druck settled into a groove on the mound.

Tying the game was not enough for the Blue Streaks as they exploded for 3 more runs in the 4th. With 2 outs, Mulholland reached base on a single before advancing to a wide open 2nd base as the L-S defense was scattered. A single from Jack Armstrong placed men on the corners for Weaver’s 3rd AB of the game where JT took his 1st pitch to the fence in left-center for a 2-RBI bases-clearing double. Heckman added one more driving home Weaver on a single to center to make it 5-2 MT. L-S put together a 3-run 4th of their own to immediately counter the Township attack. A handful of hits and a HBP retied the game, this time at 5-5 after 4. 

Both the Blue Streaks and Pioneers loaded the bases in their halves of the 5th only to come up empty on the scoreboard. Druck came up clutch on the mound, striking out the final two L-S batters after the Pioneers loaded the bases with only 1 out. The tie wouldn’t hold up too much longer after a leadoff single from Armstrong in the top of the 6th turned into a Township run on a SAC bunt from Weaver and single for Heckman. A Flury walk and Druck SAC fly to shallow center made it 7-5 Township. As they did in the 4th, the Pioneers quickly responded. A pinch hit single for Groff followed by a 2-run homerun by Malatesta knotted us up again. 7-7 through 6. 

The bottom third of Township’s lineup came up huge in the top of the 7th. Ty Jenkins and Mulholland started up the MT offense with back-to-back singles before Armstrong laid down a SAC bunt to open up an 8-7 Blue Streak lead. Weaver would remain perfect at the plate on the day as he skied a SAC fly to right field allowing Mulholland to cross the plate and once again open a 2 run lead. Weaver took the mound to replace Druck in the bottom of the 7th and thwarted any L-S rally by quickly striking out the side. After a few lead changes and ties, this one went final at 9-7 in favor of Manheim Township. Druck picked up his 4th win in as many starts, while Weaver was awarded the save.

Now 9-2 on the season, the Blue Streaks will return home for their second attempt at Senior Night as the Conestoga Valley game from Monday was rescheduled to tomorrow (4/21). Come out and help us honor this year’s seniors pregame!