Incredible 7th-inning rally sends Blue Streaks past Dallastown into District Semis

After opening the 2023 District III 6A tournament with a 4-0 win at Ephrata on Friday night, the #11 seeded Manheim Township Blue Streaks were back on the road Monday afternoon at the #3 seeded Dallastown Wildcats for a quarterfinals matchup. Township last faced Dallastown in 2017 where the Wildcats got a 9-2 victory over the Blue Streaks in the second round of Districts.

Batting first again today, Township took an opportunity to jump out to an early lead. Ty Jenkins walked to leadoff before Nick Tomlinson took a 1-out pitch off the back of his helmet to put two men on base. A Gavin Glass double to the fence in right-center scored both Jenkins and Ryan Turner, courtesy running for Tomlinson, to open up a 2-0 Blue Streak lead. In the bottom of the 1st, Dallastown responded quickly with two runs of their own. A single from Leiphart followed by a 2-run homerun for starting pitcher Barto brought the game back to even at 2-2. 

Quick half innings for both squads in the 2nd sent the top of the Blue Streaks’ lineup back to the plate to start the 3rd. Jenkins reached base on a HBP and Tomlinson knocked an RBI double to left field to give Township the lead again, 3-2. Braden Leed, starting for the Blue Streaks, held strong after giving up the early homerun and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 3rd with his fourth strikeout on the afternoon. The opportunities for runs kept coming in the 4th as Ben Connors and Josh Boll reached scoring position after a single and double respectively. Neither runner crossed the plate as the next two batters were retired. 

The Wildcats offense pounced again in Leed’s last inning – the 5th. A walk to Leiphart, double for Barto, and 3-run homerun for Powell opened up a 5-3 Dallastown lead. Trey Eckman moved from third over to the mound with one out in the inning and collected two more outs to get the Blue Streaks out of any further trouble. With nothing going in the 6th inning and two quick outs in the 7th, things looked bleak for Township.

Facing the potential end of the season with only one out to work with, Jenkins reached base for the third time on a double that fell just under the glove of the left fielder in center field. Ryan Brader immediately followed up with an RBI-liner back up the middle to score Jenkins and keep the rally alive. Tomlinson, for the second time today, roped a double to left field and set up runners at 2nd and 3rd with the Blue Streaks still trailing 5-4. An intentional walk to Glass loaded the bases before Tyler Mulholland slashed an 0-2 pitch up the middle of the infield and reached safely on the difficult play – thus pushing the tying run across. After a pitching change, still with the bases loaded and 2 outs, Cole Stoltzfus smoked the first pitch of his AB to left field and sent the Blue Streak dugout into a state of pandemonium as Turner and Connor DelVecchio, pinch running for Glass, scored and opened up a 7-5 MT lead.

Still needing three outs to clinch the win, Eckman plunked the first batter in the bottom of the 7th. The runner would never become a factor, however, because Eckman would carry on and strike out the next three batters to send the Blue Streaks back home with another incredible District playoff victory. Final 7-5.

The come from behind victory sends the Blue Streaks into the District III 6A semifinals for the second consecutive season and they will travel to Wilson on Thursday 5/25 to take on the #7 seeded Bulldogs for a spot in the finals.

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