Township conquers the cold in back-and-forth offensive showdown with Cedar Crest

After three days of rain and a postponed Wednesday afternoon game, the Manheim Township Blue Streaks were back at work hosting the Cedar Crest Falcons at home on Friday afternoon. Township entered the contest following their first loss on the young season at Manheim Central on Monday afternoon while Cedar Crest was coming off an 8-day layoff after defeating Dallastown last Thursday.

Braden Leed got his second start of the season in this one after picking up a win for his 6-inning scoreless performance on Opening Day against Solanco. Leed faced five batters in a scoreless top of the 1st before working a 1-2-3 half inning in the top of the 2nd. The Blue Streaks, meanwhile, found success at the place in the bottom of the 1st.

A leadoff single for Ben Connors and a 1-out double for Kaden Kemp gave Township a pair of runners in scoring position early. A walk to Traeton Sauder loaded the bases with 2 outs before all three runners scored during Andrew Flury’s first AB of the day on wild pitches and a passed ball. Leed helped his own cause with an RBI single to bring home courtesy-runner Connor Delvecchio from 3rd after the runner moved around the bags on another pair of wild pitches.

Leed took the 4-0 lead into the top of the 3rd where the Falcons jumped on him for a few runs of their own. A 1-out double for Fegley drove in Brown and Custer who reached base earlier in the 3rd. Another double from DiBiaso two batters later brought the score within 1 as Cedar Crest now only trailed 4-3. With the bases still loaded and only 1 out, Leed mustered a huge strikeout and force out at home to escape the inning still with the lead.

The Township bats remained quiet until the bottom of the 4th where they worked another big inning. Leading off the half inning, Trey Eckman hit a fly ball to the warning track in left field that was dropped by the left fielder and Township’s first baseman landed at 2nd base as a result. Pinch runner, Delvecchio, trotted home after Connors roped a triple to left-center to make it 5-3 MT. Jacob Carrasco followed suit and slashed a double to deep left-center to pick up an RBI as Connors crossed the plate making it 6-3. Kemp walked before Josh Boll nabbed his first extra-base hit of the season on a triple of his own to left field. It was 8-3 Township before the end of the half inning as a bloop single from Sauder brought home Boll.

Even though they were now down 5, the Falcons kept on fighting. After loading the bases with only 1 out, the road team picked up their fourth run from a SAC fly on Leed’s last batter of the day (pitch limit). A 2-run double pulled the Falcons within 2 before the conclusion of the top of the 5th after Eckman took the mound. With the MT lead now only 8-6, the Blue Streaks had another answer of their own.

Alex Miller, in at first base, walked to lead off the bottom of the 5th. A fielding error on a Christian Kleckner grounder landed Miller at 3rd and Kleckner at 2nd with just 1 out. Connors reached base for the third time on the day after being hit with the first pitch of his fourth AB and two runs scored to make it 10-6 on a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Carrasco. The runs kept coming with Cedar Crest tagging Eckman for 2 extra runs in the top of the 6th to pull closer at 10-8, but the Falcons were kept at bay in the top of the 7th to give the Blue Streaks their second win of the season.

With the win, Township is now 2-1 on the season with a busy week ahead. The Blue Streaks will play 5 games in 6 days starting with a modified home game against Penn Manor on Monday night at 7:00 PM.