Township’s season comes to a close after 4-1 District Quarters loss at Wilson

A year removed from their last trip to the ball field at Wilson West Lawn Middle School, the #5 seed Manheim Township Blue Streaks made the trip up 222 to face the #4 seed Wilson Bulldogs in the District III 6A Quarterfinals on Monday afternoon. The Blue Streaks were looking for revenge after falling to the Bulldogs 4-2 in one of last year’s District III semifinal matchups.

In the top of the 1st, Wilson’s starter, VanOstenbridge, made quick work of the top of the Blue Streaks’ lineup to open the game. A 4-pitch strikeout and a pair of 1-pitch fly outs brought the Bulldogs to the plate quickly. An early single and walk off of Trey Eckman put two men on base early for the home team. Eckman managed to work three consecutive outs to hold the 0-0 tie, but needed 26 pitches to do so.

Another 1-2-3 inning for Township in the 2nd put Eckman back on the mound after only a few minutes. The Bulldogs would send six batters to the plate before an out was recorded in the bottom of the 2nd as three runs came across to score. A SAC fly before the end of the inning had Wilson up 4-0 through 2.

Township scratched one of their own across in the 3rd after a Kaden Kemp single and Angelo Billiard walk put two men on with no outs. A 1-out Ben Connors looper to right field produced a run-down on the base paths long enough for Billiard to scamper home and make it 4-1, although the incident left Township with an unnecessary second out. With Braden Leed still standing at 2nd, a strikeout ended Township’s half of the 3rd. Wilson threatened again in the bottom of the 3rd after an early error and pair of walks loaded the bases, but Eckman escaped the jam unscathed.

Tyler Shirk entered in relief of Eckman in the bottom of the 4th and worked a 1-2-3 inning to keep the Bulldog lead at just three. A 1-out walk for Kemp in the top of the 5th went nowhere as back-to-back strikeouts shut down the Blue Streaks. Shirk crafted another three up, three down inning to try and keep the Blue Streaks in the game with Wilson still leading 4-1 after 5.

An uneventful top of the 6th for Township left the Blue Streaks with only the top of the 7th to try and mount a comeback. A 2-out double to the gap in left-center from Christian Kleckner gave the Streaks’ dugout a momentary burst of excitement before a pop out in foul territory ended the game and the season for Township as the Blue Streaks fell 4-1 to Wilson.

With the District Quarterfinal loss, the Blue Streaks season comes to an end with an overall record of 18-7 and a League Championship trophy to show for it. There’s a lot to be proud of for this team that started the season 4-4 and finished the year on a 14-3 run. Best of luck to all of our graduating seniors on their post-high school lives and thank you to all of the families and friends of the MT Baseball program for another amazing season of support.