Recap

With their eyes set on sweeping the week at home, the Manheim Township Blue Streaks hosted their 2024 League Quarterfinal opponents, the Donegal Indians, on Friday afternoon at Westfield Insurance Park. Township got the best of Donegal in that rain-soaked quarterfinal matchup 2-1 in Mount Joy. Tyler Shirk (5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 7 K) took the mound for the Blue Streaks looking for his first win of the season. Opening with a better 1st inning than his first start last Friday, Shirk only allowed a 1-out single to the Indian’s Floyd in the top of the 1st. Walks to Braden Leed and Angelo Billiard in the bottom of the 1st led to nothing as an inning-ending double play kept the score 0-0 through 1. Scoreless 2nd and 3rd innings took this one to the top of the 4th where Donegal struck for the first runs of the game. After reaching base on an error, Donegal’s Condran came all the way around to score on a Bailey triple to left-center. An RBI-single from Rupp put the road team on top 2-0. Township responded quickly as Jack Kenneff opened the bottom of the 4th with a solo shot to left field, the team’s first hit on the day. Now only trailing by one, Lincoln Stoltzfus put the Blue Streaks on top with a bomb of his own, bringing in Keaton Musser on the trip around the bases. A fourth run hit the scoreboard in the inning on a bases-loaded walk to give MT a 4-2 lead through 4. Donegal tagged Shirk for a third run in the top of the 5th after a leadoff walk put a runner on base to later come home on a 2-out grounder. With just a 4-3 lead, Township broke through for an extra run in the 5th. Alex Derderian singled with one out and scored on a Connor Delvecchio SAC fly two batters later. The Indians kept the back and forth scoring going in the top of the 6th – scoring two on a Miller RBI single and a botched MT rundown play. Tied 5-5, Township worked up some additional offense in the bottom of the 6th. Jacob Carrasco doubled to deep left field and Alex Miller and Kenneff walked to load the bases with only one out. Two batters later, now with two outs, Derderian picked up a pair of RBIs on a bloop single to shallow right field to put MT back in front, 7-5. A bases-loaded walk to Delvecchio later in the inning bolstered the lead, 8-5, heading into the final inning. Miller pitched both the 6th and 7th innings for the Blue Streaks en route to his second win on the season. A pair of singles off the lefty in the top of the 7th looked concerning, but consecutive fly outs and a strikeout sealed the 3-run victory for the Blue Streaks.