York-Adams weekend roundup: Susquehannock baseball shuts down Central York

With Joey Smith on the mound, Susquehannock baseball needed only a single rally to take command against Central York on Friday afternoon.

After the Warriors offense spotted its senior ace four runs in the bottom of the first inning, Smith did the rest, taking a two-hit shutout into the seventh and leading Susky to a 4-0 victory in York-Adams League cross-divisional action.

The left-hander lowered his ERA to 0.44 in 32 innings this season — only two of his eight runs allowed have been earned — and the Warriors improved to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in official league games. They moved a half-game ahead of New Oxford in the Division II standings with the Colonials’ 7-1 loss Friday to unbeaten Dallastown. Central fell to 7-5 (6-3 Division I).

“They know when Joey’s on the mound, we’ve got a pretty good shot,” Warriors coach Joel Stoneberg said. “So when we put up four, I think everyone just kind of took a deep breath where I’d like to see them kind of go for the kill. But we’ll take it.”

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Ethan Hall ultimately pitched all six innings for the Panthers, but the damage was done in the first. After a one-out single and walk, Cameron Brewer’s hard grounder got past Central shortstop Colin Dempsey, an error that scored Luke Geiple for the game’s first run. Josh Pecunes followed with a sacrifice fly, then Jarryn Andrews lashed an RBI double to left and Brayden Heaps followed with a single to center that made it 4-0. All four runs were unearned.

Smith allowed two hits, two walks and a hit batsman on 103 pitches while striking out five. Central didn’t advance a runner as far as second base until the seventh inning, when Heaps’ error at second put two on with one out. Rafael Hernandez came on and finished the job with a strikeout and flyout. The game was over in about an hour and 40 minutes.

The Warriors had just three hits after the first inning, with leadoff man Josh Preston recording two of them to finish 2 for 3. Aidan Jernigan and Alex Barger singled for Central in the first and seventh, respectively. Hall allowed six hits and two walks in six frames, surrendering only the four unearned runs in the first.

“We’ve put a lot of time into hitting,” Stoneberg said of his team, which has scored 4.9 runs per game while allowing 1.9. “It showed up in the first inning, and then (Hall) threw well. He made some adjustments. He started switching up, going curveball first. We still scattered some hits throughout the game, but that’s been our main priority, is trying to score some runs.”

Susquehannock will meet winless York High at 6 p.m. Monday at WellSpan Park, then host Spring Grove on Wednesday and visit unbeaten Central Dauphin for a non-league game Friday. The Panthers will host York Suburban on Monday and visit South Western on Wednesday.

MORE BASEBALL

In a matchup between York-Adams’ Division III and IV leaders, Kennard-Dale emerged with a thrilling 7-6 home victory over Delone Catholic, bringing the Rams to 10-2 (7-2 D-III) and dropping the Squires to 7-5 (7-2 D-IV).

Kennard-Dale scored three in the first, punctuated by Adam Loucks’ two-run homer, then gave up two in the second before Maryland pledge Koy Swanson’s three-run shot gave the hosts a 6-2 lead in the bottom half. Delone answered with four runs in the top of the fourth, with Brodie Collins’ two-run blast tying the game. But Ryan Perzanowski’s RBI single in the sixth pushed KD in front and Loucks closed out the triumph on the mound.

Loucks earned the win by shutting out the Squires over the final three innings and also finished 1 for 3 at the plate. Swanson was 3 for 3 with the three-run homer and scored three times, while Lucas Nagel was 2 for 4. Collins had two of Delone’s five hits; the Squires walked six times and scored six runs against Rams starter Ben Zimmerman, but only one was earned.

Both teams still lead their respective divisions; Bermudian Springs remained a half-game behind Kennard-Dale in D-III with its 6-0 win over Fairfield, while Hanover missed a chance to tie Delone atop D-IV and suffered a 5-3 loss at West York. Dallastown (13-0, 10-0) now leads Central York by 3.5 games in Division I, while Susquehannock is half a game ahead of New Oxford in D-II.

More Friday scores: South Western 7, York Suburban 2 … Spring Grove 8, York High 2 … Littlestown 7, York Tech 2 … Biglerville 5, Eastern York 1 … Red Lion 14, Harrisburg 4

Saturday scores: Eastern York 4, JP McCaskey 1 … Bermudian Springs 6, West Perry 4

SOFTBALL

Chelsey Stonesifer’s Littlestown career added one for the record books Friday, as the senior set a new school standard with her 25th career home run in a 16-1 home win over York Tech. The Thunderbolts (12-0, 8-0 Division III) are one of two unbeaten teams remaining in the York-Adams League, and they sit atop the District 3 Class 3A power rankings.

Littlestown scored three runs in the first, six in the second, two in the third and five in the fourth to activate the mercy rule against the Spartans (6-6, 3-6 Division IV). Isabella Olvera smacked a three-run homer in the first and finished 2 for 4 with five RBIs. Stonesifer’s two-run shot came in the second; she went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a walk. Fourteen Thunderbolts received an at-bat and the group finished with 14 hits. Pitcher Ashlynn Gorsuch allowed two hits and a fourth-inning run while striking out seven.

Division I leader South Western (11-0, 8-0) cruised to a 10-0 win at York Suburban on Friday. D-II frontrunner Northeastern was idle but picked up ground on Susquehannock, which lost 13-4 to Central York, and New Oxford, which lost 12-7 to Dallastown. Fairfield still leads D-IV after its 18-5 win at Bermudian Springs.

More Friday scores: Spring Grove 19, Dover 18 … Delone Catholic 6, Kennard-Dale 0 … Eastern York 10, Biglerville 5 … West York 15, Hanover 0

Saturday scores: Central York beat State College 5-2 and Shippensburg 6-4, while Dallastown lost to Chambersburg 10-3 and beat Harrisburg 9-0 at Big Spring tournament … Biglerville beat Halifax 23-13, lost to Tri-Valley 14-3 at Halifax tournament … Red Land 11, York Tech 1 at Milton Hershey tournament … Dover 15, Susquehanna Township 5 … West Perry 11, Bermudian Springs 1

BOYS’ LACROSSE

Dallastown suffered its first loss of the season Saturday morning, falling 13-10 at Lampeter-Strasburg. The Wildcats are now 12-1 overall but will remain tied with Susquehannock at 9-0 in the league entering the week. The Warriors (11-0 overall) were idle this weekend.

Susky has perhaps the biggest week of anybody’s regular season in store. The Warriors will host defending league tournament champion Central York (9-2, 8-1) on Tuesday, with Dallastown coming to Glen Rock on Thursday. The Wildcats beat the Panthers, 7-6, on March 24 in the only meeting thus far among the top trio.

Four teams make the league playoffs, and the race for the fourth spot is wide open. South Western is 6-3 in the association and holds the place for now, but Eastern York (5-3), New Oxford (5-4), Red Lion (5-4) and York Catholic (4-4) are in the chasing pack.

More Saturday scores: South Western 13, Governor Mifflin 4 … Eastern York 13, Wyomissing 8

GIRLS’ LACROSSE

York Suburban freshman Cambria Rice has been as individually dominant as anyone in the York-Adams League this season, and she added six goals and five assists in the Trojans’ 19-4 home win Friday over West York. Rice now has 60 goals and 14 helpers in 11 games, and she also surpassed 100 draw controls in the victory. A young Suburban team improved to 4-7 (2-6) with the victory, while the Bulldogs dropped to 0-11 (0-9).

Thursday’s conference action saw South Western and York Catholic each take their second league loss, leaving Red Lion alone at the top of the standings. The Lions are 7-1 in the York-Adams League, but South Western (7-2), Susquehannock (7-2), York Catholic (6-2), Kennard-Dale (6-2) and Dallastown (4-2) are all in the mix with two weeks left in the regular season.

More Friday scores: New Oxford 20, Cedar Crest 6 … Warwick 15, Central York 5

Saturday scores: Hempfield 10, Susquehannock 7 … Wyomissing 15, Eastern York 3

BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL

Dallastown was the lone local squad in action this weekend, and the Wildcats shined in a three-set sweep of Red Land at home Friday. They’ll hope to ride the momentum into Tuesday’s clash with unbeaten Northeastern, who leads a crowded race for the York-Adams regular-season title.

The Bobcats are 6-0 in league play entering this week’s massive matchups against Dallastown (6-1) and York Catholic (6-1). Central York is 5-1 with wins over both of those squads; the Panthers lost to Northeastern in the Koller Classic finals last weekend, but the teams’ league contest isn’t until May 11. York Suburban (6-2) and Red Lion (5-2) remain in the mix.

BOYS’ TENNIS

In the final local division match of the spring, Bermudian Springs earned a 5-0 sweep over Delone Catholic to secure a solo third-place finish in Division II. The Eagles’ win completed a perfect ladder in which every team beat those below it in the standings and lost to everyone above it. The D-II order finished: Biglerville, Hanover, Bermudian Springs, Susquehannock, West York, Littlestown, Delone Catholic and York Catholic.

Division I had the same such ladder, with Dallastown capturing another title ahead of South Western, Red Lion, Central York, Northeastern, York Suburban, New Oxford, Spring Grove and Dover.

Three cross-divisional matches were contested Friday. Biglerville stayed unbeaten overall with a 3-2 win over D-I York Suburban, while Central York topped West York 4-1 and Littlestown held off New Oxford 3-2. Only a handful of matches are scheduled for the next week with postseason tournaments on deck.

TRACK AND FIELD

Athletes from 16 York-Adams League teams competed Saturday in the 96th Jack Roddick High School Invitational, hosted by Shippensburg University, and combined for nine event wins. 

Susquehannock’s Matthew O’Brien took the 3,200 meters, South Western’s Bernard Bell won the 110m hurdles and York Tech’s Matthew Arnold captured the discus on the boys’ side. Girls’ event winners included Dallastown’s Kailey Granger in the 1,600, Susquehannock’s Ryleigh Marks in the 100m hurdles, Dover’s Gemma Galligani in the 300m hurdles, Dallastown’s Victoria Rodriguez in the 2K steeplechase, Bermudian Springs’ Lily Carlson in the pole vault and Dallastown’s 4x800 relay team.

Red Lion, meanwhile, sent a contingent to the Leonard Stephan Invitational at Wilson High School in Berks County on Saturday. Sofia Beard led the girls with a fourth-place showing in the shot put, while Cian Wisniewski finished fifth in the boys’ 1,600.

The division dual season has two weeks remaining. Dallastown’s boys and girls both lead Division I with 4-0 records. The New Oxford and Susquehannock boys are 5-0 and 4-0 in D-II, respectively, with Dover’s girls also 4-0. In D-III, York Tech’s boys are 4-0 and Bermudian Springs’ girls are 3-0. All of these groups except New Oxford will be in action Tuesday.