!!!!!!!NEW BLOG SITE!!!!!!!

http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/jeffreyreinhart/

The big switch has finally taken place!

All Lancaster New Era blogs (including this one) can now be found on the Lancaster Newspapers site, and I’m happy to report that Jeffrey Reinhart’s VIEW FROM THE PRESS BOX is now up and running.

Yeah, I have a catchy new title and everything. Check it out!

http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/jeffreyreinhart/

You’ll get the same great stuff you found here for last four or five months. News and notes. Features. Columns. Game stories. Breaking news. Coaching changes. Schedule changes. Statistics. And wow, wait until L-L League football season. You won’t want to miss the coverage.

http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/jeffreyreinhart/

If you’re a Lancaster-Lebanon League sports fan, you’ll love the new site. My goal is for you to not only bookmark my page, but if you truly are an L-L League sports fan, I’d love for you to use it as your navigational homepage. I have plenty of links to all of your favorite local and national sports sites, and I’ll be updating the page as much as possible to keep you updated on all the L-L League news.

http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/jeffreyreinhart/

Thanks again for coming to this site. I appreciate all the hits and all the wonderful feedback.

But if you’d like to find me now (and why wouldn’t you?) then please follow any of the links on this post. And don’t forget to tell your friends.

http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/jeffreyreinhart/

JEFFREY REINHART

Lancaster New Era

jreinhart@LNPnews.com

L-L League girls’ soccer stat pack

Received the final Section 1 and Section 2 league leaders for Lancaster-Lebanon League girls’ soccer. Here goes …

LANCASTER-LEBANON LEAGUE

GIRLS’ SOCCER STATISTICS 

FINAL LEAGUE LEADERS 

SECTION 1

SCORING 

Teresa Rynier, Conestoga Valley: 12 goals, 7 assists, 31 points.

Kellie Joline, Hempfield: 10 goals, 0 assists, 20 points. 

Morgan Gerz, Conestoga Valley: 5 goals, 4 assists, 14 points. 

Kristi Shepps, Penn Manor: 6 goals, 1 assist, 13 points. 

Sharee McCarty, Conestoga Valley: 4 goals, 4 assists, 12 points.

Morgyn Seigfried, Warwick: 6 goals, 0 assists, 12 points. 

Ruthie Rosenberger, Manheim Township: 4 goals, 2 assists, 10 points. 

Sara Scheid, Penn Manor: 4 goals, 2 assists, 10 points. 

GOALIES 

Sarah Shetler, Penn Manor: 5 goals against, 0.46 average, 7 shutouts. 

Eric Derksen, Manheim Township: 8 goals against, 0.67 average, 6 shutouts. 

Ellie Steward, Hempfield: 8 goals against, 0.67 average, 7 shutouts. 

SECTION 2

SCORING 

Leah Sipe, Ephrata: 11 goals, 13 assists, 35 points. 

Aly Goodman, Ephrata: 14 goals, 11 assists, 34 points.

Arielle Gordon, Ephrata: 11 goals, 11 assists, 33 points. 

Caitlin Markham, Elizabethtown: 14 goals, 4 assists, 32 points.

Katie Hoffsmith, Manheim Central: 9 goals, 7 assists, 25 points. 

Carly Murray, Cocalico: 8 goals, 5 assists, 21 points.

Britney Hibshman, Garden Spot: 9 goals, 2 assists, 20 points. 

GOALIES 

Meredith Weaver, Ephrata: 0 goals against, 0.00 average, 4 shutouts. 

Kyleigh Kauffman, Elizabethtown: 5 goals against, 0.38 average, 11 shutouts.

Jess Manchak, Lampeter-Strasburg: 15 goals against, 1.07 average, 5 shutouts. 

Alina Rackiewicz, Cocalico: 20 goals against, 1.43 average, 1 shutout. 

Shalisa Brubaker, Garden Spot: 27 goals against, 1.92 average, 3 shutouts.   

Lancaster Catholic’s Megan Fessler headed to JMU

She’s only a junior, but she already has her college choice under lock and key.

Lancaster Catholic junior midfielder Megan Fessler has made a verbal commitment to James Madison University, where she’ll continue her scholastic and soccer careers in 2008.

Another L-L League star, Conestoga Valley senior standout Teresa Rynier, is headed to JMU this fall, and in two years she’ll have Fessler as a teammate.

Fessler will sign a national letter of intent with JMU in February.

Congrats to Megan.

JEFFREY REINHART

Lancaster New Era

jreinhart@LNPnews.com 

Ephrata’s triple threat

Headed to Ephrata’s soccer practice on Wednesday to chat with the highest-scoring trio in the L-L League: The Mountaineers’ Leah Sipe, Aly Goodman and Arielle Gordon, who are piling up the goals. Here is my column from Thursday’s New Era:

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

And when it comes to an attacking, high-powered offense, no Lancaster-Lebanon League girls soccer team has found the back of the net more this spring than Ephrata, which has scored a league-high 48 goals heading into the final few days of the regular season.

And the Mountaineers can thank a trio of net-seeking ball-hawkers for this season’s offensive explosion:

Junior center-midfielder Leah Sipe has 10 goals and 11 assists for a Section 2-best 31 points.

Sophomore striker Aly Goodman has 11 goals and six assists for 28 points – third in the section.

And senior striker Arielle Gordon, a Lock Haven University recruit, has eight goals and 10 assists for 26 points – fourth in the section.

For you stat geeks, goals are worth two points and assists one point when tabulating soccer scoring leaders.

“We like putting the ball in the back of the net,” Gordon said. “I think we score so many goals because we work well as a team. We enjoy sharing the ball.”

Northern Lebanon girls’ basketball coach: Ken Battistelli

Another day, another coaching move in the Lancaster-Lebanon League. It’s been pretty crazy lately.

Pending school board approval later this month, Ken Battistelli has been tabbed to take over Northern Lebanon’s girls’ basketball program, the New Era has learned.

He will succeed Ken Barlett, who stepped after last season, when the Vikings finished 0-23 overall.

That leaves two (2) coaching vacancies in the L-L League girls’ ranks: Penn Manor (Ashli Schwab has left to take a job at St. Francis, please read below) and Ephrata (Loren Souder stepped down last month).

JEFFREY REINHART

Lancaster New Era

jreinhart@LNPnews.com

Schwab leaving Penn Manor for St. Francis

Ashli Schwab has resigned her post after one season as Penn Manor’s girls’ basketball coach, and she’s headed to St. Francis University, where she’ll be an assistant coach under Susan Robinson-Fruchtl, who was named head coach at St. Francis last week.

Schwab, the former Elco standout and 2,000-career-point-scorer, played under Robinson-Fruchtl at Penn State.

Robinson-Fruchtl spent the last eight seasons on Rene Portland’s staff with the Nittany Lions, including the last three as an assistant coach. Portland resigned earlier this spring.

Penn Manor finished 4-12 in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and 7-16 overall under Schwab last winter.

The Comets will return a strong nucleus for the next head coach next season, including rising senior forward Kelsey Caruthers, who will enter her final season with 874 career points.

JEFFREY REINHART

Lancaster New Era

jreinhart@LNPnews.com

4 no-hitters on local diamonds on Tuesday

Tuesday was no-hit day for a number of pitchers on local baseball and softball diamonds.

Check it out:

SOFTBALL NO-NOs: 

*Warwick senior Chelsea Kreiter struck out six and fired a no-hitter in the Warriors’ 15-0 four-inning victory over McCaskey.

*Cedar Crest’s Jen Garloff struck out 14 and tossed a no-hitter in the Falcons’ 5-1 win over Penn Manor.

*Lebanon sophomore Caitlin Paine also whiffed 14 and fired a no-hitter in the Cedars’ 1-0 win over cross-town rival Lebanon Catholic.

BASEBALL NO-NO: 

*Mount Calvary freshman Hayden Hawthorne struck out seven and shook off six walks and tossed a no-hitter in MC’s CCAC 16-1 win over Harrisburg Christian.

Congrats to all.

Gensemer is Garden Spot’s new girls’ hoops coach

Kevin Gensemer is expected to be named Garden Spot’s new girls’ basketball coach, pending school board approval on May 14, the New Era has learned.

Gensemer will replace Mark Silcox, who resigned his post following last season, when he led the Spartans to a second-place finish in Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and into the league playoffs.

Garden Spot went 15-31 under Silcox the last two seasons.

Gensemer spent last season with Annville-Cleona’s girls’ basketball program, where he served as Ed Geyer’s assistant varsity coach. He has also served on Cocalico’s staff.

That leaves coaching vacancies at Ephrata and Northern Lebanon.

JEFFREY REINHART

Lancaster New Era

jreinhart@LNPnews.com

 

Donegal, L-S softball fit to be tied

What’s the best rivalry in the L-L League right now? A lot of people would probably say any game involving Hempfield against Manheim Township. I say: wrong. Donegal and Lampeter-Strasburg have been waging some serious wars on the softball diamond over the past year, and Monday was no different. This time, Donegal got the best of L-S, rallying from a 4-0 deficit to pin a 6-4 loss on the Pioneers … and moving into a virtual tie for first place in the process. Here is my recap from Tuesday’s New Era:

Here we go again.

One year after Donegal and Lampeter-Strasburg needed a one-game playoff to determine the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 softball championship, the Indians and the Pioneers are on a collision course to do it again.

Using a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning, Donegal handed L-S its first loss of the season with a 6-4 victory Monday in Mount Joy.

Donegal, the defending state Triple-A champion, improved to 11-1 in the section and 13-2 overall.

L-S, which beat Donegal in last year’s one-game playoff to earn the Section 3 title, fell to 14-1 overall and 11-1 in the section.

The teams are in a virtual tie for first place because Donegal has four more league games to play and L-S has three.

Donegal finishes up with Lebanon, Manheim Central, Elco and Northern Lebanon, while L-S finishes up with Northern Lebanon, Elco and Lebanon.

If Donegal and L-S are tied when the dust settles, they’ll meet in a one-game playoff for the section crown for the second year in a row.

“This says a lot about the character of our kids,” Donegal coach Tom Hartman said. “We’ve stressed to them all season to stay the course and to keep battling, and they’ve done that.”

New Hempfield football coach: Bob Forgrave

Bob Forgrave, who led Penn Manor to the district playoffs last fall, is set to succeed Tom Getz as Hempfield’s next head football coach, the New Era has learned.

Getz resigned his post in March after 10 seasons at the helm of the Black Knights’ football program.

Three sources close to the situation confirmed over the weekend that Forgrave has been hired, pending approval from the Hempfield school board, which is expected to address his hiring at a meeting May 8.

Forgrave will take over a Hempfield team which finished just 3-7 overall last fall.

Getz led the Knights to a share of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 title and a District 3 Quad-A playoff berth in 2005. He was 63-40 in 10 seasons as Hempfield’s head coach.

Forgrave resurrected Penn Manor’s program over the last two years.

After going a combined 2-18 in 2003 and 2004, he led the Comets to a 5-5 mark in 2005, and to another 5-5 mark in the regular season last fall, which was good enough for Penn Manor to land a spot in the District 3 Quad-A playoffs.

The Comets fell to eventual runner-up Governor Mifflin 14-13 in the first round, and finished the season 5-6 overall and 10-11 in two seasons under Forgrave.

Forgrave also helped develop a pair of Division I players — seniors Jordan Gibbs and Chas Alecxih, who are both headed to the University of
Pittsburgh this fall.

Getz compiled a 63-40 record in his 10 seasons guiding the Knights, including Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 championships in 1998 and 2005.

Getz also retired as Hempfield’s baseball coach back in January after compiling 423 wins, nine Section 1 titles and six L-L League championships.

Forgrave was the defensive coordinator and associate head coach at Millersville University from 1993-96, after stints as a defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Virginia Military Institute, and as the tight ends coach at Army and Rutgers.

He was also a high school coach at Mainland in Florida and Ringgold near Pittsburgh.

His next stop, pending school board approval, will be Hempfield.