No. 1 The Dauphin County American Legion baseball championship went to No. 2 seed Hershey on July 16 in a 2-1 classic win over regular season champ Paxton at Central Dauphin East High. With the win, Hershey, 17-5, advanced to the Region Four tournament, which opened July 20, against host Hanover.
No. 2 Hershey, which lost to Paxton three times this year, scored the winning run in the top of the sixth when rising senior Jack Gunkel stole home. Jesse Campbell started the winning rally with a single off Alek Bittinger, followed by a single by Gunkel. After Kevin Kremer bunted them to second and third, winning pitcher Eric Marrero greeted reliever Justin Rohrer with a high chopper to short that plated Campbell. When Rohrer went into his windup, Gunkel broke for home and slid headfirst into home before the tag from Jordan Romberger.
No. 3 “It was a play we’ve practiced,” Hershey coach Doug Ruhl said. “It was the perfect situation. We had our best base runner on third. The pitcher was throwing from the windup without checking the runner. Jack’s gotten real good at getting a great jump.” Gunkel said he knew he'd be safe halfway to the plate.
No. 4 The loss ended a great season for Paxton, 20-1-1, which had to win four games in four days to reach the final. Coach John Mazzolla’s Post 730 club was led by center fielder Dallas Underwood (Pitt-Johnstown), pitcher/infielder Nick Noel (McDaniel University), shortstop Kyle Fackler and Rohrer.
No. 5 Plenty of East Shore girls participated in the Mid-Atlantic Cup soccer tournament held July 13-14 at Pa. Classics near Lititz. None of the East Shore teams took home gold medals, but the action was highlighted when coach Larry Julius’ Classics U-16 team beat the No. 1 team in the country, Toms River Elite of N.J., 3-2.
No. 6 Toms River was leading, 2-1, when Hershey’s Riley Curtin and Kali Edwards of Bishop McDevitt combined on two late scores to stun the top team in the country. Edwards headed in two crosses to win the game. Also playing for Classics U-16 were Dahlia Chroscinski of Hershey, Lucy Krikorian of Palmyra and Maddie Noonan of Elco.
No. 7 Turning in strong performances were also the HMMS Eagles, led by Taryn Messick and Shayna McFarlane of Lower Dauphin, Kayla Hughes (Hershey) and Delaney Meadows of Susquehanna Twp. The LDC United U-17 girls, paced by LD players Kylen Smith, Madi Duncan and Dani Savage, Summer Meadath of Central Dauphin and Tanner Turner-Rush of Susquehanna Twp.. tied for second in their group with a record of 2-0-1.
No. 8 Another East Shore soccer club, Hershey F.C. of the NPSL, improved its record to 5-5-2 with a 5-0 win over Junior Lone Star F.C. of Philadelphia on July 12 at In The Net. Scoring two goals each for Hershey were Temple grad Ty Witmer and Garret Eldrige (Roanoke), while former Messiah star Geoff Pezon got one. From the East Shore for Hershey were Adam Clay, the women’s soccer coach at Penn State Harrisburg, and Central Dauphin grads Kenny Fultz, Chris Cartwright and Demetrios Papadopoulous. Middletown grad Hannah Jorich of PSU-Harrisburg is interning with the club.
No. 9 Harrisburg’s RBI baseball program, headed by Rob Martin, hosts the Mid-Atlantic regionals July 18-21 at various fields across the midstate. Last year, coach Martin's Seniors (16-18) claimed its second straight regional title, but were eliminated by Houston. In 2011, Harrisburg stunned Venezuela to reach the RBI final, where Harrisburg lost to Venice, Ca., 10-0, at Target Field in Minnesota.
No. 10 Named to Harrisburg’s senior roster by Martin were: Anthony Atticks, Susquehanna Twp.; Josh Newill, Susquehanna Twp.; Dakota Pentz, East Pennsboro; Deon Stafford, Lower Dauphin; Kyle Fackler, CD East; Kyle McClintock, Cumberland Valley; Matt Davis, Cumberland Valley; Noah Spangler, Bishop McDevitt; Steve Pacheco, Harrisburg; Willie Lawrence, Harrisburg; Reid Demyan, Susquehanna Twp.; Ricky Bettinger, CD East; Trustn Riley, Mercersburg Academy; Sadiq Burkholder, Hughesville; Justin Lamber, Hughesville.