A softball showdown for the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One softball lead between Warwick and Hempfield in Landisville on Monday afternoon lived up to the hype and then some.
After five scoreless innings, two late-game comebacks by the Black Knights, and 11 innings of intense drama, it all came down to one magic moment.
And in that moment, the player Hempfield coach Chris Landis described as “the future of the program” stepped to the plate. That future became a present reality as Rose Wendel delivered, driving a ball into the left-center field gap to score Chloe Diener for a 3-2 victory.
“It means a lot being the youngest on the team, know I can be a leader,” Wendel said.
While Wendel’s hit proved to be the decisive blow, it was hardly the only magic moment that the Black Knights pulled off on the diamond.
The first moment came in the bottom of the seventh. The Knights trailed 1-0 due to a hard-hit ground ball past short in the sixth inning by Warwick’s Madisen Minney that scored Katie Heisey. Her team down to its final two outs, Hempfield’s stepped to plate and blasted a long fly ball over the left-field fence, sending her teammates and the crowd into a raucous celebration.
“I looked over the scoreboard, took a deep breath,” Peiffer said of her approach to the big at-bat.
Peiffer’s homer sent the game to extra innings, where it remained deadlocked through the 10th inning. Warwick’s Kenzie Ellis gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead with a double to the gap in left-center that scored Cece Sanchez, who had started the inning on second base in the international tie breaker rule.
Facing its second late-game deficit, Hempfield went right to work as Carley Ernst executed a textbook bunt to the right side of the infield, moving Lily Ashton to third base. After the next batter, Avery Landis, hit a fly ball to the right fielder, Ashton tagged from third, raced toward home plate and narrowly avoided the tag to tie the game at 2-2.
“No matter what happens in the previous innings, this team does not give up,” Landis said. “They rely on each other, they believe, they fight.”
The Knights kept believing and fighting in the top of the 11th, receiving a key spark when center fielder Peiffer darted to her left, caught a line drive, and then doubled up the runner who had left second base.
“Getting that double play was huge because it gave us an opportunity instead of constantly chasing,” Chris Landis said.
The late-game drama was necessary thanks to excellent performances by both starting pitchers, Ernst for Hempfield and Kate Shaak for Warwick. Both starters held the opposing lineup scoreless through five innings and made them fight and claw for the few runs they did get. Ernst struck out 12 batters and limited Warwick to four hits over 11 innings. Shaak pitched 11 innings, striking out 13 batters while scattering five hits.
“Carley is such a workhorse who just grinds,” Landis said.
All these moments added up to a huge win for Hempfield as they continue to battle Warwick, which won first matchup between the teams, for the Section One crown.
“These games (against Warwick) are such a battle where it comes down to the littlest things,” Landis said. “If we play our game, we can beat anyone.”
