Mounts in Unfamiliar Territory

Not all linescore zeroes are equal, and three goose eggs next to Ephrata’s name screamed volumes about the Mounts’ 2-1 loss to Cumberland Valley on Saturday.

The Mounts loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning. They loaded them again with one out in the third, and strung together three straight hits with one out in the fourth.

Total run output: zero.

“For the most part I loved the offense,’’ Ephrata coach Adrian Shelley said, “until the bags got stuffed and there was no place for anybody to go. Now it’s somebody’s job to put a ball in play or spray one, or lift a fly ball.

“We’re having a little bit of difficulty there, I think maybe getting a little mentally locked up.’’

The Mounts played nearimpeccable defense. A pitching committee of Brenden Kapczynski, Tanner McCracken and Brock Crills threw well and allowed just three hits. Ephrata had 10 hits, all singles.

The game’s only extrabase hit was decisive, a tracer to left-center by CV’s Zack Kramer for a two-out, two-run double in the sixth.

Ephrata had broken through to take the lead in the fifth, on a walk and stolen base by Aaron Hershberger and Mason Hagen’s two-out single.

The Mounts had a couple more singles in the sixth, but again couldn’t break through. They had baserunners in every inning.

The game ended poorly and weirdly. Hagen drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. During the following at-bat, the home plate umpire called a balk on Cumberland Valley pitcher Jacob Dows.

Hagen jogged to second, and was tagged out en route by the Eagles, in theory ending the game.

What?

Apparently, the base umpire had ruled that Dows had stepped off the rubber before balking. Because there was no balk, the base ump presumably saw Hagen as having (inexplicably) wandered away from first. Except that Dows stepping off would have created a dead-ball situation.

Again: What?

After a caucus, Hagen was allowed to return to first, with two outs in the inning.

The base ump was closer to the play, and, “proximity wins the day, was my argument,’’ CV coach Levi Mumma said.

“I’m sure they would have a different opinion,’’ he added, motioning to the Ephrata postgame huddle.

He had that right.

“What they ruled and what reality was are two different things,’’ Shelley said. “(Dows) broke his hands (thereby balking). All his weight’s on his back foot. It’s really hard to step off from that point.

“The home plate umpire immediately called balk, so whatever happened after that was inconsequential.’’

It’s arguably a moot point, because the game then ended on a caught stealing. Except Shelley said that on that play, “The ball was not in the guy’s glove, it was on the ground. He scrambled to pick it up and make the tag after the fact.’’

The upshot is that Ephrata, a program not at all used to being sub-.500, is 2-3, 2-2 in Section Two of the Lancaster- Lebanon League. “We’re a young team,’’ Shelley said. “I’m not going to allow our record right now to influence the progress we’ve made. So we just have to learn how to win.’’