Mounts Get Wild Victory

As Adam Maser’s bunt rolled toward the mound, both sections of the bleachers rose to their feet. Just seconds later, the Ephrata fans would break out in celebration, but one that was tempered by confusion on both sides of the diamond.

A throwing error brought Adam Schwartz in for the tying run, but visiting Lampeter- Strasburg quickly got the ball in to catcher Luke Weigel and looked to have Zac McGillan caught in a rundown. Before Weigel could apply the tag, however, the officials waved in McGillan, securing a 4-3 victory for Ephrata in the District Three Class 5A baseball quarterfinals at War Memorial Field on Thursday night.

By rule, when the ball goes out of play, the runners are awarded two bases. In this case, the ball was fielded while going out of play and the “catch and carry” gives the runners two bases from the moment the ball was fielded — bringing the runner in instead of stopping him on third.

“They’re a really good team,” Ephrata coach Adrian Shelley said of L-S. “I wouldn’t want to be on the other side — that’s a devastating way to lose. They played hard, they did a great job coming back. You don’t want a game to end like that.”

Ephrata (22-3) took the early lead, scoring on a McGillan base hit in the first inning before making it a 2-0 game in the fourth on Ricky Bromirski’s two-out single.

L-S (17-7) finally broke through in the seventh, turning five singles into three runs to take the lead for the first time.

After Weigel tied the game, pinch-hitter Thomas Shockey connected for the fourth straight single of the frame to tie the game. McGillan would get the first out via a strikeout, but Hunter Cunningham responded by smacking the ball into right field to put the Pioneers up 3-2.

“It was a momentum shift, no doubt about it, but I felt like we had to strand those two runners in scoring position to keep it 3-2,” Shelley said of the top of the seventh. “I felt a hit there may be the knockout blow. Keeping it at one knowing that we had 3-4-5 up, I felt that we could scratch one across.”

Ephrata did just that after Schwartz and Mc-Gillan were hit by a pitch and walked, respectively, to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Maser stepped up for a sacrifice bunt, but ended up sealing Ephrata’s 16th consecutive win.

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