It’s that time of year – high school spring sports postseason… and more
It wasn’t long ago that the Waynesboro Area Senior High School varsity baseball team was in position to host a District 3-5A playoff game.
Now, the Indians are on the outside looking in. And, if they can’t get in their final three games, they’ll need help to make the field of 16 teams.
Waynesboro managed to finish a suspended game against Harrisburg, winning by the score of 17-2 in four innings on Friday.
Monday’s home game against Mechanicsburg was rained out and will not be played. The final regular season game is scheduled for Wednesday against Chambersburg at Greene Township Park in Scotland.
Let’s just say that it hasn’t been a merry month of May. Waynesboro was to play Carlisle on May 6, but it was rained out (so much for those April showers bringing May flowers).
When Waynesboro (11-6) did play, it lost back-to-back games against Shippensburg (5-3) and Big Spring (4-3).
The Tribe lost to Northern York, 6-5, on May 3, then beat Boiling Springs, 5-1, on May 5, leaving them in good position to make the playoffs.
It was a tough stretch that followed an encouraging 9-2 win over Greencastle-Antrim on April 30. Since then, the two teams have been going in opposite directions. The Blue Devils
Then came May.
Last season, Waynesboro went 14-4 and hosted a first-round district playoff game (losing to South Western 1-0).
This season, we’ll see what comes of this week.
“It really comes down to the game against Chambersburg,” said Waynesboro head coach Travis Hardman. “So, basically, if we lose that, we’re probably not going to district playoffs; and, if we beat Chambersburg, we probably are.”
According to the latest power rating, Waynesboro is ranked 17th, one spot out of the postseason field. The Indians trail Spring Grove by eight-one-hundredths of a point (.638 to .630).
Over to softball, where Waynesboro ran into a wall last week.
The Maidens were sitting pretty with a 12-2 record and also in position to host a first-round playoff game.
But the season hit a roadblock in the form of a three-game losing streak. It began with a 4-1 loss at home to Shippensburg, followed by a 10-0 setback to Big Spring.
On Friday, Waynesboro led Chambersburg, 4-0, after the first inning but failed to hold serve and lost 6-4 when the Trojans scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning and kept the Maidens away from home plate in the home seventh.
The losses didn’t knock Waynesboro (rated 14th in the updated power rating) out of the top 16 in 5A. Shippensburg, Big Spring and Chambersburg have a combined 47 wins, and the Trojans are a Class 6A team. Shippensburg is ranked 2nd in Class 5A, while Chambersburg is 4th in 6A and Big Spring is 2nd in 4A.
Waynesboro’s final regular season game slated for Monday was rained out and rescheduled for Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.
The District 3 power ranking deadline is Thursday. The playoffs begin Monday, May 23 at the site of the higher-ranked teams.
The District 3-3A track and field championships are this weekend at Shippensburg University.
Here are the athletes from Waynesboro, along with their performance standard, who will be competing:
In boys’ competition, Jaylon Bean will be participating in the long jump (21-7) and triple jump (43-6 ½). Tanyon Shaull is competing in the javelin throw (158-5).
In girls’ district competition, True Benshoff will compete in the 300 hurdles (46.67) and the long jump (16-10 ¼).
