BASEBALL
Greencastle-Antrim 10, Boiling Springs 2: The Bubblers trotted out five different pitchers and they combined to issue 18 walks, enabling the Blue Devils to claim a Mid Penn Colonial victory on Thursday afternoon in Boiling Springs.

Aidan Grudzinski

Greencastle is 12-5 and finished the Colonial season with a 10-4 mark, which makes them co-champions with Northern York. It could have been a four-way tie, but Waynesboro and Shippensburg both lost on Thursday. Northern received the bid to the Mid Penn tournament because of a higher District 3 power ranking than G-A.

The Blue Devils also moved up to the No. 15 position in the district rankings, and the top 16 qualify. However, Greencastle must navigate games against Hershey (home Saturday at 11) and at Gettysburg on Tuesday (4:15) in order to stay in that position.

“We have it figured that we could end up anywhere from getting a first-round bye to being out of it,” G-A coach Eric Shaner said. “We’ll see what happens.”

The Blue Devils led only 3-2 before scoring seven runs in the sixth inning. Briggs led the inning off by getting plunked by a pitch. Austin Wyant hit a sacrifice bunt, then Darren Kline knocking in a run with a single. From that point, the Bubblers could not find the strike zone — Ethan Ford, Connor Rohm, Aidan Grudzinski, Nick Johnston, Jace Szaflarski, Jackson Eby, Rememick and Wyand were handed eight consecutive walks, with all but the first two receiving credit for an RBI.

That was enough for Szaflarski to pick up the win  He pitched five innings, allowing two hits and two unearned runs with six strikeouts. Logan Horst and Adam Horst each pitched an inning to finish up.

Grudzinski ended up with two hits, including a double, and three RBIs.

SOFTBALL
Greencastle-Antrim 11, Boiling Springs 0: The young Blue Devil team came on with a rush at the end of the season, winning six of their last seven games, including a strong game against the Bubblers on Thursday afternoon at home.

Annika Gaus

Sophie Layton hurled a four-hit shutout for Greencastle, which finished the regular season with a 10-9 record, including 8-6 in the Mid Penn Colonial. As of tonight, G-A sits at No. 17 in the District 3 power rankings and the top 16 qualify for the playoffs.

“Now we’re just waiting to see what Northern (in the No. 16 spot) does in its last four games,” Blue Devil coach Mark DeCarli said. “We think if they lose one or maybe two games, we could sneak in ahead of them. There is some hope, but we put ourselves in this position by losing too many really close games earlier.”

G-A, which starts three freshman and only one senior, scored in each of the first four innings and ended the game in the fifth. In a three-run first inning, Emma Broadwater doubled in two runs. She also singled in a run in the four-run fourth.

Sydney Orndorff was 3-for-4 for Greencastle and Abby Stouffer, Broadwater and Annika Gaus each had a pair of hits. Gaus and Brianna Woodring each hit doubles and Meadow Gambacurta cracked her fifth home run of the season.

“It took me about half the season to figure some of these young girls out, but they’ve really come together in the second half,” DeCarli said. “The three freshmen (Gambacurta, Caroline Logsdon and Bailey Leckron) have done a great job. And our pitchers — Sophie and Mackenzie (Wingert) have really stepped up in the second half of the season. They’re growing.”

Layton did not walk a batter and struck out two, but her defense, except for two errors, made the plays behind her.