Lampeter-Strasburg clinches L-L League Section 4 bowling title with win over Lancaster Mennonite

Lampeter-Strasburg scored a 7-0 victory over Lancaster Mennonite Thursday at Rocky Springs Entertainment Center for a second straight Lancaster-Lebanon League section bowling title.

But the Pioneers’ crown this season is in Section Four after they won in Section Three in 2023-24.

“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t quite sure we could win a section title,” said L-S coach Matt Shockey, whose two years at the helm have yielded the two championships. “And by the middle of the season, the kids had really gelled. They’re really starting to bowl well. They’re really starting to be consistent.”

L-S entered the match with a sizable lead in the standings over the Blazers, but didn’t clinch until Thursday. The Pioneers are 51-26, while Mennonite falls to third at 21-56. Defending section champion Columbia moved into second at 24-53 after a 5-2 win over Elco Thursday.

L-S dropped down to Section Four after some restructuring that included adding Donegal, which is the only undefeated team in the league and leading Section Three. As the smallest school in Section Three, that bumped the Pioneers to Section Four.

The relative weakness in Section Four, with its small schools, was illustrated in the battle of first- and second-place teams.

L-S came in averaging almost 200 pins more per game and won by about that margin in each. The final pin count was 2,852-2,261.

Leading the way was sophomore Chase Harsh with a 626 series, well above his 185 per-game average, while junior Maddux Harsh, who averages 181, rolled a 603 series. Freshman Emily Dunlap also totaled 603, but bowled one game on the JV team.

“We’re sort of moving kids around and shuffling kids in and out to try to get our best five in the varsity at any given time,” said Shockey, who noted the contribution to this year’s team by assistant coach Katie Pope, who bowled for the Pioneers last year before graduating.

Kyler Buckwalter led Lancaster Mennonite with a 512 series.

The Blazers still control their destiny. They roll against fourth-place Elco (18-59) Tuesday and then Columbia in their last match of the season on Jan. 30 for what could decide the section’s second L-L playoff spot.

“When we look at our high scores and compare to some of the other high scores (in Sections One and Section Two), if they slip up and we bowl well, they’re going to give us a crack to get in there and hopefully make some noise,” said Shockey of his team’s possibilities in the L-L tournament.

Meanwhile, things remained heated in Section One and Section Two, with most to be decided next week in the final action of the regular season.

Manheim Township (45-32) leads One, with Penn Manor (39-38) second and Hempfield (35-42) third.

First place in Section Two remains very much up for grabs. Warwick (62-8) entered Thursday in first over Elizabethtown (61-9), but the Bears were 7-0 winners over Lebanon. The Warriors have winless Ephrata Friday.

The section title likely will come down to the Warwick-Elizabethtown match Jan. 31.