By Connor Rowe –
“Well hit to deep left field. Goodbye! Way, way outta here! ”
The Penn Manor baseball team has came out of the gate with a rough start (2-5), but they have inspirations to make a turn-a-round and improve their upsetting record.
The team is struggling but they’re only a few clutch hits from being a 6-1 team.
Zach Rayha, senior second baseman with no errors this season, is working with such a young team.
“The main thing is just communicating with everyone and knowing what to do when the ball is hit,” Rayha insisted.
The comets are in the heart of their schedule as they’re in league play although they’ve been struggling within their division going 0-3, but look to acquire their first division victory against McCaskey high school.
The team will need a few sparks with rising stars from the squad from Sophomores Zak Burke, Darren Weidman and Alex Quinn.
Burke and Quinn both developed into great basketball players and have plenty of potential to take it to the baseball diamond to help the Comets program this season along with leading the team in future seasons.
The 2-5 record is misleading for the bunch as they have an opportunity to reach districts, according to Rayha.
“We still got a good shot at districts. We just need clutch hitting; defensively, we’re fine,” he said.
Tyler Beckley has distinguished himself as the ace of the team with his consistency of hitting his spots well on the corners.
Beckley hasn’t taken any advantages from playing as he understands this could be the last strikes of his life. He plans to attend Mansfield University as a student.
Another player who has been marking up the stat sheet is junior Joe Witmer.
Witmer has been working in as the closer and has been extremely productive. His go-to pitch has been the curveball down the stretch and seems to locate the strike zone even more-so than his fastball.
Cameron Gallagher, a Manheim Township stud athlete with hopes of attending the majors after getting drafted was sat down by Witmer from the nasty curveball.
Penn Manor looks to put together all their talents with the remaining games to rise to the top of the division as they have a shot against all of Section 1 one more time.
After McCaskey, the bunch will take on rival Hempfield on Thursday, April 14. Hempfield should be a true test as they’re 3-1 in division play.