2009 HCSPSL Playoffs – 7.30.09

The field has been thinned to half as just eight teams now remain in the hunt for the championship. Rain on Monday night postponed one game and has forced part of the bracket two playoffs to be made up later in the week, putting them behind bracket one, who now has its winners bracket champion, Lancaster Church of the Brethren. Of the eight teams left, five are from the eastern division.

Here are the games scheduled for Thursday night in the 2009 HCSPSL Playoffs:

THURSDAY, JULY 30TH

Bracket One

Church of the Apostles

6:00pm: 7) Church of the Apostles vs. 1) Landisville Mennonite (LB; EG)

• Season Series: Landisville Mennonite leads, 2-0
• Runs: Landisville Mennonite, +13

7:00pm: 4) First Baptist vs. Winner of 6:00pm game (LB; EG)

• Season Series: (vs. First Baptist): Landisville Mennonite trails, 2-1; Apostles is tied, 1-1
• Runs: (vs. First Baptist): Landisville Mennonite, +1; Apostles, -3

Bracket Two

Wayside Presbyterian

6:00pm: 5) St. Peter’s vs. 1) Grace Baptist (LB; EG)

• Season Series: Tied, 1-1
• Runs: Grace Baptist, +13

7:00pm: 4) Grace United Methodist vs. 2) Highland Presbyterian (WB)

• Season Series: Highland leads 1-0
• Runs: Highland, +7

Weather: Warm and humid with mostly sunny skies, highs in the upper 80’s.

Scores from Last Night (Tuesday): Lancaster Church of the Brethren 15, First Baptist 14; Highland Presbyterian 6, Zion Lutheran of Landisville 5; Church of the Apostles 15, Hempfield United Methodist 4 (HUM is eliminated); Landisville Mennonite 13, Salem U.C.C. 9 (Salem U.C.C. is eliminated); Grace Baptist 12, Christ the King 8 (Christ the King is eliminated); St. Peter’s 17, Zion Lutheran of Landisville 13 (Zion Lutheran of Landisville is eliminated)

Eliminated Teams: Manor Church (BIC), Central Manor, Wayside Presbyterian, Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg, Hempfield United Methodist, Salem U.C.C. Zion Lutheran of Landisville and Christ the King.

Playoff Brackets (PDF Format): Updated when results are known on the left-hand side of this page.

2009 HCSPSL Playoffs – 7.28.09

Twelve teams remain in the 2009 playoffs as Wayside Presbyterian, Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg, Manor Church (BIC) and Central Manor al lost last night and were eliminated. Last night also saw the top seed in both brackets fall as Landisville Mennonite lost a defensive battle to First Baptist in the winners portion of bracket one and Grace United Methodist upset Grace Baptist in bracket two.

Here are the games scheduled for tonight in the 2009 HCSPSL Playoffs:

TUESDAY, JULY 28TH

Bracket One

Church of the Apostles

6:00pm: 4) First Baptist vs. 3) Lancaster Church of the Brethren (WB)

• Season Series: Lancaster Church of the Brethren leads 1-0
• Runs: Lancaster Church of the Brethren, +8

Wayside Presbyterian

6:00pm: 7) Church of the Apostles vs. 5) Hempfield United Methodist (LB; EG)

• Season Series: Hempfield United Methodist leads 1-0
• Runs: Hempfield United Methodist, +3

7:00pm: 2) Salem U.C.C. vs. 1) Landisville Mennonite (LB; EG)

• Season Series: Landisville Mennonite leads 1-0
• Runs: Landisville Mennonite, +3

Bracket Two

Church of the Apostles

• 7:00pm: 6) Christ the King vs. 1) Grace Baptist (LB; EG)

• Season Series: Tied, 1-1
• Runs: Grace Baptist, +2

Manor Church (BIC)

6:00pm: 3) Zion Lutheran of Landisville vs. 2) Highland Presbyterian

• Season Series: Highland Presbyterian leads 1-0
• Runs: Highland Presbyterian, +1
• NOTE: This game was rained out Tuesday night

7:00pm: 5) St. Peter’s vs. Loser of the 6:00pm game

• Season Series (vs. St. Peter’s): Highland leads 2-0, Zion of Landisville leads 1-0
• Runs (vs. St. Peter’s): Highland, +12; Zion of Landisville, +21

Weather: Partly sunny and very humid with occasional afternoon thunderstorms, high near 90.

Playoff Brackets (PDF Format): Updated when results are known on the left-hand side of this page.

2009 HCSPSL Playoffs – 7.27.09

Thursday night opened up the 2009 playoffs with eight games. Of those eight, only Church of the Apostles pulled the upset by beating Salem U.C.C. in a slugfest at Wayside Presbyterian. All other seven top seeds advanced to the winners bracket, moving one step closer to the overall championship. After play tonight ends, four teams will be done for the 2009 season and 12 will be remaining.

Here are the games scheduled for tonight in the 2009 HCSPSL Playoffs:

MONDAY, JULY 27TH

Bracket One

Church of the Apostles (Winners Bracket)

6:00pm: 4) First Baptist vs. 1) Landisville Mennonite

• Season Series: Tied, 1-1
• Runs: Landisville Mennonite, +3

7:00pm: 7) Church of the Apostles (BIC) vs. 3) Lancaster Church of the Brethren

• Season Series: Lancaster Church of the Brethren, 1-0
• Runs: Lancaster Church of the Brethren, +4

Wayside Presbyterian (Losers Bracket, Elimination Games)

6:00pm: 8) Manor Church (BIC) vs. 5) Hempfield United Methodist

• Season Series: Tied, 1-1
• Runs: Hempfield United Methodist, +1

7:00pm: 6) Central Manor vs. 2) Salem U.C.C.

• Season Series: Tied, 1-1
• Runs: Central Manor, +10

Bracket Two

Highland Presbyterian (Winners Bracket)

6:00pm: 4) Grace United Methodist vs. 1) Grace Baptist

• Season Series: Grace Baptist, 1-0
• Runs: Grace Baptist, +10

7:00pm: 3) Zion Lutheran of Landisville vs. 2) Highland Presbyterian

• Season Series: Highland, 1-0
• Runs: Highland, +1

Manor Church (BIC) (Losers Bracket, Elimination Games)

6:00pm: 8) Wayside Presbyterian vs. 5) St. Peter’s

• Season Series: St. Peter’s, 1-0
• Runs: St. Peter’s, +11

7:00pm: 7) Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg vs. 6) Christ the King

• Season Series: Tied, 1-1
• Runs: Christ the King, +8

Weather: Humid and sunny with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms, high near 90.

Playoff Brackets (PDF Format): Updated when results are known on the left-hand side of this page.

Lancaster Church of the Brethren 5, Central Manor 4

The 2009 Bracket One Playoffs began with a defensive exhibition at Wayside Presbyterian Church on Thursday night as Lancaster Church of the Brethren score three runs in the bottom half of the sixth and held on for a 5-4 victory over Central Manor.

Jon Kiefer lef off the game with a single, Josh Baker tripled to left and after Brian Kiefer’s singled to left field, Central Manor held a 2-0 lead. LCOB would slowly respond, tying the game at two in the fourth before scoring three times in what would be their final at-bat. In the seventh, Austin Binkley reached on a single, advanced to third on a single by Baker. Binkley would score on the next play, a sacrifice fly from Brian Kiefer which made LCOB’s lead just 5-3. After dribbling grounder to third, Seth Doman beat out the throw to first, and advanced to second on a fielding error which allowed Baker to score. After a Don Lease sac fly put Doman on third with two outs, Central Manor would come up short as Clinton Martin lined out sharply to the second baseman.

All in all for Manor, Binkley and Jon Kiefer each scored runs, while Baker scored and drove in two. Dan Fisher kept the division runner-ups to their second lowest run total of the season, but it was a bad night for the bats.

The loss drops CM into the losers bracket where they will face Western division champion Salem U.C.C. on Monday night at Wayside Presbyterian Church at 7:00pm. Salem was upset by 7th seeded Church of the Apostles 18-17 in the game afterwards. Lancaster Church of the Brethren advances to face Apostles, both games will be played on Monday night.

OTHER SCORES FROM THURSDAY NIGHT:

Bracket One

• 1) Landisville Mennonite 10, 8) Manor Church (BIC) 7
• 7) Church of the Apostles 18, 2) Salem U.C.C. 17
• 4) Fist Baptist 20, 5) Hempfield United Methodist 4

Bracket Two

• 1) Grace Baptist 16, 8) Wayside Presbyterian 6
• 2) Highland Presbyterian 18, 7) Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg 5
• 3) Zion Lutheran of Landisville 18, 6) Christ the King 8
• 4) Grace United Methodist 21, 5) St. Peter’s 14

2009 HCSPSL Playoffs – 7.23.09

After the exciting final night of the 2009 regular season, the playoff brackets are now set. Salem U.C.C. and Landisville Mennonite are your division champions. Salem, who held tie-breakers over both teams ahead of them with two weeks left, made up two games in the last three, as both LCOB and HUM stumbled home 1-2. Landisville Mennonite won the east by ten-running First Baptist Tuesday night. All in all, the upper bracket of the HCSPSL playoffs are separated top-to-bottom by four games.

In the bottom bracket, Grace Baptist will be the number one seed with a record of 9-13. Their big wins this year include beating both Landisville Mennonite and First Baptist in the opening half of the season. Just three teams in the entire league did not need tie-breakers to determine playoff seedings.

Playoff Seedings:

BRACKET 1

• 1. Landisville Mennonite (18-4, 1st East), beat Salem U.C.C.
• 3. Salem U.C.C. (17-5, 1st West), lost to L.M., 2-0 H-2-H vs. LCOB
• 2. Lancaster C.O.B. (17-4, 2nd West), 3 wins over common teams
• 4. First Baptist (17-4, 2nd East), 2 wins over common teams
• 5. Hempfield U.M. (17-4, 3rd West), 1 win over common teams
• 6. Central Manor (14-7, 4th West), beat Church of the Apostles
• 7. Church of the Apostles (15-7, 3rd East), lost to Central Manor
• 8. Manor Church (14-8, 5th West)

BRACKET 2

• 1. Grace Baptist (9-13, 4th East)
• 2. Highland Presbyterian (7-15, 5th East), beat Zion of Landisville
• 3. Zion – Landisville (7-15, 6th West), lost to Highland Presbyterian
• 4. Grace U.M. (6-16, 7th West), beat St. Peter’s
• 5. St. Peter’s (6-16, 6th East), lost to Grace UM
• 6. Christ the King (5-17, 7th East), outscored Zion East Pete. 31-23 in 2 games
• 7. Zion – East Petersburg (5-17, 8th East), outscored by Christ the King 31-23 in 2 games
• 8. Wayside Presbyterian (1-21, 8th West)

Here are the games scheduled for tomorrow night, the opening night of the 2009 HCSPSL Playoffs:

THURSDAY, JULY 23RD

Bracket One

Church of the Apostles

6:00pm: 5) Hempfield United Methodist vs. 4) First Baptist

• Season Series: Hempfield UMC leads 1-0
• Runs: Hempfield UM, +1

7:00pm: 8) Manor Church (BIC) vs. 1) Landisville Mennonite

• Season Series: Landisville Mennonite leads 1-0
• Runs: Landisville Mennonite, +6

Wayside Presbyterian

6:00pm: 6) Central Manor vs. 3) Lancaster Church of the Brethren

Season Series: Tied, 1-1

Runs: Lancaster Church of the Brethren, +7

7:00pm: 7) Church of the Apostles vs. 2) Salem U.C.C.

• Season Series: Salem leads 1-0
• Runs: Salem, +7

Bracket Two

Highland Presbyterian

6:00pm: 5) St. Peter’s vs. 4) Grace United Methodist

• Season Series: Grace UM leads 1-0
• Runs: Grace UM, +10

7:00pm: 8) Wayside Presbyterian vs. 1) Grace Baptist

• Season Series: Grace Baptist leads 1-0
• Runs: Grace Baptist, +10

Manor Church (BIC)

6:00pm: 6) Christ the King vs. 3) Zion Lutheran of Landisville

• Season Series: Christ the King leads 1-0
• Runs: Teams did not play, Zion of Landisville forfeited

7:00pm: 7) Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg vs. 2) Highland Presbyterian

• Season Series: Zion of East Pete. leads 2-0
• Runs: Zion of East Pete., +5

Weather: Sporadic thunderstorms with clouds and sunshine, high near 80.

Playoff Brackets (PDF Format): Bracket One -   Bracket Two

Look for bracket update on the left-hand side of this page as the playoffs continue.

Central Manor 16, Zion Lutheran of Landisville 9

Central Manor finished the 2009 regular season schedule with their fourth straight win, downing Zion Lutheran of Landisville by the score of 16-9 Tuesday night at Manor Church (BIC).

After giving up three runs in the top of the first, CM’s offense exploded in the bottom half and batted around, gaining a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the ballgame. Offensively, the night was highlighted by two more Austin Binkley home runs, both to left-center field. The highlight of the game however was a brilliant diving catch in right-field by utility-man Paul Grego. His grab prevented what would have been the start of a big inning and aided Clinto Martin in picking up yet another victory on the mound.

With the regular season now in the rear-view mirror, Central Manor’s 15-7 record is good enough for the sixth-seed in bracket one of the HCSPSL Playoffs. Their first game will be Thursday night at Wayside Presbyterian Church against an opponent to be determined.

This Week in the HCSPSL: Week Twelve

Tuesday marks the conclusion of the 2009 HCSPSL regular season. Things for the most part are pretty clear when it comes to the playoffs, although there are a few scenarios which could change with tomorrow night’s games.

In the east, the scenario is simple: whoever wins tomorrow night’s game at Wayside between First Baptist and Landisville Mennonite is the division champion. If Landisville Mennonite wins, Lancaster Church of the Brethren drops their game to Salem and Manor Church (BIC) upsets Hempfield United Methodist, LM would be the number one overall seed in the upper bracket.

Meanwhile in the west, Lancaster Church of the Brethren needs to beat Salem U.C.C. to win the division via tie-breakers, which would be their two victories over Hempfield United Methodist. To have a chance of winning the division, HUM must take care of business against Manor Church (BIC) and hope Salem can beat LCOB, which would give them the division title by a game; that combined with a Landisville Mennonite win would make HUM the top overall seed. A Salem win would not only help with all of that, bit it would also push them into second place and slide LCOB to third, as Salem has beaten the Brethren Blue twice during the regular season.

Here are the games scheduled for tomorrow night, the final night of the 2009 regular season:

TUESDAY, JULY 14TH

Church of the Apostles

• 6:00pm: Church of the Apostles vs. Christ the King
• 7:00pm: Salem U.C.C. vs. Lancaster Church of the Brethren

Highland Presbyterian

• 6:00pm: Highland Presbyterian vs. Grace Baptist
• 7:00pm: Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg vs. St. Peter’s

Manor Church (BIC)

• 6:00pm: Zion Lutheran of Landisville vs. Central Manor
• 7:00pm: Manor Church (BIC) vs. Hempfield United Methodist

Wayside Presbyterian

• 6:00pm: Grace United Methodist vs. Wayside Presbyterian
• 7:00pm: First Baptist vs. Landisville Mennonite

Game of the Week: First Baptist vs. Landisville Mennonite

First Baptist’s loss to Church of the Apostles last week sets up a one-game playoff for the division title. In the opening game of the season, FB downed LM by the score of 14-7 at Highland. For this game, the short porch of right field comes into play at Wayside, which has been the highest scoring field in the league this season.

Weather: Partly sunny with a slight chance of an afternoon shower, high in the low to mid-80’s.

Make-ups: There are no remaining make-up games to be played; every team has completed 21 games as of last Thursday evening.

Current Playoff Seedings: Here is how the playoffs set up with just one game to play; teams italicized are locked in to those positions no matter what happens Tuesday night:

BRACKET 1

• 1. Lancaster C.O.B. (17-4, 1st West; LW 1), beat HUM twice; first Baptist once
• 2. First Baptist (17-4, 1st East; LW 2), beat Landisville Mennonite, lost to LCOB
• 3. Hempfield U.M. (17-4, 2nd West; LW 3), lost to LCOB twice, beat Landisville Mennonite
• 4. Landisville Mennonite (17-4, 2nd East; LW 4), lost to First Baptist and Hempfield U.M.
• 5. Salem U.C.C. (16-5, 3rd West; LW 5)
• 6. Central Manor (14-7, 4th West; LW 6), beat Apostles
• 7. Church of the Apostles (14-7, 3rd East; LW 8), lost to Central Manor
• 8. Manor Church (13-8, 5th West; LW 7)

BRACKET 2

• 1. Grace Baptist (9-12, 4th East; LW 1)
• 2. Zion – Landisville (7-14, 6th West; LW 3)
• 3. Grace U.M. (6-15, 7th West; LW 4), beat Highland
• 4. Highland Presbyterian (6-15, 5th East; LW 2), lost to Grace U.M.
• 5. Zion – East Petersburg (5-16, 6th East; LW 7), runs over St. Peter’s, record over CtK
• 6. St. Peter’s (5-16, 7th East; LW 6), runs to Zion EP, record over CtK
• 7. Christ the King (5-16, 8th East; LW 5), records to Zion EP and St. Peter’s
• 8. Wayside Presbyterian (0-18, 8th West; LW 8)

Playoff Preview: A full preview of the playoffs will be posted on Wednesday, complete with brackets in PDF format for easy downloading.

Central Manor 19, Wayside Presbyterian 4 (F/5)

The maroon and white maintained their playoff positioning with a 19-4 win over Wayside Presbyterian in five innings on Thursday night at Wayside Presbyterian Church.

Central Manor scored ten runs in the first, including a Paul Grego ground-rule double and another Jon Kiefer grand slam, his fourth of the season. Later in the game, Brian Kiefer would also add a grand slam on a night which saw every Central Manor player reach base once. Dan Fisher picked up the win pitching in the penultimate game of the regular season.

With one game left, Central Manor sits at 14-7 on the season; good enough for fourth-place in the HCSPSL West. The last game of the season is a contest against traditional final-game rival Zion Lutheran of Landisville. Game time is set for 6:00pm at Manor Church (BIC), and Central Manor must win to maintain their sixth-seed positioning in the upper bracket for the playoffs.

Central Manor 13, Lancaster Church of the Brethren 12

After trailing by seven runs early against division-leading Lancaster Church of the Brethren, Central Manor rallied late to win by the score of 13-12 Tuesday might at Manor Church (BIC).

LCOB came out of the gates strong, scoring runs in both of their first two innings to take a 7-0 lead. In the bottom half of the second, Central Manor got on the board thanks to some timely two out hitting, a trend that continued the rest of the game. Trailing 11-9 entering the bottom of the sixth, Central Manor started a rally with a Jon Kiefer home run, followed by an Austin Binkley line drive single to center. Josh Baker punched a line drive into right to advance Austin to second, but as then caught between the bags after slipping rounding first. While Baker was caught in the rundown, Binkley scrambled to third as the throw short-hopped the third baseman and bounced out of play, allowing Binkley to score and Baker to advance all the way to third. Baker would score on Don Lease’s RBI single to left to tie the game, and Lease would score on an Andrew Haverstick RBI single to center. Central Manor then allowed one run to plate in the seventh, before pitcher Clinton Martin struck out the final hitter looking with the tying run at third base.

By winning their first game of the week for the first time in four weeks (June 16th, Church of the Apostles), Central Manor remains in sixth place in bracket one of the playoffs, and runs their record to 13-7 with two games remaining in the regular season. The maroon and white next game is on Thursday night against Wayside Presbyterian Church on their home field. Game time is set for 7:00pm.

This Week in the HCSPSL: Week Eleven

Week eleven is the last full week of the 2009 regular season and we have tight races in each division for the top spots. In the east, First Baptist holds a game lead over Landisville Mennonite, who surprisingly dropped a game to Highland Presbyterian last week. LM must win both games this week (at Christ the King and St. Peter’s) to set up a de-facto division championship game next Tuesday against First Baptist. A little help from Church of the Apostles would also be great for Landisville, as they play First Baptist on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile on the western side of the league, things are much more complicated. Lancaster Church of the Brethren and Hempfield United Methodist (who won four games last week) are tied atop the standings. LCOB holds the tiebreaker as they took down HUM earlier this year. Those two will play each other on Thursday night at Wayside in a game with gigantic playoff implications. LCOB will also face central Manor on Tuesday night, who even though they can not win the division, lie two games behind Salem U.C.C. for the third spot. Salem can still win the division with a lot of help, but needs a Central Manor win on Tuesday and a LCOB win on Thursday to have a chance. If those pieces fall into place, they would need to beat LCOB next Tuesday night and have Hempfield UM fall to Manor Church (BIC); If all of that happens, Salem would win the west by a run differential tiebreaker, which they hold by five runs.

No teams with any division championship aspirations have any make-up games remaining.

Here is this week’s slate of action, as best we know it:

MONDAY, JULY 13TH

Manor Church (BIC) has a make-up game, I was very attentive after our game last night. They will play Grace Baptist at a field I was not attentive enough to know.

TUESDAY, JULY 14TH

Church of the Apostles

• 6:00pm: Landisville Mennonite vs. Christ the King
• 7:00pm: First Baptist at Church of the Apostles

Highland Presbyterian

• 6:00pm: Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg vs. Highland Presbyterian
• 7:00pm: St. Peter’s vs. Grace Baptist

Manor Church (BIC)

• 6:00pm: Lancaster Church of the Brethren vs. Central Manor
• 7:00pm: Manor Church (BIC) vs. Grace United Methodist

Wayside Presbyterian

• 6:00pm: Hempfield United Methodist vs. Wayside Presbyterian
• 7:00pm: Salem U.C.C. vs. Zion Lutheran of Landisville

THURSDAY, JULY 16TH

Church of the Apostles

• 6:00pm: Highland Presbyterian vs. Church of the Apostles
• 7:00pm: Grace Baptist vs. Christ the King

Highland Presbyterian

• 6:00pm: Landisville Mennonite vs. St. Peter’s
• 7:00pm: First Baptist vs. Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg

Manor Church (BIC)

• 6:00pm: Manor church (BIC) vs. Salem U.C.C.
• 7:00pm: Zion Lutheran of Landisville vs. Grace United Methodist

Wayside Presbyterian

• 6:00pm: Hempfield United Methodist vs. Lancaster Church of the Brethren
• 7:00pm: Central Manor vs. Wayside Presbyterian

Game of the Week: Hempfield United Methodist vs. Lancaster Church of the Brethren

The scenario was laid out above, but the winner of this game has the inside track to the western division championship barring any further losses. LCOB has the tougher week, as they will play fourth-place Central Manor on Tuesday night.

Weather: Partly to mostly sunny on Monday and Tuesday with highs in the mid-80’s, partly sunny and more humid with temperatures approaching 90 on Thursday.

Make-ups: The following is a list of make-up games each team has yet to play: One game: Grace Baptist, Grace United Methodist, Highland Presbyterian, Manor Church (BIC), Wayside Presbyterian, Zion Lutheran of East Petersburg. (If not listed, no make-up games remaining)

Current Playoff Seedings: Here is how the playoffs would look if they began today:

BRACKET 1

• 1. Lancaster C.O.B. (16-3, 1st West; LW 2), beat HUM head-to-head
• 2. First Baptist (16-3, 1st East; LW 3)
• 3. Hempfield U.M. (16-3, 2nd West; LW 5)
• 4. Landisville Mennonite (15-4, 2nd East; LW 1)
• 5. Salem U.C.C. (14-5, 3rd West; LW 4)
• 6. Central Manor (12-7, 4th West; LW 6), beat Apostles head-to-head
• 7. Church of the Apostles (12-7, 3rd East; LW 8)
• 8. Manor Church (10-6, 5th West; LW 7)

BRACKET 2

• 1. Grace Baptist (8-10, 4th East; LW 1)
• 2. Highland Presbyterian (6-12, 5th East; LW 3)
• 3. Zion – Landisville (6-13, 6th West; LW 2)
• 4. Grace U.M. (5-13, 7th West; LW 5)
• 5. Christ the King (5-14, 6th East; LW 4)
• 6. St. Peter’s (4-15, 7th East; LW 6)
• 7. Zion – East Petersburg (3-15, 8th East; LW 7)
• 8. Wayside Presbyterian (0-18, 8th West; LW 8)