The name has changed, but the game’s the same.
For decades, the Lititz area 17U baseball teams played as the Lititz Oddfellows.
And of recent vintage it’s been quite a run for the Oddfellows, who appeared in seven of the last eight LNP 17U Tournament championship games, winning five titles. Since the formation of the Lancaster County Midget League in 2000 — following the merger of the Lanco, Metro and Eastern Lancaster Leagues — the ’Fellows have been in 11 finals, winning nine.
This year, though, the name Lititz Oddfellows was reassigned to the team competing in the American Division of the Lancaster County Midget League. Tradition continued in winning the league title, defeating Hempfield Red in a best-of-three championship.
Meanwhile, the National Division representative played this season as Warwick, recognizing the relationship with the high school program.
That’s the name.
The game, the 78th LNP Tournament, begins play in the 17U division Monday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium with single-elimination baseball games, running through Thursday’s championship.
Quarterfinal doubleheaders are set for Monday and Tuesday, with the first games starting at 5:30 p.m. and the second games set for 30 minutes following the completion of the first games.
The same schedule applies for Wednesday’s semifinal doubleheader with the championship game set for Thursday night in a 7 p.m. first pitch.
The National Division race careened to a conclusion with the competition, first to eighth — and beyond — looking much like a paint-trading photo finish in NASCAR.
Unbeaten atop the division all season, the returning LNP runner-up Ephrata Lions began the week with a 3-2 loss to Donegal, falling into a tie with once-beaten Penn Manor. A loss to Warwick in the final game of the regular season dropped the Lions to the No. 3 seed, elevating Donegal to No. 2.
Defending champion Hempfield Black closed with a three-game winning streak, improving a potential eighth seed to a three-way tie for the fourth seed with Conestoga Valley and Warwick.
After head-to-head results could not break the tie, it was ultimately broken by total run differential, with Hempfield securing the fourth seed, Warwick the fifth and CV settling in at No. 6.
Meanwhile the seeding for seven and eight became a jumble on Thursday as Garden Spot rallied to defeat Conestoga Valley 5-4 in eight innings and Lampeter-Strasburg came back from three runs down to best Northern Lebanon 4-3, creating, along with Octorara, a four-way tie for the two positions.
Tie-breaking playoff games, Octorara at L-S and Northern Lebanon at Garden Spot, were set for the weekend. When Northern Lebanon and Garden Spot each found themselves unable to field a team due to travel ball commitments, the league tiebreaker(s) opened the door for L-S and Octorara.
Here’s a look at the quarterfinal pairings.
Monday's games
No. 8 seed Octorara (5-8) vs. No. 1 seed Penn Manor (12-1), 5:30 p.m.
Head-to-head Penn Manor won 10-2.
A newcomer to the league, Octorara is vying for its first LNP title appearance.
Camryn Naggy (.400), Landen Stafford (.382) and Brayden Remphrey (.357) lead Octorara in batting while, after a slow start, the team average rose to .297 with 48 total walks against 56 strikeouts. Chris Everly (2-1, 3.18 ERA) leads the mound staff.
The Comets have 10 players on the roster who earned varsity letters in the high school season. Rising seniors Billy Riggs, Angel Luna, Jackson Stuart and Cole Miller set the pace. Rising junior Oliver Hanna (5-1, 2 shutouts) will get the ball to open the tournament.
Penn Manor played for the LNP title in 2000 and 2022, coming up short on both occasions. Affiliated programs won three titles overall in the 1980s.
No. 7 seed Lampeter-Strasburg (5-8) vs. No. 2 seed Donegal, (11-2) 30 minutes following
Head-to-head, Donegal edged L-S 8-6.
L-S won three of its last four games to insert itself into the qualification conversation. Head coach Craig Nebel says the boys are “embracing the chance to play together as long as possible.”
Weston Rhine and Landon Welk lead the team in hitting, each at .500. Devin Campos (.346) has a team-leading 11 RBIs. Brayden Hart (.345) is a power source.
Logan Martin, one of three players returning from last year, has won two of three decisions with a team-high 21 innings pitched, striking out 21. Joel Weaver (2-1) bounced back from a rough start to the season to earn the tournament start. Welk rounds out the staff. Five players from last season’s LNP 14U champions have contributed this year.
L-S affiliated teams have made the finals nine times since 2000, winning twice. Overall, the Strasburg program added two more titles, in 1973 and ’76.
In his first year coaching at this level, Donegal coach Josh Nissley is very familiar with this group of athletes, having coached them since 10U. The Tribe has five players who hit .400 or better: Shaun DiBello (.529), Davin Bailey (.467), Andrew Fabian (.421), Hudson Fenicle (.407) and Jackson Nissley (.400). Elijah Jones (3-1, 2BB, 24K) fronts a pitching staff that includes Chase Gerz (3-0, 6, 13), Jackson Nissley (2-0, 6,13) and Ryan Beck (1-0, 2,8)
Donegal won its only title game appearance of the post-merger era in 2004, although affiliated programs won three titles prior to 2000.
Tuesday's games
No. 6 seed Conestoga Valley (8-5) vs. No. 3 seed Ephrata Lions, (11-2) 5:30 p.m.
Ephrata narrowly defeated CV, 7-6, in the second week of the season.
Conestoga Valley is paced by Tanner Kane’s .474 average and team-leading 12 RBIs. Toby Schaub (.464), Adam McDowell (.393), Andrew Kowalinski (.385) and Brandon Hursh (.381) also key the offense. Kowalinski has been the workhorse of the pitching staff, joined by Schaub, Jackson Buckwalter and Evan Wilson, a University of Richmond recruit.
CV is playing its third LNP Tournament in the last four years, and fourth overall since 2000, looking for its first LNP title appearance. Affiliated programs won a pair of New Era Tournament titles in 1985 and ’95.
Lions coach Ricky Bromirski notes, “Our team has had a decent amount of success this summer.”
Ethan Hunt (.429), Ethan Gockley (.375), Caleb Grant (.364) and Camryn Simes (.333) have contributed to that success. Getting most of the work on the hill has been the duo of Braden Murphy and Landry Weidner. Together they’ve allowed just seven runs while combining for 60 strikeouts.
Since 2000 Ephrata has played for the 17U title twice, winning in 2009. It should be noted that in the overall history of the LNP Tournament and its New Era Tournament predecessor, Ephrata affiliated programs have won an additional six titles.
No. 5 seed Warwick (8-5) vs. No. 4 seed Hempfield Black (8-5), 30 minutes following
This is a rematch of last year’s semifinals, won 2-0 by Black on Dylan Jackson’s five-hit shutout. Head-to-head this year, Warwick outslugged Black 11-8.
Five players return from last year for Warwick head coach Bill Weismandel with Cole Gerhart, Cade Breckenmaker, Nick Carson, Aaron Walker, Jayden Kline and Josiah Smucker pacing the offense. Tucker Schneider and Gannon Carvajal pilot the pitching staff.
Connor Maisano, Derek Katch, Logan Dougherty, Alex Willig, Nathan Updegrave, Joshua Daubert, Wilder Long and Jackson Walker return from Black’s ’23 LNP champs.
“It’s kind of been a team effort,” said head coach Jeremy Morrison, who also skippered Hempfield to the PIAA Class 6A title in the spring. “We patched it together as best we could.”
Camden Hulock and Dougherty formed the keystone combo for the state champions at second and short respectively. Also part of the title team were Maisano and Long , Xavier Felix and Jonathan O’Maille. Experience does matter.
Black has appeared in two of the past three championship games and overall has played in nine titles games, winning six, including back-to-back-to-back in 2001-03. Two more titles came in the pre-merger era.
