Hempfield Black, Lampeter-Strasburg Slingers get LNP 10U baseball tournament started with wins

Bats were popping and high-scoring games were the order of the night Tuesday as the 2026 LNP 10U Tournament got underway at Mountville's Froelich Park. Between both halves of the evening's doubleheader, there were three home runs and 48 total runs scored.

In the end, the lower seeds won out, as No. 4 Hempfield Black topped No. 1 Warwick 9-7 in the opener and No. 3 Lampeter-Strasburg downed Manheim 20-12 to advance in the championship bracket.

Warwick and Manheim set a date back at Froelich for an elimination game at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Hempfield - the tourney's two-time defending champion - and L-S will play 20 minutes following the conclusion of the night's first game.

Game 1

After a lot of back and forth Tuesday, Hempfield's Henry Denlinger finally got the moment he'd been waiting for.

One mighty swing of his bat ultimately settled the game.

In the sixth, with teammate Kamden Rockafellow already aboard, Denlinger connected for a two-run shot that stood for the final score.

"Since it was my first home run, it was incredible because ... I'm just speechless," Denlinger said. "(Rockafellow), he was the one who got me there with the insane bunt to get me into that position."

Added Craig Denlinger, Henry's dad and coach, "He's been talking a lot about home runs recently in practice. But at this age, you just go out there and have fun, swing the bat, and it fell in his favor. I'm really proud of him."

Offense wasn't really a problem for either team Tuesday, and Hempfield had staked a lead from the jump.

After first-inning singles from Henry Denlinger and Everett Duty, Wyatt Zeamer grounded into a fielder's choice where Duty was out at second. Then Cade Hinkle singled on a fly ball to center field, and Denlinger crossed for the game's first run.

After the score, Julien Winter stepped in to pinch run for Zeamer and Jack DeClementi singled to right field, scoring Winter and making it 2-0.

However, Warwick quickly responded.

With DeClementi pitching for Hempfield, Wells Henault drew a walk, which opened the door for Jack Burkholder's two-run homer in the bottom of the first to tie it at 2-2.

But Hempfield, which has been focusing on attitude and effort this season, didn't let the momentum shift.

"It's something that we talked about early in the year because baseball is a difficult game," Craig Denlinger said. "It's ups and downs. We talk about trying to stay level. Don't get too high, don't get too low. And it really comes down to the attitude you have, whether or not you're going to be successful the next time around. And the effort; every single time out there, you give everything you have with a positive attitude and see how things fall."

And a positive attitude and effort was given by his team. In the top of the second, after a walk and a single from Steven Paluga, Rockafellow singled to right, scoring Noah Fahnestick.

Hempfield returned to the top of the order, where Henry Denlinger singled on a grounder to center field, scoring Paluga and making the score 4-2.

Warwick got the bats moving again in the second when consecutive doubles from Weston Brown and Connor Fulton made the score 4-3.

Hempfield responded in the top of the third, manufacturing another run on a series of singles for a 5-3 edge. It tacked on two more runs in the fourth, as Duty singled in Winter and Paluga to make the score 7-3.

Warwick knew it needed to respond to keep the game alive, and caught a spark in the fourth as Remi Martin lined a single to right. Brown added a single of his own to bring Martin home before advancing to second on a throwing error.

After Cullen Glass' one-out single, Fulton lined a ball to center, scoring Brown. Though Glass was out at second, Warwick's deficit was sliced to 7-5.

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Pitching for Hempfield, Fahnestick allowed two walks before Burkholder reached first on an error and Fulton was able to score.

At that point, Jameson Bowen singled to center for a 7-7 tie.

Game 2

Manheim and L-S could not have begun more differently from Tuesday's opener,

A double from Kaden Bachman and a single from Blaine Sheaffer perfectly set up Lincoln Baker, who hit a three-run home run to put L-S in front.

But the Slingers weren't quite done in the first, as Bryce Devlin singled, then scored on a single by teammate Caleb Nelson to make it 4-0.

In the top of the second, Layne Martin singled for the Slingers, followed by a Beckham Garvey double. Keegan Martin then scored Layne Martin on a ground ball to put L-S up 5-0.

Baker was then intentionally walked for the first time.

"It felt respectful, but I was kind of mad that I didn't hit," he said. "I think they were kind of scared because I hit a home run."

Then, with the bases loaded, Colin Glase walked Devlin to score Garvey and make it 6-0.

The floodgates opened in the third, as L-S doubled its lead to 12-0.

But in the bottom of the inning, Manheim began to climb back in it. Glase worked a walk, Wyatt Groff singled, Aiden Landis drew a walk, and then Wyatt Miller singled in Manheim's first run.

With the bases still loaded, Tyson Blanck drew another walk to add another run. Weston Brillhart followed with a two-run single, making it 12-4.

Then Layton Landis singled and Jase Sattazahn was hit by pitch. However, Brillhart was out at second and Blanck stole home, cutting Manheim's deficit to 12-5.

The offenses kept cranking in the fourth, as L-S made it 15-5 with help from doubles from Sam Rosa and Beckett Shehan, and a single from Garvey.

Manheim clapped back with a triple from Groff, who then scored on a Landis single. Blanck followed with a single, then scored on Brillhart's double to make it 15-7.

But L-S had even more in the tank. Bachman doubled in the top of the fifth, and scored on a single from Sheaffer. Baker was once again intentionally walked. Devlin grounded out, but scored Sheaffer in the process. Rosa singled to score Miller and make the score 18-7.

In the bottom of the inning, Sattazahn was once again hit by a pitch, and Manheim used the momentum to add three runs of its own.

Both teams tacked on another two runs in the sixth to close out the high-scoring affair.

"There's four good teams that are in the playoffs," L-S head coach Chris Shehan said. "So, there's no real surprises there... there's just good baseball all the way around, so, you know, you're going to see a lot of upsets."

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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 9:28 AM.