L-S, Manheim Township post opening-night wins as LNP 12U Tournament opens
This year's LNP Tournament action shifted to historic Kunkle Field in Mount Joy on Monday night as the 12U bracket got underway.
In the evening's opening game, the top-seeded Lampeter-Strasburg Atta Boys defeated the No. 4 Ephrata Drillerz 11-4. Then, in the nightcap, No. 2 Hempfield Black faced the No. 3 Manheim Township Streaks in a back-and-forth game. The Streaks came out on top, winning 12-10.
Those outcomes set up Tuesday's slate back at Kunkle, in which the Drillerz and Hempfield Black will square off in a 6 p.m. elimination bracket game. The Atta Boys will take on the Streaks in the championship bracket game, set to start 20 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.
Game 1
Bennett Stoltzfus had a plan.
"Just dominate and own the mound," the L-S starting pitcher said Monday.
And he didn't let a miscue derail his efforts, either. In the first inning, his balk may have handed the Drillerz their first run of the night for a 1-0 lead, but Stoltzfus and the Atta Boys were determined to take the lead from there.
Ultimately, Stoltzfus pitched three full innings, giving up two hits and one earned run, and striking out seven of the 11 batters he faced.
"I mean, he's been dominating, literally dominating on the mound for us all year," Atta Boys head coach Sean Garvey said. "He's a big reason why we're the No. 1 seed. Because of the way he goes up there, he just controls it. And like I said, with him, he just throws straight gas. It's hard to hit on him."
All told, the Drillerz managed to get just two hits off him.
Stoltzfus got support from his offense, too. The Atta Boys responded in the bottom of the first with two runs, then added on from there with four runs in the second and three in the third, putting L-S up 9-1.
Two of the runs scored came from the first home run of the playoff season, a third-inning shot to center off the bat of Carson Littler. For Littler, in his two at-bats, he had a hit with two RBIs and scored three runs.
The Drillerz refused to give up though, and in the top of the fourth, Owen Montgomery hit his own, sending a ball over the left-field fence to make it 9-2.
The bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth were scoreless, and then the Atta Boys added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth.
In an attempt to come back, on two doubles and a single, the Drillerz were able to score two runs in the top of the sixth.
"I think what we're hoping to see is another dominating game," Garvey said of Tuesday night's match with Township. "... Just very proud of the boys."
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Game 2
The first game crowd stuck around for the beginning of the second, and the energy was electric. Both teams cheering, parents adding support from the stands ... everyone was on their toes and tensions were high.
The Streaks used this energy to their advantage in the top of the first, scoring six runs to go up 6-0. Township was able to bat around the order one complete time, and the Streaks' first two hitters got to bat twice. The outburst was highlighted by Mason Martzall's RBI triple and Braeden Falgee's two-run double.
In the bottom of the inning, Brody Daly hit an RBI single to add a run to Hempfield's column, ending the first 6-1.For his part, Daly finished the night with a game-best 4-for-4 plate performance and three RBIs.
Hempfield held the Streaks scoreless in the top of the second, then went to work.In a series of singles, errors and walks, the Black manufactured four runs to close the gap to 6-5.
The top of the third inning saw three up and three down for the Streaks, and Hempfield used the momentum shift to its further advantage, tacking on a run and tying the game at 6-6.
The Streaks were held scoreless again in the top of the fourth, and Hempfield continued to pour it on. The Black scored four more times in the bottom of the inning, pushing it to 10 unanswered runs and a 10-6 lead.
But the Streaks were not giving up.
"Our coaches were like, 'We've got to believe, baby,' " said Township's Martzall, the No. 8 hitter, who finished with a pair of hits in three at-bats. "And then we just came back."
Township scored a lone run in the top of the fifth to cut Hempfield's lead to three. Then, the sixth inning began, and it was all Streaks.
"You know, when we play as a team, when we play with energy, everything's contagious," Streaks head coach Jeb Wagner said. "The hits are contagious. We make the routine routine, and we just play great team baseball."
And the hits were contagious. The Streaks - who like Hempfield piled up 11 hits in the game - were able to score another five runs and hold off Hempfield to seal their date with L-S in Tuesday's game under the lights.
Township and L-S are no strangers to each other. They faced each other four times in the regular season, which could make for an interesting game Tuesday.
"It's going to take an all-out team effort again," Wagner said. "You know, they're a good ball club. They know who we are, we know who they are, and we have to come in here ready to play. Same energy as we had tonight."
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This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 9:29 AM.