Dock Mennonite Academy wins 8th straight District 1 title

BOYERTOWN >> The legacy continues.

For the eighth straight season, Dock Mennonite Academy is bringing home a District 1 championship.

The top-seeded Pioneers defeated No. 2 Faith Christian Academy, 5-3, in the District 1-A championship game at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium Thursday afternoon.

“I’m a senior and this is my last year,” Dock pitcher Nathan Lapp said. “I’m glad I was able to get another piece of hardware for the school.”

“This one meant a lot,” Dock catcher Sam Laux said, “because we faced our rival. We always want to win and they definitely put up a fight, which made it a lot more fun. It’s definitely one to remember.”

Dock scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning to open up a 5-0 lead. Brayden Kratz got the scoring started in the bottom of the first when he doubled and scored on an error.

Laux hit a one-out solo home run in the bottom of the third to make it 2-0. His homer cleared the fence in left field.

“I was looking off-speed actually,” Laux said, “but they pounded me with fastballs. I’ve been doing well with them all year and caught a barrel and it went farther than I thought it did. It was exciting to get us going.”

Deven Ross followed with a single and Zach Frederick doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Zach Neff plated both of them with a two-run single and advanced to second on the throw. He scored two batters later on a Cooper Brannon base hit.

“We got as hyped as possible,” Laux said. “We try not to get dead. We want as much energy for as long as we can. That’s something we want to do and that’s what we did well.”

The energy wasn’t just on the offensive end for the Pioneers. Lapp started on the mound and went 6 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts to one walk. He allowed three runs on five hits. Each of the six innings he finished on the mound ended with him firing up his teammates going back to the dugout.

“(Energy is) everything,” Lapp said. “It’s how baseball is played – with energy. It’s how every sport is played and I play with a lot of it. That’s just who I am.”

“(Lapp’s) a sparkplug,” Laux added. “He walks around, has a chip on his shoulder and gets everyone going. He’s fun to catch. He puts it where I want it, we attack guys and, yeah, he’s a lot of fun to catch.”

Faith scored all three of its runs in the top of the fifth inning. Lincoln Hower got the Lions on the board with an RBI double before Jude Clymer’s two-run single made it a 5-3 game.

“I’m very happy with our fight,” Faith coach John Bellis said. “We came in very depleted – three starters not here… I’m really proud of the way they played. We had three freshmen out there, it was great.”

Lapp stranded Clymer on third base to end the fifth inning and left runners on the corners to end the sixth to protect the 5-3 lead.

“Just throwing strikes,” Lapp credited for getting out of those jams. “At the end of the day as a pitcher, you just have to go up there and throw strikes. That’s what it came down to.”

Lapp reached the 105-pitch limit one out short of a complete game. Brannon earned the save with a strikeout with the tying run at the plate.

Brody Harp took the loss for Faith Christian. He allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk in 2 2/3 innings. Brandon Labs threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.

Dock will get some time off before opening the state playoffs on Monday June 5 against the District 11 champion.

“We want to keep doing what we’re doing,” Laux said. “High energy coming into every game with a chip on our shoulder. We’ll have some fun and keep hitting. That’s what we do – we hit. Let’s keep that going and have some fun at states.”

Faith Christian Academy’s season ends with the loss.

“We want to put a lot of effort into things bigger than baseball,” Bellis said. “Having our conduct be worthy of the Gospel that we proclaim as a Christian school. That’s the way they acted today. I’m really proud of the way they handled themselves. Their conduct, their behavior, their integrity, their work ethic – that’s what we want. It would have been great to have a ‘W’ but at the end of the day those are the things that matter most.”

Dock Mennonite Academy 5, Faith Christian Academy 3

Faith Christian Academy 000 030 0 – 3

Dock Mennonite Academy 104 000 x – 5

WP: Nathan Lapp 6.2 IP 9 K 1 BB 7 H 3 R

LP: Brody Harp 2.2 IP 0 K 1 BB 7 H 5 R

S: Cooper Brannon 0.1 IP 1 K 0 BB 1 H 0 R

2B: F: Lincoln Hower. D: Brayden Kratz, Zach Frederick.

HR: D: Sam Laux.