CV's troubling trends

The last four games haven't been easy ones for anyone associated with the Cumberland Valley baseball program. Going back to the preliminary round of the District 3 Class AAAA playoffs last May, the Eagles have been in four straight games decided on the final pitch.

In the prelims against Penn Manor on May 17, Jordan Witmer smashed a walkoff home run to send CV to quarterfinals where it fell to top-seeded Manheim Twp., 1-0, in eight innings.

This year started much the same when Lower Dauphin handed CV an opening day loss thanks to a walkoff single in the last of the seventh. Then on Monday, Ephrata helped drop the Eagles' record to 1-3 in those four games with a bottom-of-the-seventh 4-3 win.

Keeping with the theme of one-run games, CV has now played in four straight games of that variety at War Memorial Field in Ephrata. In 2007, CV beat Pennridge, 1-0, in the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals before losing to Souderton two days later, 3-2.

But it's not all doom and gloom for the Eagles. In 2007, CV lost by one run in two of its first four games in starting 0-4. The Eagles also lost to Carlisle and Chambersburg by a single run that year before reaching the 3-AAAA final and narrowly missing a spot in the state championship.