Sizzling start at the hot corner

By Bruce Morgan

There was a time when playing the hot corner only held lukewarm interest, at best, for Peyton Reber.

That was in 10U softball at Spooky Nook Sports.

But as the years passed, things changed for Reber.

Prior to her freshman softball season at Warwick this spring, she returned to third base. She had a change of heart.

And it proved to be a great match, as Reber won a spot in the starting lineup and ran with it.

“Obviously, it was never something that was just going to be handed to me,” she recalled. “I knew the biggest thing was going to be hitting. As long as I could hit, I think I could find a spot somewhere on the field.”

Turns out, Reber never left any doubt that she could hit. She went 3-for-4 with two triples in an early-season win over Manheim Central and never looked back, finishing with a team-best .459 batting average for a Warrior team which captured the Section One crown and advanced to the District Three Class 5A playoff quarterfinals in May.

Her efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

Earlier this month, Reber learned that she received All-State Class 5A First-Team honors. Remarkably, Reber was one of only three freshmen among the 18 Lancaster-Lebanon League athletes who were recognized by the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association. The other two first-year players were Ephrata outfielder Emma Showalter and Lancaster Catholic’s Emmalyn Maumus.

Reber’s mother, Kelly, broke the news to her after finding out from Warwick coach Kerry Long.

“I was super excited,” Reber said. “It was really good to see that my hard work paid off. It’s really an honor, especially for a freshman to get.”

Kelly, as a third baseman in her own right, invested a lot of hard work too while helping Warwick win its first-ever District Three softball title in 1997.

In fact, it was her base base hit in the top of the 10th inning which ignited the Warriors’ go-ahead rally in their 2-1 win over six-time defending champ Chambersburg in the finals.

Now, almost three decades later, Kelly picked up an assist for the Warriors. She encouraged Peyton to give third base another try. Undeniably, Long and the Warriors were very grateful she did.

“My mom kind of pushed me to go back just because of my arm,” Reber remarked. “Honestly, I’m really glad I moved back to it. I think it’s my position. I really love it.”

“Before she came in,” Long said, “I was expecting to try to have (Peyton) at second because that was the last place we used her in travel ball. But then she worked out with (former

Photo by Dennis Bicksler

Warwick freshman third baseman Peyton Reber barrels an extrabase hit in a game against Manheim Township this spring.

Warwick All-State player) Bella (Smithson), and I think since Bella played third, she talked it through. Hey, I was ecstatic. That was an open position that we needed to fill and it looks like I can fill it for the next three years.”

Long also happened to be Reber’s coach in 10U travel ball at the Nook. It was then that Reber got her first taste of playing third base. Previously, she had pitched while growing up playing in Warwick Little League.

“(Pitching) was nice because at that age, you just want to touch the ball as much as you possibly can,” she said. “But I figured that that wasn’t for me.”

Third was another place for her check out. What she found was that it’s called the “hot corover ner” for a good reason. Line drives out of the right-hand batter’s box didn’t give her a lot of time to react.

“I think before, I was a little bit scared because it just comes at you faster,” Reber said. “I didn’t like it at all.”

She ended up playing middle infield for the next couple of years in 12U and 14U with the Long-coached Keystone Bombers. Growing in her game, Reber continued to take a lot of ground balls, fine-tuned her reflexes and built her selfbelief.

With Sophie Smutz gone after playing third base for the Warriors in 2025, Reber was ready to give the position a second chance.

“I just like that I can unleash my arm and throw it hard as I can,” Reber said. “I think you have to throw it harder there than you really do other spots. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to think. You just react and throw the ball, and I like that.”

If Peyton’s mom deserves credit for urging her to play at third base again, Smithson rates kudos for her impact on Reber’s hitting.

Smithson, now playing at Division-One University of Buffalo, worked with Reber on her mechanics and confidence, and the results spoke for themselves.

In addition to going 32-of-71 at the dish, Reber connected for five doubles, four triples and 10 RBI and led the team with 27 runs scored.

“Just being able to learn from (Bella) and my hitting coach, they’ve really helped me get confidence in myself,” she said. “I wasn’t always a good hitter. I really struggled with confidence, but once I got that figured out, I think that really helped me a lot.”

Besides Reber taking a page from Smithson’s hitting, Long also believes that the two share similar mannerisms, in that they never get too high or low.

Being even-keeled perhaps benefited Reber this spring as well.

“Epic,” Long said of her season. “For a freshman to come in there and hold down third base, she batted third in our lineup ... her RBI’s weren’t high, but that’s because Emerson (Overly) was driving them in right in front of her. But everything else, I was really impressed. I coached her in travel ball for four years, and she’s grown. Height and in skills.”

Admittedly, Reber didn’t have her best game in a scrimmage against Donegal, but two days later, she turned the page and was a different player against MC.

That gave her an early-season boost which she carried forward.

“I really had jitters and evball,” (against Donegal),” Reber recalled, “but the next game against Central, I really bounced back and had a few big hits and I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got this, this is a good spot for me.’ I wasn’t going to let up because I knew that there were people who wanted that spot and who would outwork me if I didn’t keep working for it.”

Her diligent work contributed to a solid .897 fielding percentage, making only four errors in 39 total chances with 21 putouts.

And while she might not have necessarily expected to bat a lofty .459, Reber did have confidence that she belonged on the varsity level.

“Obviously, I knew it was something I could do,” she said. “I believe in myself, I knew I could do it and people around me instilled that belief into me. Obviously, my cousin Emerson really helped me because she’s been in that position before, bethree ing a freshman on varsity. And I always felt supported by coach Long. He’s been my coach for awhile, so we had a good relationship. Once I kind of got grooving and got into my zone, I just kept rolling.”

The Reber-Overly 1-2 punch delivered in a game against Section One rival Penn Manor in Millersville on May 4. Reber doubled with two outs in the fifth inning and scored the goahead run on Overly’s RBI single to left field in what became a key 5-4 win for the Warriors in their drive to a perfect 10-0 league record and the Section One title.

“That was a big (moment) for me,” Reber said, “because that was a Section game, so that’s obviously a big game — you want to win those.”

There will be more big games for Reber in the coming years. Fortunately for Warwick, they have their third base position locked up.