Central Mountain Softball Cashes in on the Millionaires Miscues
By Tom Elling
MILL HALL-Williamsport came into Thursday’s game at the Central Mountain Athletic Complex with and 0-4 record. That didn’t get head coach Fred Caldwell overconfident. He knew that two of their losses were an 8-6 loss to Shikellamy and a 7-6 nail-biter to Jersey Shore.
“We just had to stay patient and do what we do. Adalynn (McKeague) puts a nice spin on the ball and she is working into form when she will get more strike-outs. I think we played really well not letting any of our errors shake confidence. This is a veteran team and they have the ability to not let little things that go wrong bother them.”
The ‘Cats meanwhile took advantage of 6 Williamsport errors, adding some daring baserunning to manufacture the four runs in a 4-1 game. Despite two errors on tough chances, the home team made a lot of fine defensive plays. Taylor Wahlers per usual played flawlessly at second base. She had two put outs and two assists- one coming on a pressure, bases loaded play. Her 4th inning groundout to the right side advance Sophie Mitchell to third after Mitchell has singled and stole second. Ava Doyle followed with a rip up the middle to plate Mitchell. Doyle also stole second and score the second run of the inning to give CM a 2-0 lead.
Central Mountain added another run in the bottom of the 5th. Cora Myers led off the inning with a walk. She moved to third on an infield error and scored on yet another infield boot. The run was unearned, but Coach Caldwell was very willing to take it.
“We like it when the OTHER team makes errors,” the affable coach said with a smile.
The Lady Billtowners ruined the shutout in the top of the 6th when Ashlyn Robinson cracked a hard liner to right center for a leadoff double. After McKeague enticed a strikeout (her 4th), she walked Emma Vollman. The Williamsport runner stole second and move to third on a passed ball. Bailey Livermore’s deep fly to center was hauled in by steady Madisyn Wian. The SAC Fly gave Williamsport their first (and only) run of the game. McKeague issued another free pass and worked out of that jam with a grounder to mostly unheralded Wahlers.
The Lady Cats answered that run with one in the bottom of the inning. It proved to be a valuable insurance run. with two outs, Harley Kunes lined a stand-up double to the fence in center field. She scored the run on yet another Williamsport error.
With McKeague tiring a bit, Caldwell relied on his freshman lefty Camdyn Weaver to close the door. Weaver was up to the task but not without some tense moments. She tossed a ground out to second before giving up an infield hit.She retired the next batter on a deep fly to center, but an infield error prolonged the inning. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch and the batter at the plate worked a walk. With the bases loaded situation, a groundball to slick-fielding Cirstyn Watson prevented any further damage ending the game with a 4-1 Wildcat win. That win improved the W-L to 4-1 for the season.
Coach Caldwell told us in the post game interview that his team will be headed to Bellefonte this Saturday.
The linescore showed Williamsport one run on five hits and six errors; Central Mountain four runs on five hits and two errors.
