Baseball: Central Mountain Drops Final Regular-Season Game
By Tom Elling
MILL HALL- It was a game of little consequence in either the District VI Playoffs or the Conference title, but still, the Wildcats, led by Coach Mike Kramer, had hoped to win their final regular season game. The veteran coach knew it wouldn’t be a lock even though Midd-West came to town with a losing record.
“Coach (Scott) Wright has a very good hitting team, especially the first five in the lineup. We knew we were in for a good game, but we just didn’t play our best today. I was enthused by the way our bench stayed in the game and rooted. I liked the way we staged a comeback in the last couple of innings to get the bat solidly on the ball. It was also bittersweet with the game being ‘Senior Night.’ We’ll work things out at practice tomorrow and get ready for Monday (playoff game vs. Hollidaysburg at BEA HS Field).”
The game started off as a harbinger of things to come. M-W’s Cole Shupp singled to center on the very first pitch, stole second, and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of cleanup hitter Garret Leitzle.
Both teams went scoreless in the second, but Midd-West scored two more in their third. After an out, it was again Leitzle providing the impetus with a double to deep center. He scored from second base on a Wildcats infield error. Trevor Sheaffer plated the baserunner Alex Trogan with a clutch single. Starting pitcher Gavin Bower worked out of further trouble with a groundout and a fly to center.
The Wildcats did get a run in the bottom of the third. Gardy Fravel was hit by a pitch. The next batter fouled out to the catcher. DH Malaky Moyd hit into a fielder’s choice, which was followed by a Chase Beard single, and Elek Fravel was the beneficiary of another hit batter. Connor Foltz then followed with an RBI single but was thrown out trying to turn it into a double.
Ashton Bennett took the mound for the Wildcats in the fourth. Midd-West greeted Bennett with a three-run fourth, the top of the order coming through with three singles mixed with two free passes. They led 6-1.
Central Mountain went down 1-2-3 in both the fourth and the fifth.
Midd-West scored two more in their sixth with the benefit of just one hit. Two walks and two hit batters provided those insurance runs.
In Central Mountain’s half of the sixth, the Kramer-led team almost mirrored the visitors’ efforts, scoring three runs without the benefit of a hit. Three walks and yet another batter hit by a pitch got the Wildcats back into the game, trailing 8-4.
Brady Lavelle, who came on in relief and shut the door in the sixth, gave up a leadoff double to Shupp. A nifty 6-3-5 double play erased that threat. Lavelle got the third out via strikeout.
The Wildcats, who hold eternal hope, did produce another run in their last at-bat. Blaze Walker singled. Elek Fravel followed with a double, and Connor Foltz lofted a deep fly to center to drive in Walker. Reliever Braxton Smith ended the Wildcats’ comeback with a strikeout
The final summary read: M-W: 8-10-2; CM: 5-6-3. Central Mountain will travel to Bald Eagle Area on Monday to play host to #2 seed Hollidaysburg in the D6 5A playoffs.
