Lady Wildcats Missing Thunder at Tourney

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP — Central Mountain softball boosters take great pride in the strong field they assemble for the program’s annual Thunder on the Mountain tournament. This past Saturday’s participants were no exception, the field so strong the host Lady Wildcats failed to win a game.

In their first game Saturday the Lady Wildcats faced a familiar District 6 opponent in the Mifflin County Huskies. MC jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after a pair of infield singles were followed by a pair of errors, en route to what would be a 7-2 Husky win. CM got its first run in the third when Josie Dershem had a two-out single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Jess Strouse followed with a single to plate Dershem. The Lady Cats scored their other run in the bottom of the seventh when Jess Strouse reached on a 2-base error and Bree Hilty singled her in. Hilty finished 2-4 with an RBI on the day.

Mifflin County, now 12-2 overall, moved on to the finals, while CM, now 6-4, dropped into the consolation round.

The other semifinal saw DuBois edge Hempfield by an 8-7 score, the game going 11 innings. Mifflin County would go on the win the tournament downing DuBois by a 7-1 score for the title.

The Lady Cats were never able to recover from a tough morning loss in the consolation game matchup with Hempfield. The WPIAL power made them pay. Hempfield (12-1) picked up seven runs over the first three innings and never looked back. CM managed only three hits throughout the game.

One bright spot was freshman Josie Dershem who came on in relief of Ashley Glossner with no outs in the second inning. Down 6-0, Dershem allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned runs to over six of work.

The Lady Wildcats, just 6-4 at the season’s midpoint, will try to bounce back with a home game with Midd-West Monday at 4:30 p.m.