Lady Wildcats Rally for 11-3 Win Over Shik

AdminApril 19, 2016Last Updated: April 20, 2016

2 minutes read

Emily Strouse

Autumn Young

Sarah Reeder

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP—The wins continue to come at a steady clip for the Central Mountain softball team.

After a couple recent one-run wins, the Lady Wildcats pulled away late from Shikellamy today, finishing with an 11-3 victory and running their record to 9-0.

Central Mountain put up single runs in innings two and three and added three more in the bottom of the fifth for a seemingly comfortable 5-0 lead. However the visiting Lady Braves (3-3) strung together three hits and a CM error to plate three unearned runs, putting the score at 5-3 for the home team after five and a half innings.

“I thought we hit the ball really well early on, but they made some really nice plays,” said CM head coach, Dave Peters, “We continued to some pressure on them to score some more runs and by the sixth inning that is what was happening for us.”

But Central Mountain broke things open with a 6-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth for an 11-3 lead. The Lady Wildcat bats came alive and the Shik defense came unglued, committing five errors in the inning. Key hits included a 2-run single from Madison Brown, a 2-run triple from Sarah Reeder, followed by an RBI triple from Skylar Smith.

“We continued to hit the ball, up and down the lineup,” explained Peters, “we had a lot of productivity from a lot of areas and that is good thing going into a big game with Jersey Shore on Thursday,” Peters added.

The offense, after a slow start, finished with 11 hits, led by Brown’s triple and single; two bunt base hits and a sacrifice fly from Josie Derhem; a 2-RBI double from Autumn Young; Smith with a double to go along with her triple; two singles from Emily Strouse and a single from Loren Marasco. Reeder finished the game with four RBIs, two on her triple and two more on two ground-outs.

Workhorse Emily Strouse got the win, a complete-game 6-hitter, striking out 10 and issuing no walks; Shik’s three runs unearned. It was her seventh appearance on the rubber in CM’s nine games. Her record is now 4-0, her second complete game in two starts and she also has two saves.

Central Mountain has the first of two regular season meetings with rival Jersey Shore at the home of the Lady Bulldogs on Thursday. Next up after that is a Monday trip to Altoona (5-2).