Clinton Edged by Williamsport Area 7-5
LOCK HAVEN – Clinton Junior Softball hosted Williamsport Area in first round action of the District 12 tournament this evening with the girls from Billtown earning a 7-5 win.
The game started off as scheduled but saw a lengthy delay due to a passing rain storm. Crews worked diligently to prepare the field and game continued.
Williamsport was at bat when play was suspended with a one run lead and runners on first and second. Then Williamsport plated three more runs in the first to take a 4-0 lead.
Clinton answered back in kind by scoring three runs of their own in the bottom of the first to keep the game within reach trailing 4-3.
The remainder of the game was tightly played throughout with Williamsport scoring additional runs, one each in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 7-3 lead.
The Clinton defense stiffened in the final two innings and kept Williamsport form scoring.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Clinton dug deep and attempted to mount a rally with with two singles from Kylie Wagner and Alexia Shultz but Williamsport managed the third out before the hosts could pull out the win.
One of the most memorable defensive plays came in the bottom of the first inning when Clinton third baseman, Kylie Swartz was playing a sharply hit fly that that caromed off her open glove but was snagged out of the air by shortstop, Alexia Shultz who smartly threw the ball to second baseman Miranda Hanley to complete a very heads-up double play.
Myka Poorman went the distance in the circle for Clinton, recording 6 strikeouts while giving up four walks.
Offensively for Clinton, Alexia Shultz had a double and a triple, Kylie Wagner had a pair of singles with Emily Cross, Emma Intallura and Myka Poorman each contributing a base hit.
Williamsport Area and Clinton are the only two teams in the Junior Softball tournament and will play the best of three round robin with the next game Monday, June 27th at 6 p.m. in Loyalsock. If Clinton would win that contest, a tie-breaker game will be played at Hepburn on Wednesday, June 29.
June 23, 2016 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
WILLIAMSPORT AERA | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 2 |
CLINTON | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 |