Central Mountain finishes Fourth at Thunder on the Mountain

AdminApril 29, 2017Last Updated: May 1, 2017

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BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Mother Nature chose to bless the area with a solid rendition of April Showers overnight that caused quite a predicament for the Thinder on the Mountain softball tournament.

Play was delayed several hours while staff, parents and boosters worked feverishly on both fields in hopes any further rain would pass the area by and the games could begin.

The decision was mat mid-morning to start play with the first-round Central Mountain vs. DuBois game on the JV field and move the JV games to the artificial turf of Malinak Stadium.

Under heavy overcast skies the first game began with DuBois jumping out to a 3-0 lead after 2 innings of play. The lady Beavers added to their total with 2 more runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth while CM score a run in the fifth to give DuBois a 6-1 win.

Josey Dershem, Maegan Miller, Skylar Smith and Autumn Young all had a base hit for Central Mountain in Game 1.

Caitlyn Brush pitched the complete game striking out 1 and walking 2 batters.

In the consolation final, Central Mountain faced Mifflin County who fell to Hempfield 5-0 in their first round game. The lady Huskies wasted little time in setting the tone by plating 6 runs in the top of the sixth inning,

Brush continued in the circle for that first inning, then was relieved by Madison Kneep who closed out the final 6 innings for the Lady Wildcats.

Trailing 7-0, the Lady ‘Cats made a comeback attempt in the bottom of the fourth inning when senior, Averie Pringle led off with a base hit then scored when sophomore, Autumn Dershem slammed fly ball that had no problem clearing the center field fence for her first-ever home run to close the gap 7-2 in favor of Mifflin County.

Central Mountain would score one more run in the fourth inning when Madalyn Bechdel scored from third on a wild pitch with Cm trailing 7-3.

The Lady Huskies would score 3 more runs in the game, 1 in the fifth inning and 2 more in the sixth inning to earn the third place tournament finish 10-3.

Josey Dershem had 3 base hits in the consy game with Young and Bechdel recording 1 single each.

Though they struggled defensively at times, the Lady Wildcats made some key plays including a diving catch in foul territory by shortstop Skylar Smith and a great tip-toe warning track catch by center fielder, Morgan Wetzel that robbed Mifflin County of a home run.

“Between the weather and the way we ended up playing a little bit today maybe wasn’t the best we could have expected from our girls,” said CM softball head coach, Ben Trew, “Sometimes you have days like that. The good thing was that we got to see in the second half of the second game, we made some adjustments and they battled back a bit,” he observed.

“It was a nice opportunity being in the situation we were in to give some other people opportunities today,” Trew said of his reserves, “Autumn Dershem put the swing on that ball and give us the home run, Averie Pringle had a chance to play third base and a nice hit as well. I’m real happy for those girls when given the opportunity, to see them come through for us.”

Hempfield defended their title finishing first in the tournament by defeating DuBois 10-1 in the Championship game.

Central Mountain will only have one day of rest to re-group as they are scheduled to host PHAC rival, Jersey Shore on Monday, May 2, 2017.