Montgomery Knocks Off Lady Bucks, 12-1

FARWELL – Sometimes in athletics it’s good to have a short memory. The Bucktail softball team needs to quickly move on from its 12-1, 5-inning Monday loss to visiting Montgomery.

The game was a rematch of the two Mid-Penn powers and this time around the visiting Raiders had the better of it, putting up six second inning runs and never looking back in avenging a 19-2 loss to Bucktail a month ago.

The outcome put the two teams in a virtual tie in the conference. The Lady Bucks are 11-1 in Mid-Penn play, 14-1 overall. Montgomery moved to 10-1 in league play and 11-2 overall, the tenth win in a row for the visitors. The Bucktail loss ended the home team’s school-record 14 game win streak.

The top of the second saw Montgomery do to Bucktail what the Lady Bucks had been doing to their opponents all season long. The Raiders had only one hit in the inning, a two RBI single from Faith Persing. But they used four walks, a botched fielder’s choice and an error to send 10 batters to the plate for the lead they would never relinquish.

Montgomery would score two more runs in each of innings three, four and five for 12 in all. Meanwhile Raider veteran hurler Emily Snyder held the usually potent Bucktail lineup to just three hits, singles from Jordan Burrows and Rachel Goss and a double from Emily Cross. Bucktail’s lone run came in the bottom of the second, Goss’s single plating Tesa Cowfer who led off the inning with a walk and stole second before scoring.

Otherwise Snyder was in command, going all five innings, striking out 7 and walking 3. Bucktail left five runners on base.

Bucktail coach Mike Poorman said his team members have to keep their heads up and bounce back, stating “We still have a chance to win the conference; that’s a good year.” He said, “There are things to clean up, hopefully this is a wake-up call,” lamenting that Montgomery was able to put up 12 runs on only four hits; the Raiders also benefitted from nine walks in all.

Poorman lauded Montgomery, calling them “a great team; you give them opportunities, they’ll take advantage of them.” He said Monday’s outcome will give the Lady Bucks a chance “to see what we’re made of” from here on out. He said Bucktail will be facing some better competition in the near future as the regular season winds down.

Next up is a Tuesday home game with St. John Neumann (3-7), a team that forfeited to Bucktail at the end of last week; then a Thursday game at Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (7-9) and home Saturday, May 11, an 11 a.m. game with Cowanesque Valley (1-8).