Wildcats lose game, lose shot at Heartland crown
MILL HALL, PA – The Central Mountain baseball team was four outs from a needed win over visiting Selinsgrove on Wednesday, but the Wildcats came undone in the Seals’ top of the sixth, the visitors scoring six runs on just one hit, going home with an 8-7 win.
With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 11-4 in the Heartland Conference. Shikellamy clinched the title with its 13-3 win at Montoursville on Wednesday, the Braves finishing conference play with a 13-3 mark. The Wildcats are now half a game behind Selinsgrove, the Seals finishing at 12-4 in the Heartland. Central Mountain has one more league game, at home Thursday with Danville (9-7; 9-10).
Central Mountain’s Aidan Major held Selinsgrove in check through five plus innings. But the sixth proved the Wildcats’ undoing. Major walked the lead-off hitter, then struck out the next two but had to leave the game on the 100-pitch count rule. He left with a 5-2 lead but the Wildcat bullpen could not get the job done. The Seals used three walks, a hit batter, a Central Mountain error and a 3-run triple from Teague Hoover (only the second Selinsgrove hit of the game) to turn the 5-2 deficit into an 8-5 lead.
The Wildcats bounced back in the bottom of the sixth for two runs to make it 8-7 with an inning to go. Central Mountain had its chances in the bottom of the seventh as with one out Cru Stover got to second base on an error. Gabe Johnson followed with his second single off the bench but the pinch-runner for Stover was caught between third and home and tagged out for out number two. A strikeout followed and the game was over. Selinsgrove swept the season series from the Wildcats, winning 9-2 in April at Selinsgrove.
Major was overpowering on the mound, striking out 10 and giving up just one single. But he walked four and hit two and two of those runners scored. The Wildcat defense again struggled, committing four errors.
CM had a 9-2 edge in hits, including an inside the park homerun and a double from Major, the two singles from Gabe Johnson, an RBI triple from Peyton Johnson (when the Seals’ left-fielder could not locate his fly ball), two singles from Blade Myers, a bunt single from Tanner Swinehart and a double from Stover.
The Wildcats, 14-5 overall, did learn this week they are the number one seed in District 6 Class 5A and will be in the district final at Blair County Ball Park in Altoona in early June. They’ll play the winner of next week’s semifinal between number two seed Hollidaysburg and three seed DuBois.
S 0 2 0 0 0 6– 0 = 8-2-4
CM 2 1 1 1 0 2 0 = 7-9-4
