Lady Wildcats Go to 5-0 with 2-0 Win
By Tom Elling
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA- Again it wasn’t easy. And before the game, I joked with head coach Fred Caldwell about three of his team’s four wins coming in extra innings. He removed his cap to show me the effect. Then laughed. Assistant Matt Burrows did likewise. Well, it wasn’t quite the late homerun hitting heroics, we had referenced but it did cause the coaches to a bit of apprehension as the Lady Wildcats came away with yet another slim margin of victory- a 2-0 Monday shutout of Selinsgrove.
After Selinsgrove failed to score in the top of the first, Caitlyn Watson started the bottom of the inning with a base on balls. She promptly stole second and scored easily on a line drive triple to right by Allison Lininger. After another hard line drive out to right, third-sacker Harley Kunes singled sharply up the middle to plate Lininger. It appeared that Central Mountain had found their hitting stride. But not so fast, softball fans. While CM had base runners every inning, they failed to score another run. They stranded seven. And were not totally secure until the final Lady Seal infield groundout
The other side of the game line was the masterful pitching of Addie McKeague. The righty struck out a season-high 14 batters, issuing 3 free passes and just 3 hits. She had a no-hitter into the 6th when Kylie Hessek smashed a two-out hard shot between 3rd and short. Riley Battorf worked a walk but Hessek was gunned out at third when she tried to advance on a short wild pitch. Catcher Gracie Saar’s throw was well
ahead of the sliding Hessek. Saar was outstanding all rainy afternoon as in the final inning with one out, she gunned out another Seal steal attempt by Brooklyn Scholl. Scholl had delivered with a pinch hit single. With two out, Erica Meiser singled to center, and the visitors were still alive. Tough as she was all day, McKeague got the final batter on an groundout to third.
Central Mountain managed just six hits, but their big first inning turned out to be enough. Lininger had two of the hits. Madisyn Wian also collected two singles. Kunes and Madison Hardy each singled. Hana Styles executed two perfect sacrifice bunts. The Lady Wildcats host Mifflinburg (2-3) Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Kira Hackenberg is the team leader for Mifflinburg with a .611 batting average (11 for 18 with two doubles, two triples and a homerun). Tune in to therecord-online Tuesday for all the action.
