Wildcats, Seals play to 12-inning 1-1 stand-off; to be continued

MILL HALL, PA – It was a 3-hour, 30-minute classic staged at Mill Hall Community Park Thursday evening, a Heartland Conference showdown between undefeated Selinsgrove (6-0) and undefeated Central Mountain (4-0). The two teams battled each other even-up over 12 innings and when play was called due to darkness, the contest was tied at 1-1. It will be resumed and completed when the two schools play again on the Seals’ home field on Saturday, May 14.

It was a game dominated by the pitchers. Starters Ryan Reich for Selinsgrove and Chase Brush for CM were particularly impressive. The Seton Hall-bound Reich went six innings and gave up two hits and one run while Brush pitched 8.2 innings, giving up three hits and one run.

Brush was shaky at the start as the Seals went double-walk-hit batter to load the bases. They would score their only run when Tyler Swineford grounded into a double play which helped Brush escape further damage. He then settled in and went into the ninth inning, only giving up one more hit and no runs.

Levi Schlesinger provided 3.1 innings of 2-hit, no run relief for the Wildcats and two Seal relievers gave the down-river team six innings of 6-hit shutout ball.

Hits were hard to come by. Cayde McCloskey led CM with three singles; others came from Nate Helms, Cru Stover, Gabe Johnson and Gardy Fravel. Tucker Teats had three of Selinsgrove’s five hits, including two doubles.

Coach Mike Kramer said he believes the 12-inning contest was a school record (and it’s not done). He had words of praise for his two junior pitchers, Brush and Schlesinger.

The Wildcats will be right back at it Friday, hosting Midd-West (2-2) at 4:30 p.m.

S  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 =1-5-2

CM 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1-8-3