Bucktail’s season ends in 1-0 heartbreaker to Montgomery
By Bees O’Brien
WILLIAMSPORT, PA – Bucktail senior pitcher Emma Poorman embraced her coach, her father Mike Poorman at home plate following her team’s 1-0 loss to Montgomery. Tears streamed down her face in obvious disappointment as her legendary high school softball career came to a close at Elm Park on Thursday, but Poorman had nothing to be disappointed about.
The Lady Bucks’ senior threw her absolute best complete game in the circle of her entire career. Poorman struck out 7 batters and constantly fought Bucktail out of jams to keep her team very much in the game until their last at bat.
Montgomery’s Faith Persing on the other hand showed exactly why she is the state’s best pitcher. Persing mowed down 15 Bucktail hitters and allowed just two hits in seven innings of work.
Sloan Wooten would get Montgomery rolling in the top of the first with a single and would eventually steal her way to third base. Wooten, one of ten Lady Raider seniors on their roster would then try to steal home on a passed ball. Bucktail senior catcher Jordan Burrows would make a hustle play and tag out Wooten to end the inning.
Persing would fan Jordan and Haley Burrows on back to back strike outs before Mak Wagner would connect on a single, but Faith would take command by striking out Poorman to end the Bucktail first.
Montgomery’s Jen Waring would deliver a rocket to left field in the second inning and would eventually lead to her being driven in on a Courtney Smith bloop single between first and second base.
Persing would strike out the Bucktail side in the second inning and get senior Raileigh Isaacs to fly out in the bottom of the third and strike out Kayla Probert and Jordan Burrows.
Bucktail’s only other offense would a single from Poorman in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Persing would strike out 7 more batters to close out the game and allow just seven Bucktail hitters to make contact in the game. Aside from Wagner and Poorman’s singles only Isaacs and Haley Burrows managed to hit balls into the outfield. Both of those hits were fielded nicely by the Montgomery defense.
Bucktail’s strong effort against a team that had beat them previously 11-1 and 7-3 was aided by some amazing plays on defense. Both Isaacs and Probert made stellar catches in the outfield, Haley Burrows played tremendously at second base and Lily Francis made a hustle play at third base to get a huge out.
Montgomery qualified for the state playoffs and will meet surprising 5 seed Cowanesque Valley for the District 4 1A title on Tuesday. The Lady Indians stunned 1 seed Northeast Bradford 4-0 in their semifinal game on Thursday night.
Faith Persing, Jen Waring, Sloan Wooten, Brynn McRae and Courtney Smith all had single for Montgomery, now 17-4 on the season.
The Lady Bucks finished their 2022 season with an 18-3 record, with all three losses coming to Montgomery. Despite the heartbreaking loss, it still was a very historic year for Bucktail softball.
Senior Jordan Burrows became the school’s all-time hit leader, senior Emma Poorman knocked in her 100th RBI and recorded strike out 200 from the circle. Senior Raileigh Isaacs worked her way from a reserve on the 2019 District Championship to one of the premier outfielders in District 4. All three will be missed, never forgotten and well appreciated for what they’ve all done for this program.
Mak Wagner, Haley Burrows, Kayla Probert, Lily Francis, Alexis Lowery, Matti Mason and Giada DeMarte will all return in 2023. An exciting incoming freshman class will also be huge as the Lady Bucks reload.
That exciting group of current eighth grade girls were in attendance on Thursday afternoon and because of Emma Poorman and the rest of the Lady Bucks efforts during her past three seasons at Bucktail, they have dreams of taking the circle at Elm Park and representing a softball program that was on life support just a decade ago.
