Central Mountain Nips North Hills, 1-0 in Class 5A PIAA Round I
McKeague Masterful on Mound - Hardy with clutch walk-off Home Run
By Tom Elling
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – It was a great day for a PIAA girls’ softball playoff game. Two outstanding teams clashed at the Central Mountain athletic complex. North Hills came to Clinton County with a 17-4 record and a 3rd place WPIAL finish; Central Mountain was 20-2 with a come-from-behind 6-5 win last week at DuBois to capture a District 6 5A title. Most were predicting a close, low-scoring game. They weren’t wrong.
The visiting Lady Indians (17-4) got to the game riding the right arm of Sophia Roncone and the heavy hitting duo of Maria Chutko and Abby Scheller. Their top hitter Kassidy Witting (a Seton Hill recruit and the head coach’s daughter) had to sit out the game because of an injury.
Central Mountain (20-2) also had much success behind the hard-throwing Adalyn McKeague and different batting heroes over the season. Most recently, it has been Allison Lininger and Harley Kunes carrying the hot bats.
Roncone held the Wildcats’ hitters quiet and hitless until Lininger ripped a single up the middle in the 6th. Kunes followed working a walk. The duo moved up a base on a Roncone wild pitch, but the North Hills hurler got the next three batters on a pop-up, and fly-out and a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.
McKeague (who had seven strikeouts) retired 11 in-a-row from the 4th through the 7th. Her streak was stopped by a lead-off 8th inning single by opposing pitcher Roncone. A fielder’s choice and a sac bunt followed ; then the alert Wildcat defense caught Kaylee Bishoff in a run-down to end the inning.
Central Mountain was retired one-two-three – all on strikeouts in the bottom of the 8th.
The two stellar teams went to the 9th with an umpire-reminder that IF the game went to the 10th, an extra-inning rule of each team starting with a runner on second.
Momentum seemed on the side of the visitors when after a pop-up, Chuko drilled her second single- a liner to right. She was erased on a FC by Abby Scheller. Hanna Murphy kept the threat going with a hard shot to left, but McKeague got the final out on a pop to third.
Bottom of the 9th… lead-off batter – Madison Hardy, who had delivered in three early-season games with game-winning dingers. She had been in a slump, but her swings according to head coach Fred Caldwell had been improving as she was swinging more level than her HR uppercuts. The first sacker worked a 3-1 hitters’ count then found a pitch down the heart of the plate to her liking and smashed the game-winning homerun over the right-center fence for her 4th such feat of the season.
Coach Caldwell called Hardy’s hit “amazing.”
“Lats year, Madison was a true power hitter. She struggled a bit this year with average and was in a bit on a slump. She has worked hard on leveling out her swing.”
That hard work paid off for the ‘Cats.
“I’ve been to several junior high practices and there is a lot of talent coming up,” the affable coach offered. “We’re young so the future looks bright.”
“The team has all embraced their roles – even if being the loudest cheerleader on the bench, and the parents have been terrific.”
The girls’ next game is scheduled with another WPIAL team- either top seeded Armstrong or the 7-4 finisher Chartiers Valley- on Thursday, June 9 at a site not yet confirmed.
The 21 wins is believed to be the most wins in the history of Central Mountain softball.
