“Shikellamy ‘Grounds’ Central Mountain Softball

By Tom Elling

MILL HALL – To say that Central Mountain was a bit flat might be an understatement. But then, as Coach Fred Caldwell pointed out, Shikellamy ‘played very well and our batters were just not patient enough.’

What the veteran coach was referencing was the fact that Wildcat batters more often than not swung at the first or second pitch and just didn’t see enough pitches to get their timing.

The impatient Lady Cats had seventeen of their 21 at-bats not leave the infield. That included 13 groundouts and 4 pop-ups. And after a shaky first inning, the Lady Braves made every single play.

The first inning perhaps was a signal of things to come. Adalynn McKeague uncharacteristically walked the first two batters and gave up two hits, allowing the visitors to jump out to a two-nothing lead. She recorded a strikeout to get out of further trouble.

Central Mountain answered in the bottom of the inning with an unearned run. Cirstyn Watson got on board on an error and moved up a base on a grounder to second. Katelyn Bowman drew a walk, and Madison Hardy reached first on another Brave error. After a flyout, Maidsyn Wian legged out an infield hit, loading the bases. Shik’s Kimball got the next batter to hit into a fielder’s choice. Shik led 2-1 after an inning.

Both teams went down in order in the second. But Shik added another run in the third. Blair Balestrini walked for the second time and swiped a base. That proved huge as after another McKeague strikeout, Sidney Sinko slashed a single to center (scoring Balestrini).

Mallori Etters singled to lead off the bottom of the 3rd but was doubled up when she strayed too far on the pop to short.

Neither team scored in the next two innings, and Shik failed to score in the 6th.

The hometown fans on senior night kept waiting for the potent Wildcat bats to come alive. The bottom of the 6th started off very promising as Madison Hardy worked a walk. Ava Doyle entered the game to run for Hardy. Harley Kunes ran up a full count before delivering a fly ball that carried over the right-field fence. Game tied at 3.

McKeague managed two quick outs in the Braves’ 7th, but a walk to Gwen Wiest would prove deadly. The next batter, Sidney Sinko, singled to right, putting runners at the corners. Ella Oakes drove in Wiest from third, dropping a short fly into right. McKeague got Kiana Lenner on a pop to third to end the inning, but Shik went ahead by a run.

The ‘Cats went down 1-2-3 on just seven pitches by Kimball setting the final at 4-3 Shikellamy.

The win avenged a season-opening 8-0 loss Shik suffered at Sunbury.

Winning pitcher Shanna Kimball did not have a single strikeout, but she kept the Wildcats off balance and after the first, her infield was flawless. McKeague took the loss. She had an impressive thirteen strikeouts but issued 5 walks. Three of those five ended up scoring.

Coach Caldwell summed up the game by saying, ‘We just have to learn from this and work on becoming more patient at the plate. Give Shikellamy credit. They played very well and we just were flat. We travel to DuBois tomorrow and host Troy on Saturday, so we better be ready for some tough games.’