Central Mountain softball continues exciting postseason at home versus Penn-Trafford
By Bees O’Brien
MILL HALL- Multiple times over the course of the past two Central Mountain Lady Wildcats softball playoff games it appeared that a berth in the 5A state playoffs would fail to happen. CM would prevail with a pair of dramatic victories and will now open state playoffs against District 7’s third place team, Penn-Trafford.
The Lady Warriors are battle tested, coming out of the very competitive WPIAL and will offer the Lady Wildcats their toughest challenge of the postseason. Penn-Trafford sports an impressive 16-6 record entering Monday’s 4pm start in Mill Hall.
Central Mountain’s 14-5 record has been impressive, but they’ll love to keep things rolling in front of a home crowd.
How They Got Here- Penn-Trafford earned the five seed in the 5A WPIAL playoffs and opened district play with wins over Bethel Park and Shaler before falling to eventual champions Armstrong in the semifinals. The Lady Warriors then would knock off Greater Latrobe to earn a spot in the state tournament.
Central Mountain captured the District 6 5A championship over Hollidaysburg thanks to a Cora Meyers walk off home run in a 2-1 extra innings victory. The Pennsylvania Heartland I co-champions would then slug their way past DuBois 13-11 in the District 6/9 subregional game to reach Monday’s first round matchup.
Key Players- Penn-Trafford can hang with CM when it comes to the long ball. Mackenzie Keenan launched two home runs and Cam Ponko and teammate Erin Drotos both homered in their 13-4 win over Shaler in the WPIAL quarterfinals. Allyson Paulone is Penn-Trafford’s number one in the circle and she will have a tough task against a the powerful Lady Wildcat bats.
Meyers leads the way for CM with 9 home runs. Madison Hardy has hit 4 over the fence, with teammate Harley Kunes has 3 home runs. Katelyn Bowman has connected on a pair of home runs, including a game altering shot against Dubois. Cirsten Watson and Sophie Mitchell both have home runs for CM too.
Madison Hardy’s .483 average leads the Lady Wildcats, who also have Kunes (.474), Ava Doyle (.450) and Meyers (.403) all hitting over .400 on the season.
CM head coach Fred Caldwell is fortunate when it comes to pitching depth. Senior Adalynn McKeague and freshman Camdyn Weaver have given CM a dynamite rotation. McKeague is sporting a 2.70 ERA and Weaver is holding down a 3.32 earned run average.
Keys to The Game- For Central Mountain it will fall on their strengths. Depth at pitching and of course, their ability to hit some hard balls early in the game to take Penn-Trafford out of the game early.
The Lady Warriors big keys will depend on how well they adjust to a long ride to western Clinton County and how they’ll handle the hostile Mill Hall crowd. Penn-Trafford is no strangers to Central Mountain. The Lady Warriors eliminated the Lady Wildcats from the 2019 playoffs.
What’s next- The winner of this game will meet the winner of the Greater Latrobe vs. Armstrong contest on Thursday at a site and time yet to be determined.
