Cougars end Wildcats’ perfect season 4-2, playoffs looming

By Bees O’Brien

Hazleton- In a game that was originally set to be held in Mill Hall, Central Mountain was forced to make the trek to Hazleton due to field conditions and take on a dangerous Cougars team that entered the contest with a 10-3 record.

The battle lived up to the hype. Strong pitching from CM’s Austin Frank and Darius Shade squared off against Hazleton aces Dominic Marino and Fred Corrado.

The Wildcat tandem allowed just 3 earned runs, while the Cougar staff allowed just 2 earned runs with Corrado striking out 7 Wildcats in 5 innings of relief.

Hazleton jumped on Central Mountain by crossing 2 runs in the top of the first inning and seen their lead grow with a run in the top of the second inning. 5 Wildcat errors contributed to the shaky start.

Bryce Brungard’s fourth inning two-run homerun narrowed the gap to 3-2 in favors of Hazleton.

The Cougars tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning and the Wildcats were never able to narrow the two-run gap.

Hazleton improved to 11-3 on the season, while the Wildcats dropped to 14-1.

Brungard scored Nate Wian on his homerun. Felix Oquendo and Jase Seltzer added hits for the Wildcats in the loss.

Central Mountain is scheduled to close out their regular season on Monday at home against Shamokin.

They will then head to Bald Eagle Area on May 27 and face the winner of Hollidaysburg and Shikellamy in the District IV/VI subregional semifinal for a spot in the 5A state tournament.