Moore, NEB dethrone Lady Bucks in district final

By Bees O’Brien

WILLIAMSPORT- Northeast Bradford senior pitcher Kelsea Moore was a handful on Tuesday afternoon. She gave the two-time defending District IV 1A champions all they can handle at Elm Park in the district finals. Moore struck out 11 Lady Bucks, held their high powered offense to just 5 hits in 6 innings in the circle.

Meanwhile, Bucktail failed to play the tight defense that they did in Saturday’s semifinal win over Montgomery. Two first inning errors in the outfield and a wild pitch resulted in a quick 3-0 Lady Panther lead after one inning.

Bucktail’s best chance came in the top of the fourth inning when Eva Sockman reached base on a single and senior catcher Matti Mason reached on a perfectly executed bunt, but the Lady Bucks couldn’t get anything going against Moore and her excellent defense.

The messy start for Bucktail, combine with a nonexistent offense resulted on Northeast Bradford eventually building a 6-0 lead following another 3-run inning off of a pair of Lady Bucks’ miscues in the bottom of the fourth inning.

NEB nearly ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with three more runs to put Bucktail on the brink of falling by way of the mercy rule, but the Lady Bucks fought off the Lady Panther rally to extend the game.

The 9-0 score ended up being the final. Northeast Bradford (12-7), who dropped down to 1A from 2A this season will now meet District 3 champions Greenwood (3-17) in the first round of the state playoffs.

Bucktail (11-8) will have a tougher road in the first round when they meet undefeated District 6 champions Claysburg-Kimmel (25-0) on Monday at a location yet to be determined.

Makenna Stone led Bucktail at the plate with a pair of hits, one being a triple. Lola English, Sockman, Mason and Angel Kmetz also picked up hits in the loss.