Lady Wildcats fall 13-2 to State College

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP — This was not the ending Central Mountain followers wanted for the Lady Wildcat softball team and veteran coach Dave Peters. In what was coach Peters’ final game at the helm, Central Mountain never could get untracked and fell to State College by a 13-2 score in a District 6 AAAA semifinal.

“We got beat. We got outhit and outplayed in just about every part of the game. We struggled with out bats today but did manage to score a couple of runs late,’ head coach shared after the game, “We just took one on the chin today.”

“Thanks to our seniors, they are a great group of kids,” Peters said of his veterans, “It’s been a pleasure to be there coach. I’m really proud of their effort,”

While there was no public talk beforehand, when Central Mountain lost its final game this season, it would be the head coach’s final game as he will become principal of Dickey Elementary School in Lock Haven next year, precluding his doing any more coaching.

So it was a bittersweet ending, coach Peters a bit overcome afterwards, deflecting any praise offered his way other than to say, “It’s about the girls.”

For Central Mountain it was a continuation of a late season struggle, losing the final two regular season games and then dusted today by a State College team the Lady Wildcats had defeated by a 2-1 score in eight innings in mid-April.

As it turned out, State pitcher Hannah Fields lost that April game in relief but she would not be denied today, tossing a 4-hitter; she held Central Mountain without a hit through the first five innings, her team building a 9-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.

CM would score its first run on three straight singles, Skylar Smith driving in Josie Dershem who had legged out a bunt single for the first hit, followed by a single from Madison Brown and then Smith’s RBI single. The Lady Wildcats would score their second and final run in the bottom of the seventh, Emily Strouse getting on base the result of an error, moving to second on a single from Kimmie Coder and scoring on a groundout from Loren Marasco.

State used the bunt and some line drives in amassing 13 hits off two CM pitchers. The win moved the Lady Little Lions to 11-8 and ended Central Mountain’s season with a 16-5 mark. For Peters it wrapped up his ninth year as head coach, compiling a111-57 mark over that time, including a District 6 championship and a deep run into the PIAA playoffs in 2014.