Lady Wildcats Second in P-O Tourney

PHILIPSBURG – The Central Mountain softball team hammered District 6 foe Mifflin County in the semi-final round of the Philipsburg-Osceola tourney Saturday but could not get by the host Lady Mounties in the title game.

The split left coach Dave Peters’ team at 11-3 heading to State College (8-3) for a key Quad-A matchup on Monday.

In the opening round Central Mountain faced District 6 AAAA foe Mifflin County in a rematch of last season’s D6 championship. Considered by most to be two of the top AAAA teams in D6, Mifflin County entered the contest at 8-1 in the Mid-Penn League, and 9-2 overall.

CM (5-0 in the Central Penn League) entered at 10-2 on the season. 
CM grabbed an early lead in the first, and they poured it on in a 7-run fourth inning, where Lauren Russell and Avery Shaffer  blasted two monster home runs.  Seven different CM starters had hits in the game, and four different players had multiple hits. The final score, 10-1 CM.
Rachael Shady was the benefactor of all the run support, however she did her part in the circle as she limited the Huskies to four hits over 7 innings of work.

Shady was dominant and kept MC off the board until the 6th inning.  
After a big victory against a tough opponent in the first round, the road didn’t get any easier for CM as they squared off with the 12-1 Mounties on their own turf and the home team broke a scoreless tie with three fourth inning runs on the way to a 4-1 win.

P-O had given CM one of their two losses earlier in the season.  Coach Peters later said the cloudy skies and drizzle seemed to dampen the energy and bats of CM, as the ‘Cats could only muster 5 hits over seven innings. 
Sophomore Emily Strouse pitched well in her third start of the season, but the lack of run support led to a tough-luck loss. Strouse did rack up 5 K’s over 4 innings of work. 
Offensively, Jess Strouse was 1 for 2 with sac fly and RBI.  Moriah Lindsey also added a double.

After the trip to State College Monday the Lady Wildcats continue on the road, at Altoona Tuesday; the road swing continues Friday at St. Marys.