Lady Wildcats Double Up on Shamokin, 10-5

SHAMOKIN – The Lady Wildcat softball team picked up another PHAC road win tonight outlasting a late Lady Indian rally to prevail 10-5. The win moves CM to 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the PHAC.

Central Mountain opened up the first inning scoring two runs as a result of a walk for Caitlyn Brush, a single from Josie Dershem, a fielder’s choice hit from Morgan Wetzel. Skylar Smith followed up with an RBI fielder’s choice and Madison Knepp stroked our a RBI single for the early 2-0 Central Mountain lead.

The Lady Wildcat bats would remain silent until the third inning when Dershem would hit her second single of the day, then Wetzel would plate Dershem on a RBI double to increase the margin to 3-0 for CM.

Central Mountain have 4 more runs cross the plate in the top of the fourth inning when Brush led off with a single, stole second base and was sent home on a RBI single from Dershem. Wetzel would then work a walk to reach base. Knepp would follow with a blast over the fens for a 3 RBI homer to set the score at 7-0 for the Lady ‘Cats.

Brush was the starter in the circle for Central Mountain and was received by Knepp in the bottom of the fifth inning. The change seemed to spark the Shamokin offense as they mounted a late game rally, scoring 5 runs before Central Mountain could retire the side, still trailing CM 10-5.

The Lady Wildcats would not relent to the Shamokin comeback and scored 3 more runs in the top of the sixth inning for a bit of breathing room.

Riley Houser started things off in the sixth with a base hit followed by a sac bunt from Alexis Strouse to move Houser into scoring position. Then Brush scored Houser on another sac fly. With 2 outs on the board, Wetzel pounded out a 2 RBI single to close out the scoring for CM and a 10-5 Lady Wildcat lead.

The Lady ‘Cat defense held solid in the final inning to preserve the win.

Brush gave up 6 hits, 2 walks and struck out 2 batters in 4 innings work. Knepp yielded 2 hits and 2 walks in the final 3 innings.

Next, Central Mountain will host their annual Thunder on the Mountain softball tournament on Saturday, April 28, 2018. The first game is slated for 9:30 a.m with the hosts facing Seneca Vally. DuBois will take on Hempfield at 11:45 a.m. Losers of those games will meet in the consolation final at 2 p.m. while the winners of the first round game will meet for the championship final at 4:15 p.m.