DuBois Stops Late Rally to Top Lady ‘Cats 3-2

AdminMay 23, 2018Last Updated: May 23, 2018

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LORETTO – It was a tough, closely fought game between Central Mountain and DuBois for the District 6/9 5A championship with the Lady Beavers holding on to a 3-2 win at the end for the title.

For the first two innings the play was even, then DuBois got on the score board with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning.

The Lady Beavers use four base hits from Sarah Snyder, Lexi Ray, Maddy Ho and Kaylee Sadowski and a sacrifice bunt from Kacie Means to plate a pair of runs for a 2-0 lead.

Dubois tacked on another run in the fourth inning, this time using a base hits from Danessa Allison and Snyder and a sacrifice bunt from Maddie Smith to go up 3-0.

Central Mountain finally made a push when Morgan Wetzel led off with a single in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wetzel then advanced to second base on a passed ball and moved to third on a sac flu bu Skylar Smith. The it was Madison Knepp who broke the seal on the CM side of the scoreboard as she went yard of the left-centerfield fence for a 2 RBI homer to narrow the DuBois lead to 3-2.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lady ‘Cats threatened once more as the DuBois defense seems to weaken slightly by yielding back-to-back walks Cassidy Brush and Caitlyn Brush with only one out. Just as it appeared CM’s fortunes were about to change, DuBois turned a double play to to end the threat and also end Central Mountain’s season.

Along with Knepp’s home run, Wetzel was 3-for-3 in the batter’s box with a double and 2 singles while Caitlyn Brush, Riley Houser and Alexa Shultz also had base hits in the game.

“It was good for DuBois, unfortunate for us,” said CM head coach Ben Trew of the game, “Both teams played well, both teams made mistakes, they capitalized on one more run than we did,” said Trew of of the hard fought contest.

Caitlyn Brush also went the distance in the circle for the Lady Wildcats giving up 7 hits and 3 walks.

Central Mountain finished the 2018 season with a 13-6 record.

Playing in their last game for Central Mountain for the last timer were seniors: Caitlyn Brush, Josie Dershem, Skylar Smith Linzy Carson and Maegan Miller.

“Those seniors leaving this year are going to leave huge holes to fill,” said Trew of his five senior players, “It’s going to be tough to fill those spots.”

The future does have some bright spots. Fortunately several freshmen and sophomore players saw considerable playing time this season for the Lady Wildcats to help them get up to speed.

“It’s great to see young freshmen contributing,” said Trew of his underclass players, “Take Riley Houser today at third base the way she was covering all those bunts on the run.”

Unfortunately, that future will be molded by someone other than Trew as he was one of 34 Keystone Central teachers that were let go due to severe budget concerns by the KCSD board last week.

“We just found out last Thursday,” said Trew of his termination, “We’ll have to see what happens. We have a lot of family and friends out in the Pittsburgh area and we’ll likely start over back there.”

Trew built a 29-11 record over his two seasons at Central Mountain, 19-5 in the PHAC and 3 post season games including the 2017 District 6/9 5A championship as the skipper for Lady Wildcat softball.

“We had a lot of success here the last two years,” Trew said of his tenure at CM, “That’s a lot of credit to what Coach Dave Peters and his staff did here before me. A lot of people, players and coaches put in a lot of hard work. There are a lot of great kids here and that is what I’ll miss most,” Trew summed up.