Lady ‘Cats fall to Williamsport, 15-9

AdminMarch 26, 2019Last Updated: March 26, 2019

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BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – It was a case of first game of the season jitters for both teams when Central Mountain hosted Williamsport for the Lady Wildcats season opener. Unfortunately the Lady ‘Cats, the Lady Millionaires overcame their miscues to earn a 15-9 win.

“We had a lot of mistakes today which I hope are uncharacteristic of the team,” said CM first year head coach, Fred Caldwell, “Early season jitters maybe, a lot of miscues we can clean up,” Caldwell added.

Williamsport used a pair of base hits and a stolen base to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Alyssa Fisher smacked out a double to lead off the CM offense in the bottom of the first inning but the effort fizzled with the Williamsport defense ending the threat. Williamsport kept the Lady ‘Cat bats silent in the second inning as well.

Central Mountain finally got things rolling in the bottom of the third inning with 4 base hits, one each from Kylie Wagner, Morgan Wetzel, Madi Knepp and Riley Houser … along with 3 Williamsport errors gave the Lady Wildcats a 5-1 lead.

Unfortunately, that lead would dwindle quickly.

In the top of the fifth inning Williamsport sent 15 batters to the plate which resulted in 10 hits (7 singles, 3 doubles) along with 3 Central Mountain errors gave the Lady Millionaires a whopping 14-5 advantage.

CM coach Caldwell made substantial changes to the lineup for the remainder of the game allowing more players an opportunity to play.

“Because I am new to the team this year, So far I’ve seen them hit balls in cages off pitching machines, I haven’t seen them play in a a game yet. Because of that, we are going to mix in a lot of players, even move some up from the jayvee squad periodically to evaluate their play until I see what the best combination is,” Caldwell explained.

The score would remain unchanged until the sixth inning when Williamsport tacked on another run as a result of walk, a double and a fielder’s choice play.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lady ‘Cats began to rally with their bats when Cassidy Brush led off with a walk and a stolen base, followed by a base hit from Bailee Renninger, another single from Autumn Dershem, a double from Alyssa Fisher and a base hit from Morgan Wetzel that closed the gap to 15-9, a score that would stand as the final result.

In the circle for the game was Knepp throwing the first 5 innings, allowing 15 hits while striking out 2 Williamsport batters. Fisher came on in relief giving up 1 run and allowing 2 walks in the final 2 innings.

Fisher led the offense with a par of doubles on the day while Wetzel had 2 singles with Riley Houser, Renninger and Wagner all had a base hit to their credit.

“I thought we were aggressive on base running, especially in the fifth inning when they took advantage of what we had,” said Caldwell of the positive aspects of the game, “Even when we got down, the dug out was still loud and kept inspiring their teammates. Those are all good signs for the future.”

As for the what needs to be improved, Caldwell says, “Communication. Most of our errors in the field were communication errors. They weren’t calling balls, hitting their cutoffs or weren’t telling each other where to go with the ball. Those are things we will continue to work on.”

The loss takes Central Mountain to 0-1 on the new season and the lady ‘Cats will next see action when they travel to Milton on Thursday, March 28, 2019.