Lady Wildcats Earn Split at Thunder Tourney

AdminApril 27, 2019Last Updated: April 27, 2019

2 minutes read

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – The Central Mountain softball team did a lot of things really well on Saturday in earning a third place finish at their own Thunder on the Mountain tournament.

After a competitive 2-0 loss to defending PIAA Class 3A champion Philipsburg-Osceola in their opener, the Lady Wildcats came back to dominate Dubois in a 14-0, 5-inning game.

Head coach Fred Caldwell liked what he saw from his defense, two games of error-free ball and he noted the Lady ‘Cats “improved their hitting greatly in the second game.” Held to 4 singles and striking out 14 times against P-O’s game one winner, Kamryn Harris, Central Mountain did a complete turn-around in game two, striking out only twice while piling up 14 runs and 15 hits.

Freshman third baseman Caitlyn Watson set the tempo for game two. Batting second in the first inning, she drilled her first career homerun to left-center field. A second run scored off a Morgan Wetzel single, a Wetzel stolen base and an RBI single from Kylie Wagner. Three more runs scored in inning two; after singles from Autumn Dershem and Alyssa Fisher, Morgan Wetzler slugged a 3-run homerun and CM led 5-0.

The game stayed that way until the top of the fifth when Central Mountain battered two Dubois pitchers for nine runs, using seven hits and an error as part of the onslaught.

Meanwhile starting pitcher Madi Knepp only got stronger as the game moved on. The first two Dubois batters singled to start the game and Knepp gave up her only walk to load the bases with two outs in the first frame. But she got a pop-out to end the inning and Dubois failed to get another baserunner, Knepp finishing with 13 straight outs, seven on groundballs as the Lady ‘Cat defense played error-free ball.

All nine CM starters provided base hits, led by Dershem’s 3-for-3 performance, two doubles and a single. Wetzler contributed a single and her homerun, this after going 3-for-3 with three singles in game number one. Watson finished with her homerun and an RBI single; Riley Houser with two singles, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs; Fisher with a single, double and RBI. Other singles came from Knepp, Wagner, Bailee Renninger and Alexa Shultz.

Afterwards coach Caldwell said it was “fantastic” that everyone in the lineup contributed at least one hit and said the contest might have been his team’s best of the season. It came against a Dubois team the Lady Wildcats might meet again in the postseason.

Knepp was the hard-luck loser in game one, pitching a complete-game five hitter.

With the split Central Mountain moved to 6-7; Dubois fell to 6-6 with the loss. The Lady Beavers had opened tourney play with a 6-3 loss to Hempfield. The Lady ‘Cats next play at home Tuesday, April 30, against Jersey Shore (11-1).

Not to be outdone, the Lady Wildcat JV squad picked up the title in the junior tier of the tournament with a 17-3 four-inning morning game win over P-O then knocking off DuBois 14-3 in five innings in the championship game.