Long balls lift Bucktail into District Championship game in 12-2 win
By Bees O’Brien
WILLIAMSPORT, PA – Last season, Bucktail softball left Elm Park in heartbreak following a 1-0 loss to Montgomery. It would be the closest the Lady Red Raiders would be to tasting defeat. Montgomery would blow past Cowanesque Valley in the district title game and would go on to capture the 1A State Championship with ease.
This season Kendall Wagner and Haley Burrows had other plans. Their plan included a pair of monstrous home run bombs that would propel Bucktail to cruise past Montgomery 12-2 in five innings, earning a spot against Canton in the District IV 1A title tilt on Tuesday back at Elm Park.
Montgomery battled Bucktail hard early on. The Lady Raiders entered the game heavy underdogs, but that didn’t keep them from striking first blood when Zoe Furman scored in the top of the first inning.
Haley Burrows would be huge for Bucktail. Burrows’ first at bat would be a shot off of the left field fence, allowing the Bucktail senior to cruise in for a standup double.
Mak Wagner would then step to the plate and score Burrows on a triple to knot things up at 1-1.
The Lady Bucks would take the lead for good on a sky-high towering home run from freshman Kendall Wagner. The Wagner shot over the left field fence would give Bucktail the lead for good at 2-1.
Burrows would be at it again in the bottom of the third inning when she would deliver a laser shot over the centerfield fence. Her two-run shot scored Lola English, who reached base on a single in the previous at bat.
Montgomery wasn’t about to give up against their district rivals. The Lady Red Raiders would rally in the top of the fourth inning and plate a run before Lola English would make a pair of solid catches in centerfield to end the bases loaded rally.
Leading 4-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lady Bucks put together a 5-run inning that would seemingly diminish any hopes that the fourth-seeded Lady Raiders had left.
A Kendall Wagner single and a triple from Alexis Lowery started things off. Wagner would score off of the Lowery triple and Lowery would score on a Matti Mason single. English would draw a walk before Burrows would reach base on an infield single. This would eventually allow courtesy runner Lily Francis, English and Burrows all to score.
Bucktail’s 9-2 lead entering the bottom of the fifth inning would have the team hoping to score three quick runs and end the game. That’s exactly what they would do.
Mason would reach base on an error and Francis would once again run for her. A double from English and another single from Burrows would lead to Francis scoring her second run. Mak Wagner’s RBI single would be followed by a walk from Eva Sockman. Makenna Stone would slice a hit into right field and score Burrows to end the game.
Mak Wagner pitched a solid game for Bucktail, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 5.
Bucktail totaled 14 hits, led by Haley Burrows’ 4-hit performance. Her home run was her first varsity home run to clear a fence. Burrows has used her speed to hit multiple inside the park home runs, but the senior finally cleared one over the fence.
Kendall Wagner would have a pair of hits, including her third home run of the season. Mak Wagner would have a triple and a double, while English totaled a pair of hits too for Bucktail. Mason would also collect a pair of hits. Alexis Lowery added a triple and Sockman added a single.
Montgomery’s season ends at 12-10. Bucktail improved to 15-4 and will meet Canton (13-8) on Tuesday at Elm Park in the D4 1A Championship. The Lady Warriors cruised past St. John Neumann 10-0 in five innings in the other semifinal game.
