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Lady Wildcats Softball falls short of district crown after 3-2 loss to DuBois, season comes to a close

Central Mountain Softball teammates get together after the loss to DuBois and hug as their season came to an end. (The Express/Tim Weight)

LORETTO — Central Mountain High School was knocked out of the postseason after a 3-2 loss to the DuBois Beavers in the district championship.

With two runners on in the seventh, Josie Dershem hit a linedrive out to pitcher Molly Nosker, who then threw the ball to first for the double play as Alexis Strouse was in between first and second.

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

“We’re a little disappointed,” Central Mountain coach Benjamin Trew said. “DuBois ended up playing a great game and their pitcher (Molly Nosker) kept us off balance there for a long time.”

Central Mountain was held scoreless until Madison Knepp’s sixth inning two-run home run to cut Central Mountain’s deficit, 3-2.

“Madison’s done a great job for us this year, especially with hitting the ball,” Trew said of Knepp. “She’s been putting a good bat on the ball all season.”

“We have a lot of confidence and faith in Madison, and we’re just happy to see a good kid have a good result like that,” Trew added.

Morgan Wetzel led CM hitting 3-for-3. She recorded three of the Wildcats’ seven hits.

“Morgan’s a special player, no doubt about it,” Trew said of Wetzel. “She constantly hits the ball and hits the ball hard. You don’t see a lot of bloop singles with her. They are well-hit balls and she’s been doing it all year.”

Wetzel’s strong in the outfield, too. After Kaylee Sadowski recorded an RBI single to extend DuBois’ lead, 2-0 in the third, Wetzel scooped up the ball and threw out a base runner at home plate to close the inning and prevent another score.

“You don’t see too many ball players like Morgan,” Trew said of Wetzel. “We don’t play against many outfielders, if any I can think of, who are doing what she does on a regular basis. She is a very good ball player.”

DuBois extended its lead, 3-0, in the fourth after Sarah Snyder’s RBI single.

CM crawled back into the game in the sixth. Morgan Wetzel recorded a leadoff hit before Madison Knepp’s two-run blast.

Madalyn Bechdel closed the top of the seventh with a nice grab in foul territory to keep CM’s hopes alive.

CM was able to put two runners on base with one-out in the seventh, but Josie Dershem’s double play sealed the game for DuBois.

The loss ended CM’s second straight bid for a district crown.

“The girls played very well, and we had a nice record [this year], Trew said. “Unfortunately, DuBois caught us on an [off] day and they ended up beating us.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

DB 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 7 0

CM 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 7 1

WP: Molly Nosker

LP: Cait Brush

Notable Hitters

Central Mountain: Morgan Wetzel (3-3), Madison Knepp (1-3, 2-run home run), Cait Brush (1-2)

DuBois: Sarah Snyder (3-3, 1 RBI), Kylee Bundy- 2-3

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