CM Sports weekly recap: Baseball and softball score big, McCloy soars
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By SCOTT BAKER
sbaker@lockhaven.com
Weather storms played games with the area sports schedules last week as the Central Mountain teams faced cancellations to events on both Tuesday and Friday. With Monday being an off day, it turned out to be a fairly light week overall for some of the Wildcat teams.
The Wildcat baseball team was set to play Montoursville on the road on Tuesday but stormy conditions caused a postponement of the contest prior to first pitch. So the only game that the 'Cats played last week was a road game at Shamokin. In that contest, CM carried a narrow 2-1 lead into the fifth inning before erupting for 12 runs in their final three innings and eventually cruising to a 14 -4 win. The Wildcat offense saw multiple contributors in the win. The Cats were then scheduled to host Milton on Friday but a heavy rainstorm caused a postponement of that game as well. The Wildcats overall record now sits at 8-3.
The softball team had an up-and-down week posting two huge wins against two close losses. On Tuesday, they played through some rain and eventually dropped a hard-fought 6-3 game to Milton. On Thursday, CM welcomed Altoona to Mill Hall. Well, they kind of welcomed them. What they didn't do was have mercy on them. In fact, the home team jumped on Altoona for 13 runs in the first inning and five more in the second on their way to a commanding 18-0 three-inning mercy rule victory. Alyssa Fisher and Morgan Wetzel both collected three hits to lead an 18 hit attack for CM. On Saturday, CM hosted the annual Thunder on the Mountain Tournament. In their opening round game, the locals were limited to just four hits in dropping a tight contest to the 2018 PIAA state champion Philipsburg-Osceola by a score of 2-0. In the consolation contest, CM got on the board early as freshman Caitlyn Watson had a very solid at-bat before connecting for her first career home run. The Cats held a 5-0 lead into the fifth when they exploded for nine runs to earn a five inning 14-0 win over Dubois. Wetzel added a 3-run homer, her second of the season while senior teammate Autumn Dersham collected three hits. Overall, CM registered 15 hits in the contest. A very good sign for CM in the tournament was that defensively they played error-free ball. With the 2-2 week, CM moves its overall record to 6-7 on the season.
The track and field teams were in action just once last week with a Tuesday meet at home against Mifflinburg. Despite losses on both the boys and girls sides, the Wildcats registered some solid-individual performances. First-place finishes were turned in by Ashley Rich in the 100M hurdles, Michael Cashwell in the 800M run, Corbin Green in the 1600M run, Bryce Gray in the 3200M run, Sarah Probst in the discuss, Amelia McCloy in the high jump and Bryce Neff in the pole vault. Numerous Wildcats participated in the Invitational at Lock Haven University on Saturday. One specific from that event was the high jump performance of McCloy, who set a new school record with a jump of 5'7" breaking the previous record that she set last season.
Morgan Talbot and Gavyn Walker represented the Wildcat tennis team at the District VI singles tournament in Altoona on Wednesday. Both players earned a win in their opening round match before bowing out of the tournament in round two. The team was in action on Thursday as they took on both Milton and Selinsgrove. Results of those matches were unavailable as of this writing.
Team of the Week: No, I didn't forget about those JV teams. In fact, this week I will go with the JV softball team who continued their solid play in winning their version of the Thunder on the Mountain tournament on Saturday by outscoring two opponents by a combined score of 31-6.
Athlete of the Week: Morgan Wetzel had a solid week for the softball team. Simply put, she is a true presence in the middle of the Wildcat lineup. Another name to be watching and listening for as the season rolls along is Caitlyn Watson. The freshman is beginning to make her presence felt both at the plate and in the circle for CM. Remember, she's just a freshman so her chances of appearing again in this section are pretty good.
Looking Ahead: The baseball team will be on the road both today and Wednesday at Shikellamy and Selinsgrove respectively before finishing the week at home on Friday against Jersey Shore.
Tennis hosts Williamsport today and Dubois on Thursday. Additionally, two pairs of Wildcats will travel to Altoona on Wednesday for the District VI Doubles tournament at Mansion Park.
Looking for some track and field action? Perhaps you might head on over to the Middle School for some Junior High action today. The varsity athletes will see some action at Altoona in the Mountain Lion Invitational on Friday.
Softball? Yep, there will certainly be some of that this week including a huge match-up on Tuesday against rival Jersey Shore. That contest will be my pick for game of the week. The CM Wildcats will then be on the road for a Thursday matchup with Shikellamy followed by a Friday contest at Bellefonte.
Let's hope for some solid spring weather and a complete slate of contests. Get out and support your favorite Wildcat and teams.
Go Wildcats!