RALPH WILSON/For the Express Central Mountain's Camdyn Weaver (20) lays down a bunt during a high school softball game against Williamsport at Williamsport on Tuesday

Spring sports action at Central Mountain is underway. After some postponements caused by weather and school closures due to security reasons, the CM teams finally saw some competitive action this past week.

The most active of the teams during the first full week of play was the tennis team but the baseball team, track teams and softball team were each in action at least once during the week.

For the tennis team, it was a win and a couple of losses for Coach Jeff Brinker’s netters.

On Monday at Montoursville, the Wildcats got wins from No. 1 singles, Joey McCluskey, and No. 2 singles, Tim Brinker, who won a three-set match, but the team would ultimately fall by a 3-2 score.

The next day in their first home match of the season, the CM boys picked up their first win of the season by defeating visiting Shikellamy, 4-1, as McCluskey, Brinker and Brayden Spedding picked up singles wins while Gage Scanlan and Ben Brinker teamed up to secure a win in the No. 1 doubles slot.

The Wildcat netters ended their week with a loss to South Williamsport in a highly contested match by a 3-2 score. In that contest, the Cats got a three-set win from McCluskey and a win by Brinker but were unable to secure a critical third point.

Now, 1-3 on the young season, Coach Brinker had this to say of his team’s early performances:

“We are seeing nice growth from our young team,” said Brinker. “The boys are working together in singles and doubles. They are trusting their swing and playing free.”

The track teams ran into a very solid Shikellamy track and field program to open their seasons. Shikellamy won both the boys and girls meets by commanding scores, yet the Wildcats did see a few solid individual performances.

On the boys side, CM was able to earn just one first-place finish, coming from the 1,600-meter relay where Shayden Hill, Ricky Rohrbach, Wyatt Heeman and Brody Rhine ran to victory. The Wildcats also collected a handful of second and third-place finishes, with Damien Winner finishing second in both the 1600 and-3200-meter runs.

On the girls side, it was Grace Keohane who had a strong day, as she captured the top spot in both the 800 and 1600-meter runs. Other first place finishes for the Wildcats came from Macia Owens in the 100-meter hurdles and the 1,600-meter relay team of Keohane, Vivian Wilt, Zaylie Warren and Abigail Winslow.

The Wildcats also saw numerous second and third-place finishes in the meet. Second-place finishes came from Winslow in the 400-meter dash, Cora Svec in the 1600-meter run, Emma Wolfe in the 3200-meter run, Owens in the 300-meter hurdles, Harper Conklin in pole vault and Sophia Kelly in the triple jump. Sophia Hoy, Zaylie Warren, Alaina Carnahan each tied for second place in the high jump.

The baseball team earned their first win of the season, a solid early-season victory against PHAC foe Williamsport by a score of 3-0. Seniors Blake Walker and Darius Shade combined to pitch a ten-strikeout shutout of the Millionaires. Aiden Jones and Yafran Sanchez each collected two hits to lead the Wildcats offensively. The win evened the Wildcats’ record at 1-1 on the season after they had been defeated at Pittston on opening day a week ago, 11-6.

The Wildcats were hurt in that contest, as four Cat hurlers issued nine free passes to opposing hitters. Pittston scored 8 combined runs in the fifth and sixth innings to gain the come from behind win over CM. Walker and Shade led the offensive attack in that game, as each collected two hits as part of a seven-hit team output.

In softball, Central Mountain opened the season with a 8-6 loss the Williamsport at Millionaire Mountain on Tuesday. Though it was able to get out to a 5-1 lead after the top of the fifth inning, seven runs from the Millionaires in the fifth and sixth propelled them to victory despite a sixth-inning homer from Central Mountain’s Aubrey Eiler.

Eiler finished that outing one triple short of a cycle, going four-for-four with two doubles and a one-shot homer. Cirstyn Watson had two doubles alongside her, both which featured RBIs, as the Wildcats compiled ten total hits. From the mound, Camdyn Weaver logged three strikeouts and three scoreless innings in a complete outing.

Team of the Week: While no team was perfect in the first week plus of the season, the baseball team’s victory over Williamsport was significant and could loom large in the PHAC race as the season rolls along. Thus, we are going to give them the honor this week for their big win.

Athlete(s) of the Week: From a team standpoint, CM has seen better weeks. However, selecting an athlete of the week was easy to do even though selecting just one was not possible. That’s a good thing.

Distance runner Grace Keohane had an outstanding meet against Shikellamy in winning the 800 and 1600-meter runs as well as being a leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay team. Lady Wildcat softball slugger, Aubrey Eiler was stellar in her only appearance in the week as well, as she went 4 for 4 including a homerun in the Lady Wildcats close loss at Williamsport. Both young ladies appear set to have notable senior campaigns.

Finally, Wildcat netter Joey McCluskey is off to a solid start to the season as he leads the Wildcat line-up from the No. 1 slot. For the week, he was 3-0.

Looking Ahead: This week promises lots of action for the CM teams.

The baseball and softball teams will each host their first home games of the season, baseball on Monday and Friday, Softball on Thursday and Friday. The track teams will head to Selinsgrove on Wednesday looking to rebound from their opening day losses.

There will be home tennis action at the Gibson Courts on Tuesday against Williamsport and then a unique doubleheader with Jersey Shore on Thursday before concluding the week on Friday hosting Milton. Get out there and support those Cats and Lady Cats as they compete this week.

Former Wildcats on Campus: There are numerous Wildcats and Lady Wildcats competing at the collegiate level this spring. Each week, we will report on the progress of a few.

This week, we check in on Penn College’s Harley Kunes. So far this season, Kunes has batted .308 while collecting seven RBIs and scoring seven runs in 16 games. Audrey Walker and Haleigh Peters are both competing this spring as members of the Penn State Altoona softball squad. Walker has thus far knocked in five runs while scoring eight and Peters has scored four runs and driven in two for the 14-12 Lions.