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Central Mountain softball tops Bellefonte

MILL HALL – The Heartland Conference met the Mountain League Friday night as Central Mountain hosted Bellefonte in softball.

Wildcat pitcher Madi Knepp looked sharp allowing only three hits over four innings en route to the 13-3 six inning victory over the Red Raiders.

“We hit the ball well. I don’t want to make excuses for the other team but they were down a few players, which hurt them and made it a little difficult for them,” Central Mountain coach Fred Caldwell said. “I thought we hit the ball real well and I thought we played way better defense than earlier in the week. It was nice to see them improve. They’re getting better every game.”

Knepp also got it done from the plate as well, going 2-for-3 with a home run and a double while collecting four RBIs in the process.

Bellefonte was led at the plate by Hanna Lauck went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a single.

Both teams went into the contest posting records of 1-1. 

Central Mountain struck first on the afternoon as it scored one in the bottom of the first.

Lead off hitter Alyssa Fisher led the game off with a walk.

But it looked as though she would be stranded after stealing second and standing there with two outs.

But Knepp already helped her own cause posting a long double to left field that hit the upper part of the fence, scoring Fisher.

But the Red Raiders recovered and refused to allow any more runs in the inning.

Knepp set down Bellefonte down in order in the first and second innings, putting her offense back at the plate looking for more runs.

 

Kylie Wagner led off the second with a single into left.

With one out, Cassidy Brush hustled our a bunt single, putting runners on first and second.

Wagner scored and Brush moved to third on a Red Raider miscue, making it 2-0.

Madalyn Bechdel beat out an infield single to allow Brush to score.

Morgan Wetzel, who went 2-for-3, hit a long sacrifice fly in the outfield that scored Fisher as Bechdel moved over to third.

Bechdel took advantage of a wild pitch to end the second inning scoring at 5-0.

However, the Red Raiders would not go away with out a fight. They would battle back in the fourth.

Trailing 5-0, Mallorie Smith got the inning going as she blistered a shot past third base for her team’s first hit of the game.

With one out, Hanna Lauck joined her teammate on the base paths as she singled into right field.

Pitcher Emily Pugh tried to help get her team closer to striking distance as she hit a gapper into centerfield, scoring both Smith and Lauck.

Bellefonte was now within three runs as the game went into the bottom of the fourth.

“We hit some balls hard tonight. Hannah Lauck hit the ball hard and hit one out. We hit balls hard but right at people,” Bellefonte coach Travis Foster said. “One of our goals coming into tonight was to cut down on the strikeouts and hit the balls hard. We were trying to make hard outs. I thought we made hard outs tonight but they were still outs. We got to get better, we know that. We have to keep getting better.”

After having their lead cut, the Wildcats added four more runs in the bottom of the inning to open up the game to a 9-2 contest.

Brush reached on an error to start the inning as teammate Fisher walked, putting two runners on early in the inning. 

After Bechdel forced out Brush on a fielders choice, Wetzel hit an RBI single to score Fisher.

Knepp then took care of the rest as she blasted a 3-run homer over the centerfield fence.

The Wildcats added a run in the fifth to extend the lead to eight.

But the Red Raiders never gave up as Lauck stood tall in the top of the sixth and hit a moonshot over the centerfield fence for a solo home run.

But that would be as close as Bellefonte would get on the night as the Wildcats scored three in the bottom of the inning to take the contest 13-3.

Bellefonte travels to Central on Monday while Central Mountain travels the Seven Mountains to play Mifflin County. 

Central Mountain 13, Bellefonte 3 (6 innings)

BE  000 201 x –   3  4  3

CM 140 413 x – 13 10 0

WP: Madi Knepp (CM)

LP: Emily Pugh (B)

Multiple hitters: Bellefonte – Hannah Lauck 2-for-3, HR. Central Mountain – Knepp 2-for-3 4 RBI, Morgan Wetzler 2-for-3 2RBI, Cassidy Bush 2-for-3.

HR: Bellefonte – Lauck. Central Mountain – Knepp, Wetzler

3B: Bellefonte – None. Central Mountain – None.

2B: Bellefonte – None. Central Mountain- Knepp

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