Big second inning lifts Lady Hornets past Athens

By: Ed Weaver  /  April 11, 2017

A six-run second inning pushed the Wellsboro Varsity Softball team past Athens, 11-3 on Monday, April 10.

Athens' Mimi Martin homered off junior Alyssa Yungwirth in the top of the second to give the Lady Wildcats an early 1-0 lead, but Wellsboro quickly took the lead, and never looked back, in the bottom of the inning. Sophomore Hailey Neal tripled to start things off for Wellsboro, then sophomore Heidi Zuchowski hit a sac fly to center to score Neal to tie it.

After hits by junior Kailee Clymer and sophomore Tiana Lecker, freshman Ryann Adams singled up the middle to score Clymer and make it 2-1. Yungwirth doubled to score both Lecker and Adams to push the score to 4-1 and junior Sydney Tremper singled to left field to score Yungwirth. Tremper closed the inning by scoring on a wild pitch to make it 6-1.

"I'm very happy with how things went today," said head coach Ron Brought. "We had a great turnout with the crowd, the field is in good shape finally, and the girls came out an impressed everyone. We finally got some offense, it was much needed this past week. We're really pleased."

The Lady Hornets added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Adams had an infield hit to the Athens short stop, followed by Yungwirth single to left to advance Adams to third. A hit by freshman Cathryn Brought scored Adams, then Yungwirth scored as junior Brianne Keane grounded out to second. Sophomore Kaytee Kemp reached on error to score Brought then later scored on a bloop single to center by Clymer to make it 10-1.

Athens added runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to cut into Wellsboro's lead, but the Lady Hornets added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Keane singled to left to start the inning, then advanced to third after Athens' left fielder dropped a Neal hit. Keane then beat a throw to home on a sacrifice fly by Clymer.

Yungwirth went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double, Clymer was 2-for-3 with 3 RBI's, and Brought and Adams were both 2-for-4. Lecker, Tremper, Keane, and Neal all added hits. Yungwirth pitched a complete game, scattering 4 hits and striking out 14 of the 29 batters she faced in 7 innings of work.

"Good things happen when you put the ball in play," continued Brought. "We forced the other team to make plays and we found the outfield several times and we were able to score quite a few runs. There's some areas we need to work on, we need to hustle a little better. We're very fortunate we have a very strong pitcher that keeps us in most games, but we still have to sharpen up a little bit. All in all it was a great game. I can't complain about an 11-3 win."

The Lady Hornets (2-1 overall, 2-1 NTL Large School Division) will be back in action on Wednesday, April 12 at Troy.