BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
WYALUSING — Strong pitching, clutch defense, and timely hitting - that was Wyalusing’s recipe for beating Athens 4-0 in NTL softball action Thursday.Addison Fluck scattered five hits with just one walk and seven strikeouts in the win for the Rams, who also got a momentum changing tag out at third from Kyla Carpenter in the fourth.
Then, with a 1-0 lead, Josie Ferris hit a 2-out, 2-run single in the fifth to help Wyalusing take control of the game.
“It feels good to get the win,” said Wyalusing coach Brett Jayne. “Athens is a great team, Hiley is a good pitcher, and just the girls finally executed. They put the ball in play, Fluck pitched a great game tonight, and kept them off guard a little bit. She gave up a couple hits, but nothing when it counted.”
In the second inning Athens had two on with one out and Fluck responded with back to back strikeouts to end the threat.
Then in the third and fifth innings the Wildcats had a runner on third Fluck ended the threat with a strikeout.
Wyalusing also took advantage of Athens miscues. In the fifth two Wildcat errors put runners on second and third with two outs when Ferris made it hurt with that hit.
All in all Athens had six errors on the night.
“We played better defense today than they did,” Jayne said. “Defensively we played great. That play Kyla Carpenter made on the bunt when they tried to go from first to third, that’s a big turning point. You don’t get that out you’re standing there with a girl on third. A couple of balls in the outfield that could have gone either way, and we caught all of them.”
The Rams took the lead with a run in the second, then pushed two more across in the fifth. They added an insurance run in the sixth for the 4-0 victory.
Addisyn Bly (1-for-3), Ferris (1-for-3), and Kirra Millard (1-for-3) had the three hits for the Rams. Bly, Raelea Harvey, Warner, and Ellie Adams all scored.
Athens’ Gretchen Hiley struck out 13 in the loss with one walk.
In the second Millard opened things up with a single with Harvey coming to run for her.
She would take second on a passed ball, then third on a wild pitch. Athens threw down and the ball got away from the third baseman, allowing Harvey to score for the 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats nearly had first and third with no outs in the top of the fourth.
The lead-off batter, Danica May, reached on a single.
Savannah Finan then laid down a bunt to Carpenter, but nobody was covering first.
With third base open May tried for it but Carpenter recovered, and tagged her out while keeping Finan contained to first base.
In the bottom of the fifth Warner and Bly both reached on 1-out errors, then stole second and third.
Set up Ferris’ 2-2 hit up the middle to bring them both around for the 3-0 lead.
“It makes a big difference when you get a little bit of breathing room,” Jayne said about going from a 1-run lead to a 3-run lead. “Josie Ferris has been swinging the bat real well, and the funny thing was, her time out before I kind of scolded her because she took a called third strike. I said, ‘the next one that does that is going to sit to just try to prove a point.’”
The final run came in the sixth when Fluck reached on a 1-out error. Two batters later Adams scored on an error off the bat of Carpenter for the 4-0 final.
Wyalusing (9-5) will host Wellsboro next week.
With four league losses it might be a stretch for the Rams get back into the league title race - Athens, Towanda, and NPL all have two losses, and, while Wyalusing split with Athens and NPL, they were swept by Towanda - things are looking good for them to go into district play on a high note.
It looks like they’ll contend with Northwest (10-0) and Williamson (7-4). They’ve beaten the Warriors already but lost to the Rangers last week.
“I’m not going to say much about that,” Jayne said about the loss to Northwest. “We didn’t show them everything that we have, everything that we’re capable of. I’m looking forward to getting them a second time around.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
