Towanda falls to Central Columbia 7-1.
By: Chris Manning | Towanda Daily Review | May 30, 2014 | Photo courtesy Chris Manning
2014 NTL and District 4 News
WILLIAMSPORT - Anyone looking at the final score of Towanda and Central Columbia may think the Blue Jays had their way with the Black Knights.
But that wasn't the case.
In a game of momentum Towanda had it early in the game. They led 1-0 at one point and even down 2-1 they still played like they believed.
But when a run was called back everything changed. Central would go on to score five runs in the fourth and sixth innings to win 7-1 in the District IV, Class AA softball championship game Thursday.
"They hit the ball," Towanda coach Bryon Fuller said. "We hit the ball a little bit but not as well as I would have liked to but they made some good plays on defense. That's a good ball club, my hat's off to them. It's nice to get to the championship but it's a lot nicer to win it. I'm very disappointed but I stand tall here and say I'm very proud of our young ladies on this team."
Koryn Wickwire led off the game with an inside the park home run to give Towanda their 1-0 lead.
That lead held until the bottom of the third when the Blue Jays scored twice to go up 2-1.
Then in the top of the fourth Alaina Wickwire led off with a single. She stole second and on a Casey Hawley error Wickwire was sent home.
The throw just beat her but the catcher's tag missed and it looked like the game was tied 2-2.
But then the home plate umpire, after motioning she was safe called her out for running outside the baseline.
"You get a call or two that doesn't go your way that can change the momentum but that's the game," explained Fuller. "That's the nature of the game, there is nothing you can do about it."
The Blue Jays were able to get out of the inning unscathed.
Then in the bottom half of the fourth Megan Grozier led off with a single. After a sacrifice moved her over to second Emily McCracken knocked her in with a single to make it 3-1.
After Paige Siegrist was hit by a pitch, lead off batter Marissa Shelhammer knocked both of them in with a double to give the Jays a 5-1 lead.
Alaina Wickwire got her team out of the jam, striking out the final two batters but on the offensive end they couldn't get anything going.
Towanda threatened again in the fifth as they had runners on first and second with two outs but Central Columbia's own hurler, Siegrist, ended that threat with a strikeout.
The Blue Jays would add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Koryn Wickwire finished 2-for-4 with the home run while Alaina Wickwire was 2-for-3. Laci Manning, Bella Bartholomew, Hawley and Tara Welliver also had hits.
Alaina Wickwire had four strikeouts in the loss, allowing 10 hits, seven runs, five of which were earned but no walks.
For Central Cadey Swisher was 3-for-4 with two runs and 3-RBI while MacKenzie Klinger was 3-for-4.
Shelhammer went 2-for-3 with a double and 3-RBI.
Siegrist finished with six strikeouts, eight hits, one earned run and no walks for the win.
Despite the loss Towanda showed the district what they could do to get there.
They went on the road to beat the third seed Troy then edged second seed Loyalsock at Elm Park earlier this week.
"I'm very proud of the girls," said Fuller. "I don't think anybody gave us a chance to even be here where we're at in this championship."
He credits his seniors for leading the way.
"The senior group that I had this year, they've done a lot for the program," Fuller said. "They built a strong foundation we can now try to continue to build the program off of."
As for next season the youthful Knights will have to continue to work to get back to the District IV final.
"We've got work to do," said Fuller. "We've got a lot of work to do. We're going to be a young ball club next year but if they do what they need to do in the off season, work on some things like pitching and fielding and hitting, we're going to be OK. We're looking forward to hopefully coming back here next year."
But as the seventh seeded Knights found out, anything can happen in the district playoffs.
"It's a long road to get down to these district finals," Fuller said. "You have to go through so many quality teams in our league and playing these teams in our district down here. It's good softball. This Class AA is good softball."
