G-A bats silenced in Mid Penn title game
Some may call it beginners luck, but Mifflin County coach Jack McCurdy calls it a week of well-rounded softball for the Huskies, who clinched its first-ever Mid Penn Conference title with a 7-2 win over Greencastle-Antrim on Thursday.
Greencastle now shifts its attention to the first round of the District 3 Class 5A tournament when the Blue Devils host Daniel Boon on Tuesday, May 23.
Both teams had a long road in front of them to make it to the conference final, but Mifflin County had a trick up its sleeve that had been working throughout the Mid Penn tournament - the early lead.
The Huskies stormed out to take a 4-0 lead in the first inning after capitalizing off of two Greencastle errors and a two RBI double by Hanna Kanagy, who was released from the hospital early Thursday morning after a minor case of dehydration.
Greencastle also looked worn after a thrilling come-from-behind win over Lower Dauphin in the tournament semifinals.
"I think coming off that big win on Tuesday took a little gas out of us," Greencastle coach Mark DeCarli said. "Coming off the bus I told my coaches that I thought we looked flat."
Kanagy went to work in the circle and silenced Greencastle's powerful hitting rotation, allowing just five hits and struck out four.
The Blue Devils scored its second run of the game with two outs in the top of the seventh inning off an RBI single to right by Hannah Beeler.
"I was just thinking maybe we had a chance," Beeler said. "I hoped that maybe I could get on and get something started."
"When you get down to a good team like that its hard to come back especially with a good pitcher like that." DeCarli said. ""Our bats aren't going to stay quiet like this. We are going to come out swinging and we will be back on track on Tuesday."
Despite a rocky first inning, G-A pitcher Ally Brown settled in the circle and allowed just one earned run and struck out four. Greencastle had five errors and allowed six unearned runs.