Around the Diamond: Ship's Courtney Coy earns 100th hit
The Shippensburg softball team wanted to make its Senior Day special to honor its soon-to-be graduates.
A move to the Shippensburg University's Robb Softball Field was the first step.
The next was a getting shut-down performance by senior Courtney Coy.
Coy entered Wednesday's game against Big Spring one hit away from her 100th-career hit - and she certainly made it count.
In the bottom of the first inning of the Mid Penn Colonial Division game, Coy stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and blasted a grand slam home run for the 100th hit of her career. Later, Coy slugged a three-run homer over the fence to end the game in four innings.
Shippensburg's 16-0 win over Big Spring turned things around from a tough 7-1 loss to the Bulldogs during the Big Spring tournament.
“We challenged the girls, we felt like we made too many errors and gave the game to them (during the tournament),” Shippensburg coach Mike Peters said. “Courtney gets us an early lead with that grand slam, which turned out to be her 100th hit. We wanted to get that win for our seniors, and you couldn't have written a better script for her."
Oh - and we almost forgot. She also threw a three-hit shutout and struck out four batters.
Phew.
CENTURY CLUB: Peters joined Coy in the Century Club this week after earning his 100th win as the Greyhounds head coach after a 13-0 victory over Boiling Springs on Thursday.
Peters is 100-58 all-time in nine years coaching at Shippensburg. He led the Greyhounds to a District 3 championship in 2014 and was Mid Penn Colonial Division co-champions with James Buchanan in 2015.
"It just means I've been around for a while and I'm fortunate enough to have coached a lot of good teams," Peters said. "I told the girls, this is great, but this season is all about how far we can go and bringing home a district championship."
The Greyhounds are on the right track after hitting their stride with three games left to play. In two wins this week the Shippensburg softball team outscored opponents 19-0.
Greencastle-Antrim baseball coach Eric Shaner is seven wins away from 100 in seven years at the helm.
QUOTABLE: In a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division game against Cedar Cliff, the Chambersburg softball team had the bases loaded with no outs, but the Trojans ended the inning with three men on.
Chambersburg coach Chris Skultety said. "To piggyback off of what (Greencastle) coach Eric Shaner said the other day, we left the other half of Rhode Island on base today. All of Rhode Island is taken care of between us and Greencastle baseball."
RANKINGS: With the regular season winding down it looks to be a busy postseason for area teams as 12 teams across Franklin and Fulton counties are currently in position for a berth into their respective district tournaments.
In District 3, James Buchanan baseball is eyeing a top 5 seed of the 10-team bracket in Class 4A, ranked No. 4 with a 13-4 record as of Friday night. Greencastle-Antrim and Waynesboro are on the outside looking in on the 5A bracket, ranked 14th and 18th, respectively. The top 14 teams make it in, with the district cutoff approaching on Wednesday, May 17.
The Chambersburg softball team is sitting pretty as the fifth-ranked team in Class 6A at 14-4, while Waynesboro is flirting with a district berth at No. 12 with the top 10 teams moving on. In 5A Greencaslte and Shippensburg are both safe at No. 8 and 9, respectively, with 16 teams entering the bracket. The James Buchanan softball team is ranked ninth in 4A with the top 10 teams moving on.
In District 5 baseball, Southern Fulton (No. 2), Forbes Road (No. 5) and Fannett-Metal (No. 8) are all in contention for the 1A bracket, while the McConnellsburg baseball team is ranked second in Class 2A wit the top four heading to the postseason.
In District 5 softball, Fannett-Metal is ranked second in 1A, with Forbes Road and McConnellsburg sliding into seventh and eighth, respectively. The top eight softball teams in 1A move on.