Hilary McNelis is a hero of softball today, pulling out a win for the Lady Eagles in their final home match of the season On Thursday at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex. The Eagles defeated the Lady Rams of Penns Valley 2-1 in a difficult standoff that came down to the final batter.
Penns Valley opened the game with a run by second baseman Toot McCool, batted in by a base hit by catcher Kara Myers.
The next five innings were long and tedious for both sides, coming close with multiples hits for either team. Penns Valley would finish with a dozen safeties, while the Lady Eagles managed eight base hits.
The strikeouts kept coming with six for Penns Valley’s Emily Cummins and four for Tyrone’s Hilary McNelis. Cummins didn’t walk a batter and McNelis issued only two free passes.
The score was set at 1-0 at the bottom of the seventh. With two outs on Tyrone and bases loaded, with the Lady Eagles down to their final hitter, Hilary McNelis looped a double that eluded the Penns Valley left fielder, sending Ashley Ripka and Katie Whitby home to end the game immediately to the delight of the partisan crowd at 2-1. The cheering of the crowd was drowned out by the cheering of the Lady Eagles who proceeded to mob Coach Lois Loncher in celebration.
After the game, Coach Loncher seemed very satisfied and commented on her girls‚ performance. “We made some adjustments from Tuesday. Hilary was playing through a foot injury today, but she’ll be full strength soon. She competed well. She threw only a few curves and foul balls. Eight heads picked it up defensively for her. To come through against a very good team like Penns Valley says a lot for the team.”
The Lady Eagles, who improve to 6-9, hit the road Monday, May 9 for a 4 p.m. start against Hollidaysburg (6-11), which was beaten 9-1 on Thursday by Indian Valley.
Tyrone 2 Penns Valley 1
Penns Valley – Schreifer RF 4-0-1; McCool 2B 3-1-1; Gordon 3B 3-0-2; Neese 1B 3-0-3; Myers C 3-0-1; Van Vactor SS 3-0-0; Brown DP 3-0-2; Seaifers LF 3-0-0; Lutch CF 3-0-0. TOTALS: 28-1-10.
Tyrone – Whitby CF 4-1-2; McNelis P 4-0-3 (4 strikeouts); Stager SS 3-0-0; Cherry C 3-0-0; Turiano 3B 3-0-0; McAllister DP 3-0-1; Stanton 1B 3-0-0; Ripka LF 2-1-2; Pennabaker RF 2-0-0. TOTALS: 27-2-8.
Penns Valley 100 000 0 1-10-1.
Tyrone 000 000 2 2-8-0.
Multiple Hits: (PV) Gordon 2, Neese 3, Brown 2, (TY): Whitby 2, McNelis 3, Ripka 2.
Doubles: (TY) Ripka, McNelis
RBI: (TY) McNelis 2
SO: (PV) Cummins 6, (T) McNelis 4.
BB: (T) McNelis 2.
WP: McNelis LP: Cummins.
