Hilary McNelis pitched and batted the Tyrone girls softball team to a 12-2 victory over Huntingdon at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex on Tuesday.
The Lady Eagles improve to 3-5 with games against Mount Union on Thursday and the Southern Huntingdon Tournament where Tyrone is the defending champ and McNelis was selected as the Outstanding Player last year.
Tyrone spotted the Huntingdon girls a 2-0 lead in their first at bat, then scored seven times in the first two innings themselves on the way to a 12-2 mercy-rule win that was shortened to five innings.
McNelis singled twice to tie Joanie Hosband for the career lead in bae hits for the Lady Eagles, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs.
On the mound, McNelis went the distance to pick up the win, scattering four hits, striking out eight and walking five. The Tyrone senior lefty takes over the lead in career strikeouts with 306, taking over from Kelly Loncher who previously held the Tyrone record. McNelis held the Lady Bearcats scoreless after their first at bat.
Katie Whitby scored four runs for the Lady Eagles and Kim Cherry drove in four runs to highlight the Tyrone win.
“To be honest, this was the weakest team we have played,” explained Tyrone coach Lois Loncher. “But we needed a win. The key was the 10 walks we got, we were then able to advance our runners with passed balls and stolen bases into scoring posistion and get clutch hits to score runs. We had to stay focused with that kind of lead and the girls did a pretty good job. I have been pleased with our hitting for the past several games. We have been able to do what we want to do at bat. Now we have to get ready for another tough game against Mount Union.”
Tyrone will play at Mount Union on Thursday with the first pitch set for 4 p.m.
Tyrone 12 Huntingdon 2 6 inn.
Huntingdon – French, c, 3-0-0; Yingling, 3b-p, 2-1-1; Young, ss, 2-1-0; McNeal, p-3b, 2-0-1; Hallihan, cf, 3-0-1; Fickens, lf, 1-0-1; Norris, cf, 1-0-0; Powell, dp, 3-0-0; Wilson, 2b, 3-0-0; Megill, 1b, 0-0-0. TOTALS 20-2-4.
Tyrone – Whitby, cf, 2-4-1; McNelis, p, 3-2-2; McAllister, dp, 4-1-1; Cherry, c, 2-2-1; Turiano, 3b, 3-0-0; Bryan, ss, 4-0-1; Stanton, 1b, 3-1-1; Ripka, lf, 3-1-1; Pennebaker, rf, 4-1-0; Stager, 2b, 0-0-0, TOTALS 28-12-8.
Huntingdon 200 000 2-4-4.
Tyrone 430 032 12-8-0.
3B: Hallihan.
Multiple hits: McNelis 2.
RBI: (H) Hallihan 2, (T) Cherry 4, McNelis 2, McAllister 2, Turiano 2.
SO: (H) McNeal 3, Yingling 2, (T) McNelis 8.
BB: (H) McNeal 5, Yinglong 5, (T) McNelis 5.
WP: McNelis LP: McNeal
