After numerous postponements and delays the Mifflin County high school softball team ended its season with a bang, sending their senior players off into the regular season sunset with a victory over Centre County and fellow Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division foe State College, 8-3 at the softball field in Reedsville. It was a year that saw the Huskies finish at 15-5 overall and 13-3 in the “always tough” Mid-Penn Commonwealth division.

It was the seniors that helped get the victory Thursday as Macie Lucas’ lead off triple sparked an 8-run inning that be highlighted by a towering 2-run homerun by another senior Brooke Wilson.

On the mound, senior pitcher Taylor Boyer went 4 1/3 innings of strong pitching before handing the ball over to fellow pitcher and senior Rachel Zimmerman. Zimmerman was strong in the clutch pitching out of a few jams after going to the mound.

Julia Stuck also showed that her senior day would be a strong one as well, posting two hits as well in her final regular season game.

The Huskies rolled out a 13-hit effort en route to the victory as Lucas led the way with a 3-for-4 batting performance picking up an RBI and scoring a run. Lucas and Wilson had the game’s only extra base hits finishing with a triple and home run, respectively.

“That’s what I told them out there. They are capable of doing that. They just have to keep hanging onto that and believing their capable of doing that. I’ve seen them do it several times throughout the season  ,” Mifflin County manager Jack McCurdy said about his team’s offensive strike in the fourth. “As a team they played very well tonight in all aspects.”

What started out to be a pitching dual in the first 3 ½ innings was quickly erased in the bottom of the fourth.

Lucas took a Harris offering a blasted it into the gap in right field, making her way to third on the hit. She later advanced on a wild pitch unlocking the scoring at 1-0.

On the wild pitch, Boyer took advantage of the errant third strike that got past the catcher, reaching first.

With Boyer standing on first, Wilson took a pitch and sent it deep, deep over the centerfield fence to the celebration of her teammates as she crossed home plate, upping the Mifflin County lead to 3-0.

The Huskies weren’t done yet.

Stuck belted a infield single that handcuffed the Little Lions’ third baseman, allowing her to beat out the throw.

However, her stay was temporary as she was forced out on a Zimmerman fielders choice. Two wild pitches to teammate Maggie Wray allowed Zimmerman to reach third base.

Wray did not disappoint as she roped an RBI single into left field. She was also bounced into a fielders choice, putting two outs on the board and only Tara Kibe on base.

Alyssa Morrison kept the inning going as she smacked in Kibe on a poke into centerfield, giving Mifflin County some insurance runs at 5-0.

Marra Rhodes continued the onslaught, smacking a single of her own, putting runners on first and second.

In her second bat of the inning, Lucas picked up an RBI of her own as she brought in Morrsion on a single of her own.

Boyer followed and loaded the bases as she took ball four, setting the stage for Wilson once again.

Though her at bat wasn’t as massive as her home run, she still brought in a run as she was hit by a pitch, bringing in Rhodes.

Stuck ended the scoring for the Huskies as she brought in Lucas on a single to end the scoring at 8-0.

Though the Little Lions would pick up three runs in the top of the sixth, the Mifflin County lead was never really in jeopardy.

With the win, the Huskies will be going into the District 6 Championship with some momentum. Mifflin County will be playing at Penn State University on May 29 at a time and opponent to be determined at a later date.

In a game that pitted 9-2 East Juniata against cross county rival 2-11 Juniata, it seemed like the game would be a walk in the park for the Tigers.

Especially after East Juniata took the first contest at Cocolamus by a large margin in the first game of the series.

However, someone forgot to tell the spunky Indian team from Juniata as they held their opponent to just four hits going into their final at-bats and most importantly no runs.

“I have to give all the credit to Coach Beward for setting up the game they had with the pitching they showed. It was awesome,” said East Juniata coach Tim Brubaker of his opponents. “I want to compliment Coach Beward and his team for the effort they showed.”

In a game that started out as a strong pitching dual between Juniata hurler Colbey Hambright and East Juniata ace Ryan Stuck, offense was hard to come by with both teams failing to get a run across the first four innings.

Hambright scattered only five hits in the first six innings, giving his team a chance to strike first.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Juniata offense did not disappoint as it was able to manufacture the first run of the game.

With two outs, pinch runner Justin Mingle scored on an RBI single by catcher Chad Eberle who blasted a grounder that took a sharp bounce and ricocheted of the knee of the East Juniata second baseman.

With a 1-0 lead, the Indians added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.

Dylan Loudenslager came up with the bases loaded and hustled out a slow rolling infield single to third, scoring Ty Treaster in the process.

Despite facing the bases loaded for a majority of the inning, Stuck and his defense was able to shut down the Juniata defense with only one run crossing the plate.

“It was the phrase my seniors gave as I went in at the end of the game, the out the could have been,” Juniata coach Chris Beward said. “We had two outs runner on third and couldn’t get that last out. We couldn’t get that last out. It changes the game when you score six runs in the top of the seventh and that is really hard to come back from. I can’t say enough about the senior leadership. They had our kids fired up tonight.”

Going into the Tigers’ last at-bats the pressure was all on the bat of Bailey Coder.

Coder got the inning started in grand fashion, slapping a single to right field. With teammate Dillon Leonard stepping to the plate, Coder got a good lead off first base and stole second easily, putting him in scoring position.

Leonard hustled out a grounder to third and in the process forced Juniata to overthrowing the first baseman and giving him second and allowing Coder to score, cutting the lead to 2-1.

With two outs, Leonard was sitting on third base waiting to be brought in.

Up to bat came number three hitter, Nick Lorenz. Lorenz wasted little time in tying the game –blasting an RBI single.

Lorenz stole second –setting the stage for Jesse Watts. Watts, who had been hitless until the seventh, hit a shot deep into the outfield. When the ball was thrown in from the outfield, Watts was sitting at second with an RBI double while Lorenz cruised home.

With the lead, East Juniata added some more insurance runs to help their cause.

Watts was replaced on the base paths by pinch runner in Taren Sheaffer. Sheaffer’s visit to the base paths was a short one, scoring immediately on an RBI double by Stuck, upping the East Juniata lead to 4-2.

When the dust settled, the Tigers had built up a comfortable 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.

Stuck took it from there getting three-out-of-four batters he face in the inning – en route to picking up the complete game victory.

Leading the offensively for East Juniata was Nick Stahr – who went 3-for-4.