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Glendale cruises into title game

By Brad O’Hara

For the Mirror

FLINTON — The Glendale Lady Vikings came out swinging as they took out Homer-Center in five innings, 10-0, on Thursday to punch their ticket into the District 6 1A championship game that will be held at Penn State’s Nittany Lion Softball Park.

The game was called in the fifth because of the mercy rule.

Glendale will play on Wednesday at noon against either Bishop Carroll or Claysburg-Kimmel. The Lady Huskies are the No. 3 seed while the Lady Bulldogs are the No. 2 seed. Those two teams play today.

The Lady Vikings came out strong and sent the Wildcats down in order to start off the game. Keeping the momentum in their favor, they quickly got on base and scored four runs in the first inning. Alaney Vereshack was responsible for batting in two of those runs.

“That first inning really kind of takes the wind out of your sails I think, but we kept telling them you can get through the game, you just gotta keep plugging away and playing to the last pitch,” Homer-Center coach, Sharon Mechling said.

Homer-Center started to look as if it were going to turn the game around when it started to get players in scoring position. The Wildcats were not able to capitalize on these opportunities, leaving five runners stranded between the second and fifth innings.

The Wildcats were held scoreless by pitcher Lexi Mulhollen and the strong Viking defense behind her. She struck out four, walked two and scattered five hits over seven innings.

“We continue to be solid defensively. Just keep throwing up zeros has been our motto. You can’t lose if you don’t give up any runs. That’s been our strong point,” Glendale coach Phil Barroner said.

The defense of the Wildcats was not the only factor in their win as they managed to score 10 runs in five innings.

“We hit the ball really well. We usually do consistently for a couple of runs,” Barroner said.

Makenzie Lukehart led the Lady Vikings, who put the game away with six runs in the bottom of the fifth, with three hits and an RBI to go with two RBIs and two hits from Vereshack. Cierra O’Shell added two hits and scored a run.

The Lady Vikings’ appearance in the championship game is their first in a district title game since 1992, a game they won.

HOMER-CENTER (0): Worcester lf-p 300, Smyers 3b 302, Alhborn 1b 300, Ginter c 300, George p-lf 100, Yancy 2b 200, Goldberg cf 201, Piper rf 100, Zack ss 201. Totals – 19-0-5.

GLENDALE (10): Mulhollen p 400, Mak. Lukehart cf 413, Hewitt c 110, Vereshack rf 322, Gallaher 1b 301, Leyo 2b 110, O’Shell lf 212, Smeal dh 311, Gustafson ss 100, Mad. Lukehart pr 000, Clarkson ph 111, Berger pr 010. Totals – 23-10-10.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Homer-Center 000 00X X — 0 5 1

Glendale 400 06X X — 10 10 0

E–Yancy. 2B–Mak. Lukehart, Vereshack 2. RBI–Mak. Lukehart, Vereshack 2, Gallaher, Smeal, Gustafson, Clarkson. WP–Mulhollen. LP–George. SO–Mulhollen 4. BB–George 3, Mulhollen 2 (G).

Records: Homer-Center (8-2); Glendale (13-3).

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