From staff reports
LEWISTOWN - Mifflin County knows that when Altoona rolls into town it is going to be a battle. Tuesday was no different on the tennis courts.
The Huskies, still battling some lineup changes, were upended by the Mountain Lions by a score of 6-1 in the non-league match.
Article Photos
Sentinel photo by NICK?WAGNER
Mifflin County’s Jeremy Koller returns a shot from Altoona’s Chad Allender Tuesday in Lewistown. See more photos online at cu.lewistownsentinel.com.
The doubles team of Matt DeBenedetto and Eric Brought picked up the only win for the Huskies with an 8-3 decision over Danny Cowan and Alex Albright.
"I think we always seem to be outmatched against those teams," Mifflin County coach Denny Simonetti said. "But this was probably one of the better showings against an Altoona team we've had."
Mifflin County's No. 1, Jeremy Koller, fell to Chad Allender 6-4, 6-3 after a long first set. The only other close match for the Huskies was DeBenedetto's 6-4, 6-4 loss to Altoona's Ryan Good.
"We could have pulled a set out in any one of those and kicked it into the third," Simonetti said. "But Altoona is always skilled. I thought our guys mixed well with them."
Mifflin County will travel to Central Mountain Thursday for its final regular season match. District 6 Class AAA doubles begins Friday in Altoona.
Tennis
Juniata 6, Carson Long 1
MIFFLINTOWN - With No. 1 seeds locked up in both the District 6 Class AA doubles tournaments and the team tournament, Juniata had a tuneup with Carson Long Tuesday.
A tuneup is exactly what it was. The Indians pounced on the Warriors with a 6-1 win. Isaac Eck, Logan Aurand, Louis Pacheco, Bradley Lipka and Lucas Wright each picked up fairly easy wins in the singles portion of the match.
"Bradley Lipka just keeps on trucking," Juniata coach Alan Musselman said. "He's a sophomore and he keeps getting better."
The team of Eck and Trevor Fry were victorious in a doubles match 8-3 over Carson Long. The only match the Indians dropped was the first doubles match.
"Isaac is just Isaac," Musselman said. "He just goes out there and is great."
Juniata (8-2, 6-2) heads to the District 6 Class AA doubles tournament Thursday.
Baseball
East Juniata 16, Carson Long 1 (3 inn.)
COCOLAMUS - The East Juniata baseball team showed patience and powerful aggression on Tuesday afternoon as the Tigers hammered Carson Long 16-1 in three innings.
The Tigers worked seven walks and still managed eight hits in two offensive innings on the day. Bailey Coder pitched two innings for the Tigers striking out two and Jesse Watts pitched the third. Six different Tigers collected an RBI as well and coach Tim Brubaker thought it was a solid performance.
"We came out strong and got a lot of walks and that set the tone of the game," he said.
The Tigers improve to 8-6. They host Penns Valley on Thursday.
Softball
East Juniata 4, Hughesville 3
COCOLAMUS - Autumn Dressler's three-run home run in the top of the fifth inning helped East Juniata to a 4-3 win over Hughsville in non-league softball action.
The teams traded runs in the third inning before Dressler came to the plate in the fifth. Katie Eichman drew a two-out walk, followed by a line drive hit by Leah Jones. Then Dressler drove a ball into deep right for the home run.
"Great defensive game by both teams," East Juniata coach Joe Schilling said. "Solid hits and solid pitching was key."
Ashlyn Erhard went the distance for the Tigers striking out a pair and allowing nine hits. Dressler, Erhard, Jones and Eichman each had a pair of hits for the Tigers.
"It was great to see the girls come out and play hard and as a unit," Schilling said. "Erhard is always giving 110 percent and tonight she pitched extremely well."
East Juniata won the JV game 17-4.
East Juniata travels to Upper Dauphin Monday.
Montoursville 6, Midd-West 3
MIDDLEBURG - The Midd-West softball team got a solid performance from pitcher Adrianne Gesselman, but the defense behind her was shaky as it lost 6-3 to Montoursville on Tuesday in the Heartland Conference matchup.
Gesselman went the distance for the Mustangs, but as a team they committed four errors in the field and coach Pete Voss knows that it's the little things that they need to fix.
"Gesselman pitched a really good game, she only had one walk, but again we couldn't make the routine play that would've got us out of the inning," Voss said. "With us it's the small things that are killing us, throwing to the cutoff man, getting bunts down, we haven't been able to do them all season."
Adrianne Gesselman hit a home run and her sister Abby also had an RBI on the day, but the sisters' contributions just weren't enough on the day.
With the loss the Mustangs fall to 2-9 and will host Danville on Thursday.
Track and Field
Boys: East Juniata 91, Upper Dauphin 54; East Juniata 109, Carson Long 32
Girls: East Juniata 99, Upper Dauphin 42
COCOLAMUS - East Juniata's boys and girls picked up wins in Tri-Valley League track and field Tuesday, and in the process clinched a 10-win season for the girls. Tigers coach Mark Ritzman said it's the first in several seasons that both teams finished with double-digit win totals.
The girls end their dual meet season at 10-5 with the 99-42 win over Upper Dauphin. The boys stand at 12-5 after knocking off the Trojans 91-54, and Carson Long 109-32.
"I was very pleased. I tried to come up with good motivation for both teams," Ritzman said. "They didn't really need motivation though."
In the girls meet, the Tigers swept the relays, the 800 and the high jump while taking first in every field event. Amelia Spade and Molly Scholl had multiple firsts.
David Brantley was the big winner on the boys side with top finishes in both hurdles against both opponents. Tyler Hepner and Cody Scholl also had multiple firsts. The boys swept the javelin against both opponents and the 1,600 against Upper Dauphin.
East Juniata will see Upper Dauphin again in a week at the Tri-Valley League meet May 9 at West Perry.
Boys: Greenwood 85, Pine Grove 56
Girls: Greenwood 99, Pine Grove 42
PINE GROVE - The Greenwood track and field team took a road trip to Pine Grove on Tuesday looking to quiet the crowd and they did just that as both the boys and girls teams took victories.
The boys won by a decision of 85-56 while the girls triumphed 99-42.
The Wildcats' boys team got a win in the 4x800 relay finishing with a time of 9:04 and Tyler Fegley won the triple jump reaching 37 feet, 10 1/2 inches. The Greenwood boys team also won the 800, 200 and 100 dashes.
On the girls side, the Wildcats won 13 events on the day as Emily Fisher won the shot put with a throw of 30 feet, 10 1/4 inches and the discus with a launch of 100 feet, 3 inches. The Wildcats also won the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:26 and the 4x800 relay with a time of 10:51.
With the win as both teams improve to 6-0.
