From staff reports
ALTOONA - Logan Aurand entered the District 6 Class AA doubles tournament without being 100 percent. But the Juniata tennis player fought off an injury and worked well with teammate Isaac Eck to reach the District 6 final.
The duo made it safely through three rounds Thursday to secure their spot in the final, which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday in Altoona.
Eck and Aurand ran through their first round matchup with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Richland. A 6-1, 6-1 win over Forrest Hills propelled them into the semifinals. It was a 6-4, 6-1 win over Westmont Hilltop that punched their ticket to the final.
"Yesterday Logan Aurand sprained his ankle," Juniata coach Alan Musselman said. "He was taped up and hobbling, but he got to the balls he needed to get to. Isaac's play was excellent all around. He played the net and baseline well and he was on his game."
Juniata's other duo of Louis Pacheco and Bradley Lipka had their run end with a first round loss to a team from Bishop McCort 6-0, 6-1.
"They are both sophomores and this was their first tournament match ever," Musselman said. "They did all right, but it got to them."
Baseball
East Juniata 4, Penns Valley 3
COCOLAMUS - While East Juniata and Penns Valley were racing against the rain, the Tiger offense did just enough to 'squeak' out a Tri-Valley League win.
The Tigers scored three runs in the fifth to take the lead before the game was called in a 4-3 win over the visiting Rams.
Zak Plesce was the winner on the mound for the Tigers going five innings and striking out five.
"Zak was pretty much in control today," East Juniata coach Tim Brubaker said. "He threw strikes and didn't have any walks, which helped our defense."
Kyle Pannebaker drove in a pair of runs and doubled for East Juniata to go along with Tyler Inch's RBI double. Tanner Truitt had two hits for the Tigers.
"I was quite happy with our offense," Brubaker said. "We got some key hits in the fifth inning when we needed it. It was starting to get rainy and our guys got some hits."
East Juniata (9-6, 4-6) travels to Lancaster Country Day today.
Softball
Greenwood 1, Halifax 0
MILLERSTOWN - The Greenwood softball team got just one run from its slumping offense, but it was just enough.
Jess Heichel pitched a complete game shutout as the Wildcats defeated Halifax 1-0 on Thursday afternoon in Tri-Valley League action.
Heichel had just one strikeout and one walk in seven innings as coach Troy Gantt thought his pitcher battled, although she wasn't at her best.
"I thought it was a tight game on both sides, the defense behind Heichel was great," Gantt said. "I'm not sure she had her best stuff but she was around the plate all night and she trusted her defense behind her."
A.J. Seigel had two hits for the Wildcats and Amy Heggenstaller had a sacrifice fly to drive in the only run of the game. Although they got the win, coach Gantt is worried about his offense.
"We haven't been hitting the ball hard lately," Gantt said. "I wasn't sure that one run was enough, but the girls made it through today and I was proud of them."
With the win, Greenwood improves to 13-5, including 7-4 in the Tri-Valley League and will travel to Newport on Monday.
Mount Union 15, Moshannon Valley 1 (6 inn.)
HOUTZDALE - It took three innings for Mount Union's offense to get going in its Inter-County Conference tilt Thursday against Moshannon Valley.
But when the offense woke up, it was over. The Trojans scored eight in the fourth en route to a 15-1 win over the Damsels.
Freshman Liza Feagley had six RBIs thanks to a grand slam. Taylor Miles also went deep for Mount Union in the win.
"We had a slow start and they played good ball early on," Mount Union coach Matt Fiscus said.
Megan Shugarts pitched all six innings for the win, allowing one run on five hits.
"Megan pitched a nice ballgame for us," Fiscus said. "We're really trying to get sharp for the playoffs and we were able to do that late in the game."
Mount Union (13-4, 10-4) hosts Juniata Valley today.
Track and Field
Boys: Greenwood 118, Upper Dauphin 32
Girls : Greenwood 124, Upper Dauphin 26
ELIZABETHVILLE - The Greenwood track and field team had one more meet to win in order to finish the Tri-Valley League season undefeated as they traveled to Upper Dauphin on Thursday.
The Wildcats wasted no time as the boys won 118-32 and the girls finished off Upper Dauphin 124-26.
On the girls side, Emily Fisher reached her personal bests in all three throwing events. Fisher finished first in the shot put with a throw of 35-3. In the discus, Fisher threw 108-0.
"The biggest night went to Emily Fisher," Greenwood coach Tom Magill said. "She had a good night and we're proud of her."
On the boys side, Jared Myers won all three jumps and was part of the winning team in the 4x400 relay.
The season isn't over for the Wildcats however. They know an undefeated season is special, but if they truly want to make their mark they need to have a solid postseason performance.
"Obviously we have kids moving in the right direction and hitting their peak at the right time," Magill said. "We want to see our 4x400 team bump it up a notch and get their times down. We also want our 4x800 team to lower their times as well."
The Wildcats are now 7-0 on the season on both the girls and boys teams and 6-0 in the TVL. They will head to Carlisle on Saturday for the Stan Morgan Invitational.
