BY JEFF FALK
SOUTH LEBANON – The Cedar Crest softball team has not altered its pre-season goals. It’s way too early for that.
But the Falcons have added a goal since the season has begun. It is one that all of their other goals are predicated upon.
On Monday evening at Cedar Crest Middle School, the Falcons’ slow start to the spring deepened a bit more, as they suffered a 11-0, six-inning, home setback at the hands of Warwick. After falling into an early 3-0 hole, Cedar Crest struggled mightily at the dish and watched as the Warriors steadily pulled away.
Warwick invoked the ten-run, mercy-rule with a five-run rally in the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom half of the frame, the Falcons spoiled Warrior right-hander Nicole Mengel’s no-hit bid with Ashley Maulfair’s two-out single.
The loss was Cedar Crest’s third straight to start the season. The contest also served as the Falcons’ Lancaster-Lebanon Section One opener.
The result made Warwick 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the section.
“We want to get that first win,” said Cedar Crest head coach Eric Edwards. “That’s the most important thing right now. We’re capable off rattling off some wins, but we’ve got to get that first one.
“We’re only three games in (a 19-game schedule),” continued Edwards. “The goals the girls set for themselves are, first and foremost, to get into the playoffs. But we put ourselves in a tough spot.”
The visitors reached Falcon starter Maulfair for three runs in the top of the opening inning.
The big blow was struck by Warwick three-hole hitter Amanda Herr, a line-drive triple that plated the game’s first run and led to its second. Marissa Treibley also smacked an RBI-double, as the Warriors collected three hits and benefited from a Falcon error.
Cedar Crest seemed poised to respond in the bottom half of the inning when Anna DeBellis, Jenna Sloss and Cass Flocken coaxed walks out of Mengel. But the hard-throwing Warrior wind-miller induced a ground out to escape the jam unscathed.
“We didn’t play hard enough tonight,” said Edwards. “We’ve got some improvements to make to get this thing going in the right direction. I think I’m pretty good at gauging if the girls are ready to play. And I thought we had a pretty good warm-up.
“I think that first inning caught us off guard,” added Edwards. “And maybe we hung our heads a little bit. We didn’t capitalize when we had the bases loaded in the first inning. They’re all important. We can’t take any games for granted. We need to win every game, one at a time.”
At one point, from the first to the fifth inning, Mengel retired 12 Falcons in-a-row, seven of which came via the strikeout. Mengel also retired the first two Cedar Crest batters she saw in the bottom of the sixth, before Maulfair lined a clean single up the middle for the Falcons’ lone hit.
“She threw a live ball,” said Edwards of Mengel. “She had some good pop, some good movement. But I didn’t think we had a great approach at the plate.
“We need to stay in the game,” Edwards continued. “We were able to do that against Northern Lebanon (an 8-7, extra-inning loss). We’ve got to keep that competitive edge. We have that potential. We have that attitude on our team. But I don’t want to take anything away from them (the Warriors). They have some good hitters in their lineup. They hit the ball hard.”
Warwick added on in the top of the third, scoring twice to open a 5-0 advantage. With a single, a triple and a walk, the first three Warrior hitters reached against Maulfair and two of them scored.
Mengel’s RBI-triple in the fifth made it 6-0 Warwick.
“I thought she did pretty well,” said Edwards of Maulfair, who struck out four and walked two. “We didn’t help her by making mistakes. She was kind of hanging balls late. But overall I thought she threw pretty good.”
Warwick’s five-run sixth – which came courtesy of five hits and a Falcon miscue – ended the game an inning early. Herr and Mengel each collected two more RBIs with doubles.
Warwick totaled a dozen hits.
“I think we just need to have confidence in our ability,” said Edwards. “We have the talent. The ability is here. We’ve got to gain confidence and work hard in practice, and see what happens.
“Everybody’s in the same (spring weather) boat,” Edwards added. “We haven’t been outside on our field a whole lot. But we’ve been out enough. It’s not an excuse for us.”
To purchase images in this article email jkifalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.
2017 Cedar Crest Softball Schedule
| DATE |
OPPONENT |
TIME |
OUTCOMES |
|
|
| 03/24 |
Northern Lebanon
|
4:15 PM |
L 7-8, 10 innings |
|
|
| 03/30 |
@Fleetwood
|
4:00 PM |
L 1-2 |
|
|
| 04/03 * |
Warwick
|
4:15 PM |
L 0-11 |
|
|
| DATE |
OPPONENT |
TIME |
LOCATION |
|
| 04/05 * |
@McCaskey
|
4:15 PM |
McCaskey High School |
|
| 04/05 * |
McCaskey
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 04/07 * |
Hempfield
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 04/10 * |
Penn Manor
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 04/12 * |
@Manheim Twp.
|
4:15 PM |
Manheim Twp. High School |
|
| 04/13 |
@Conestoga Valley
|
4:15 PM |
Conestoga Valley High School |
|
| 04/17 |
Lebanon
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 04/19 |
@Garden Spot
|
4:15 PM |
Garden Spot High School |
|
| 04/21 |
Solanco
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 04/24 |
@Ephrata
|
4:15 PM |
Ephrata High School |
|
| 04/26 |
Elizabethtown
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 04/28 * |
@Warwick
|
4:15 PM |
Warwick High School |
|
| 05/01 * |
McCaskey
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 05/03 * |
@Hempfield
|
4:15 PM |
Hempfield High School |
|
| 05/04 * |
@Penn Manor
|
4:15 PM |
Penn Manor High School |
|
| 05/08 * |
Manheim Twp.
|
4:15 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
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