Cougars Do Work, More on the Way « Lebanon Sports Buzz

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Cougars Do Work, More on the Way

Apr 27, 2017
Jeff Falk
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BY JEFF FALK

PALMYRA – Focus too much on the future, and you run the risk of not realizing it. Perhaps the best way to stay on track is to take advantage of every moment, every opportunity, every swing, and allow time to take care of itself.

On a humid Thursday afternoon, a young Palmyra softball team which has endured its share of lumps this spring did some dishing out, in the form of a 6-0 blanking of Susquehanna Township. After breaking through in the bottom of the fifth in support of sophomore hurler Abbey Krahling, the Cougars made it a little easier on her by scoring four times in the sixth.

While the spring has been mostly an up-and-down one for Palmyra, where the Cougars have struggled most has been at the dish. Palmyra entered the fray having scored a run or less in half of its outings to date.

The result made the Cougars 4-8 overall and 4-5 in the Keystone Division of the Mid-Penn Conference. Palmyra, which had beaten the Indians 7-1 in Harrisburg back April 3rd, was seeded 28th in the latest District Three Class AAAAA power rankings.

With the outcome, Susquehanna Township plummeted to 1-8 overall, and in the division.

The contest was completed in a crisp hour and ten minutes.

“The way I look at it, if we’re over .500, we’ve got a shot,” said Palmyra head coach Tod Whitman of the potential of getting to districts. “We’ve got some work to get done. It’s not out of the realm of possibility. But we’re still trying to figure things out.

“There’s a lot of talent there, and there’s room for improvement,” continued Whitman. “I don’t feel like we’ve made the most of their potential, technically and mentally. The physical errors you’re going to have, but we’ve done well with the mental aspect.”

Yesterday the Cougars experienced trouble with the sticks until shortstop Rebecca Randall came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the fifth. With the game score-less, Randall got Palmyra going with a single, stole second and made it to third on a wild pitch.

Teammate Ashley Acri plated Randall with a single for the game’s first run. Then after Acri stole second and was sacrificed to third by Miranda Nissley, Acri scored on Megan Quigley’s RBI-grounder.

“The hits were timely, and we had good, crucial bunts,” said Whitman. “What I love is that the kids come to practice wanting to get better. We have faced some pretty average pitching and struggled with that. But they (his players) haven’t gotten down. Hitting attitude is a ton of confidence. The confidence is up and down, but hopefully their’s is still up. They continue to work hard.

“I want to hit the ball better,” Whitman continued. “I think our hitting is better than we’ve shown. I want to play defense like we did today. But I’m waiting for the hitting to get more confident. I’m not focused on districts. I want to win our league games and get as high as we can in our division. If we get there (districts) that means we’re taking care of business game in and game out.”

With very few bumps, Krahling was in control most of the way. She scattered four hits, struck out five and did not issue a free pass.

Krahling did not allow a runner past second base until the top of the sixth inning. But the Cougar defense erased a lead-off triple in that frame, with a heads-up, back-up play, and a strong relay throw to the plate.

“Abbey was very efficient,” said Whitman. “We were concerned with her pitch count. She pitched earlier in the week, and we’re counting on for a doubleheader on Saturday. It’s constantly a work in progress. She threw great. She threw a lot of strikes to try and save pitches, and didn’t go deep in counts.

“Our defense was better,” Whitman added. “Our defense and hitting has really stepped up. We flip-flopped some girls in some positions, and those girls did well. The defense was good. Our defense is capable of being solid. You saw a little extra confidence today.”

The Cougars batted around as part of a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth.

It all started with a Molly Nelson lead-off single and the Indians threw fuel on the fire with a couple of errors and a pair of wild pitches. In the middle of the uprising, Krahling, Sara Boyer, Randle and Quigley all contributed RBIs.

“There’s never enough improvement,” said Whitman. “Everybody wants to see more and faster. There was a time when I thought we might go backwards. We talk about the mental stuff all the time. The improvement has been consistent. We have some very talented kids, but no one is going to carry the team. We need everybody to improve.

“These girls deserve credit for their tenacity,” added Whitman. “How they own these games shows their school and teammates that they want to continue to get better.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.

2017 Palmyra Softball Results

DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	OUTCOMES
03/24	Big Spring	4:15 PM	L 2-4
03/30 *	Bishop McDevitt	4:15 PM	W 5-0
04/03 *	@Susquehanna Twp.	4:15 PM	W 7-1
04/05 *	@Lower Dauphin	4:15 PM	L 0-8
04/08	Shippensburg	12:00 PM	L 0-15
04/11 *	Mechanicsburg	4:15 PM	L 0-8
04/13 *	CD East	4:15 PM	L 3-7
04/18 *	@Harrisburg	4:15 PM	L 0-3

04/20 *	@Hershey	7:00 PM	W 12-8
04/22	@Muhlenberg	7:00 PM	L 1-12
04/25 *	@Bishop McDevitt	4:15 PM	L 1-5
04/27 *	Susquehanna Twp.	4:15 PM	W 6-0

DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION
05/02 *	Lower Dauphin	4:15 PM	Palmyra High School
05/04 *	@Mechanicsburg	4:15 PM	Mechanicsburg High School
05/08	@Middletown	4:15 PM	Middletown High School
05/09 *	@CD East	4:15 PM	CD East High School
05/11 *	Harrisburg	4:15 PM	Palmyra High School
05/15 *	Hershey	4:30 PM	Palmyra High School

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAA Rankings

AAAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating
1	Lampeter Strasburg	14-	1-	0	0.769089
2	Lower Dauphin	10-	2-	0	0.754288
3	Spring Grove	10-	2-	0	0.745517
4	Twin Valley	9-	3-	0	0.735442
5	Mechanicsburg	10-	2-	0	0.728694
6	Donegal	13-	2-	0	0.728495
7	Solanco	8-	3-	0	0.701794
8	Shippensburg	7-	2-	0	0.685576
9	New Oxford	8-	4-	0	0.665417
10	Garden Spot	8-	5-	0	0.661570
11	Cedar Cliff	5-	4-	0	0.653943
12	Muhlenberg	8-	4-	0	0.630145
13	Elizabethtown	8-	7-	0	0.625667
14	Greencastle Antrim	6-	4-	0	0.616531
15	Daniel Boone	5-	5-	0	0.600800
16	Governor Mifflin	7-	9-	0	0.591620
17	Hershey	6-	5-	0	0.582015
18	Northern York	7-	6-	0	0.561758
19	Gettysburg	6-	6-	0	0.536674
20	Big Spring	5-	7-	0	0.530071
21	Susquehannock	5-	6-	0	0.528380
22	Manheim Central	6-	8-	0	0.515487
23	Conrad Weiser	6-	6-	0	0.505367
24	Dover	5-	8-	0	0.501889
25	Red Land	3-	9-	0	0.486017
26	Northeastern	4-	8-	0	0.464655
27	Cocalico	5-	9-	0	0.461269
28	Palmyra	3-	8-	0	0.458992
29	Ephrata	2-	11-	0	0.404442
30	Lebanon	2-	10-	0	0.384767
31	Harrisburg	2-	8-	0	0.381972
32	South Western	1-	8-	0	0.379465
33	Milton Hershey	0-	7-	0	0.218671