MECHANICSBURG — Greencastle-Antrim held the advantage for much of the game, but a late rally by Mechanicsburg turned the game around.
The Wildcats scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and claimed a 3-1 victory over the Blue Devils in a District 3 Class 5A softball semifinal contest Tuesday afternoon in Mechanicsburg.
Annika Gaus
Greencastle (19-5) will now play for third place on Thursday at 4:30 at No. 1 seed Solanco (21-2), which was defeated 7-4 by Northern York in the other semifinal.
Mechanicsburg (22-1), which will face Northern (19-4) for the championship, received a good outing from pitcher Sam Rybacki, who held the Blue Devils to just four hits and a walk while striking out six.
G-A coach Mark DeCarli said, “She kept us off-balance. She was fast, but she was mixing her rise and her drop and a changeup. There was not a lot of squaring up the ball today.”
Greencastle scored its only run in the top of the fourth inning against the No. 2-seeded Wildcats. After an out, Meadow Gambacurta laced a double to right-center. Annika Gaus followed with a base hit to left that scored Gambacurta.
“We just didn’t put the ball in play that much,” DeCarli said. “We had one baserunning error that led to a double play, but we didn’t have many chances.”
Emma Broadwater hit a leadoff double in the top of the seventh, but Rybacki then struck out the next two batters and got a pop-up to end the game.
Sydney Orndorff had the other hit for G-A.
Sophie Layton kept Mechanicsburg at bay for five innings. But in the sixth, the Wildcats struck for three runs. Lauren Paul led off with a walk and was erased on a fielder’s choice. Kelsea Harshberger hit a single, then a double by Jada Lacey tied the game 1-1.
Mackenzie Wingert then came in to relieve Layton and Bella DeMaio greeted her with a single that scored two runs.
Layton (9-1) allowed six hits and one walk in 5.1 innings.
“Sophie said she just felt a little tired,” DeCarli said.