Mounts add another upset

Hitting is contagious, and that stood true for 12thseeded Ephrata in its District Three Class 6A softball quarterfinal matchup at fourth-seeded Central York on Thursday.

The Mountaineers laced six hits in topping the Panthers 7-1 to record their second straight upset of the tournament and cement their spot in Tuesday’s semifinals.

Central York’s Ava Beamesderfer came out slinging the ball, not allowing a Mountaineers baserunner over the first two innings. On top of that, Beamesderfer struck out four of the six Ephrata batters she faced in the first two frames of play.

The Mountaineers needed a spark.

They got one in the top half of the third.

Left fielder Anna Beckham started the rally by working a one-out walk, resetting the lineup for Ephrata (11-11). Beckham then put herself in scoring position, swiping second base. Senior shortstop Alyssa Meier pushed Beckham to third with a single, and the Mountaineers had something cooking.

Second baseman Ali Williams loaded the bases for Ellie Meier, who went down on strikes for the second out of the inning.

But then third baseman Addy Snyder provided the spark the Mountaineers so desperately needed, driving a bases-clearing triple that rolled to the wall, giving her team a 3-0 lead. Snyder herself went on to score on a single by right fielder Maddie Russell, extending the lead to 4-0.

“I knew what my team needed and I knew that putting runs on the board would really get us going,” Snyder said. “All season our wins have come off of gamechangers, so I really knew that I didn’t need a home run. I didn’t need anything big, I just need to put the bat on the ball.”

Ellie Meier, the Mounts’ freshman pitcher, took the run support she was given by her offense and managed to wiggle her way out of jam after jam. Central York (165) only made solid contact a of times, and could never get the big hit that would propel them back into the game.

“I was really trusting my defense behind me,” Meier said. “I believe they can make the plays and when we’re on we can make a lot more plays and stay more loose.”

The Mountaineers — who start a three seniors, three sophomores and three freshmen — have now won two consecutive games against higher-seeded opponents, having edged fifthseeded Dallastown 9-8 in Tuesday’s opening round.

“We’ve been working at it all year in the beginning of the season when we were facing some of the these teams that were a little more seasoned and had a couple more veterans, we’ve had these moments where we had to realize that we couldn’t let our youth be something that stopped us and we were really going to have to mature quickly,” coach Katie Yohe said.

“We hit about the halfway point of the season and flipped the script and all of a sudden we were really focused and really in gear and we’ve got to keep that drive every single game.”