Energized CB West bests Souderton

DOYELSTOWN >> In the six innings the Central Bucks West softball team hit Wednesday afternoon, its bench went unused.

Instead of sitting, the Bucks lined the fence, a couple of others took practice swings but all of them pumped encouragement to whoever was at the plate. So when the team’s breakthrough came in the fifth inning, it wasn’t surprising.

CB West rallied late for the second day in a row and came out with another big win, this time topping a sloppy Souderton team 7-4.

“We made sure we put the ball in play and capitalized on any errors they made,” Bucks centerfielder Emily Dryden said. “We knew if we could put the ball in play we could scratch out some wins and luckily we came out on top.”

Souderton was hurt by five errors and top-heavy production from the lineup. The latter is something the team is still working through, trying to find the right places where the hitters can best feed off each other. The former is something it feels should never happen, especially with late-inning errors directly fueling a couple of Bucks runs.

The Indians led 1-0 after one and 3-1 after three innings thanks to two RBI from pitcher Alex Scheeler and a CB West error allowing a runner to score. Still, Souderton left chances to add onto the lead standing on base, like when Jen Klepfer was stranded at third after a leadoff triple in the fourth inning.

“We weren’t attacking the ball in the field,” Souderton coach Steph Rummel said. “(CB West) was putting the ball into play, which is what they needed to do and we were giving them a lot of outs. Our throws weren’t on point and neither was our catching and we couldn’t pull out the win mainly because of errors.”

With a strong wind blowing straight in, balls either had to be hit with purpose or kept on the ground to have any chance of dropping in for a hit. The wind played havoc with a number of fly balls early, with Souderton’s outfield in extremely shallow to compensate.

CB West had at least one runner on in the first four innings, but only had one run to show for it. Dryden was a bit unlucky on a bases-loaded groundout in the fourth when she was called out on a close play at first base but the Bucks would break through the next frame.

“Once we started getting momentum it just kept going our way,” shortstop Abby Morrison said. “We got it done.”

Morrison, the lone senior starter on the team, got the Bucks’ fifth-inning rally going with a one-out infield hit. She would score on a Souderton error after trying to steal third base leaving two runners on base behind her.

Again for the second day in a row, a pinch-hitter came up big for the Bucks. Kelly Cyliax ripped an 0-1 pitch up the first base line and off the fielder into right field to bring in two runs.

“These girls are great, they just don’t quit and it’s a good group,” Bucks coach Geoff Thompson said.

“We knew whoever came up big offensively, both teams were hitting the ball well, so whoever was able to keep hitting the ball and keeping up energy was going to win the game,” Dryden said.

After putting up three in the fifth, the Bucks got out of a jam defensively when pitcher Angelina Sherba got outfielder Dayna Shelly to ground out with Savannah Bostwick at third and Carty at second. The sophomore lefty walked five batters, but also had five strikeouts and got big outs when she most needed them all game.

West added three more runs in the sixth with Morrison and Sherba delivering RBI for the Bucks and the last run coming in on an infield error.
Scheeler gave Souderton some hope with a leadoff double in the seventh. Souderton loaded the bases with one out on a bunt hit by Alyssa McCormick, but Sherba retired the next two, yielding a run but also closing out the victory.

The win gave CB West four on the season, matching the Bucks’ total for all of last year. Morrison said a major facet of the early success has been keeping the team’s morale up. The team’s older players remember a lot of heads dropping the last few seasons and have made it a focus to not let that happen this year.

They stay positive, focused and energetic and it seeps down to the younger players so that when the bench is called on to pinch-hit or run, they come up with confidence.

“Our coaching staff has been very positive this year which keeps us all positive,” Morrison said. “We don’t really get down on ourselves which helps a lot.”

“That’s another change from last year to this is year is the attitude overall,” Dryden said. “That’s really been helping us so far.”