By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – On an afternoon where they hoped to honor their veteran leaders, the Port Allegany softball team pulled out all the stops. There were friends and family, balloons and brownies and a 13-0 five-inning blowout win over Smethport as the Lady Gators extended their win streak to five.
Ahead of the first pitch, Port honored their five seniors, bringing the procession of Brynn Evens, Maddy Errick, Alayna McKervey, Savannah Hart and Alyssa Tanner around the baseline before meeting their family at home plate.
“(The seniors) bring a lot of leadership to the team. They’ve matured so much over the past couple years and, in their final year now, they’re where they need to be,” said head coach Mark Wilcox, who spent a handful of years in the Lady Gator dugout before taking over as head coach this year. “They keep the team in line, they keep the team going. They’re all around good people.”
Then, the seniors and Co. turned their attention to the task at hand: their second meeting with the Lady Hubbers. In their last matchup, Port pulled out a 12-2 win to open their season, however, they were eager to find improvement.
Despite allowing a baserunner on via error on the first at-bat of the day, Port was quick to evacuate the diamond, putting Smethport out through the next three batters. In turn, the Lady Gators were equally quick to kick start the action. After Breah Fillhart reached first on a lead-off walk, Addison Taylor brought her home, nailing a deep inside-the-park home run to put Port on the board early.
Evens then restocked the bases, notching a single during her first appearance at the plate before making her way to third on a steal and subsequent Smethport overthrow. With one out, Port’s next Lady Gator up, Peyton Gordon, cracked a single through the infield to bring Evens around home plate.
Although that would be the end of the action in the first, Port was quick to return to the plate. After notching her 200th strikeout on Wednesday in a win against Otto-Eldred, sophomore pitcher Bria Wilcox added two more to her resume in the top of the second as the Lady Gators dispatched Smethport in four.
“In the future, I see (Bria) playing at the college level. She trains hard at it. She trains year-round,” said Mark Wilcox, “and it pays off in games like these. She puts in the hard work and gets it done.”
In the bottom of the second, the Lady Gators broke away. Starting with a double to centerfield from Tanner, Port loaded the bases in their first three bats. Taylor then tallied her second RBI, driving in Tanner with a single, a feat followed by a two-run RBI-single from Evens as Port’s lead ballooned to 6-0.
Despite tacking on their first out immediately after, the Lady Gators’ bats again began cranking out runs, with Gordon, Bria Wilcox and Tanner bringing in three more runs before the end of the frame.
Staring up at a mountainous deficit with no spark to go on, the Lady Hubbers were unable to affect the outcome. Being put out in six over the next two innings, Smethport was deflated and defeated. Allowing three more runs in the bottom of the third, they enacted the mercy rule, dropping their fifth contest of the season and second to the Lady Gators.
Taylor led the Lady Gators with three RBIs and two runs scored during her 2-for-3 day at the plate, while Evens finished with three runs scored and two RBIs, going 2-for-3 as well in the win. Gordon and Tanner both went a perfect 2-for-2 in the batters’ box, combining for five RBIs and two runs scored. In the circle, Wilcox ended with seven strikeouts as she refused to allow a hit.
Sitting at 7-1, the Lady Gators are well on pace to not only improve upon last season’s 12-8 benchmark, but to ready themselves for a deep run into the District 9 Class 2A postseason, where their ambitions truly lie. The key to both, per the Mark Wilcox system, is simply keeping their foot on the gas.
“We just need to keep their arms going, keep their bodies going, tough practices, keeping them in the game all the time and not letting up,” said Mark Wilcox. “It’s a long season and we just have to keep moving through it and playing tough.”
AT PORT ALLEGANY
Smethport 000 00 R:0 H:0 E:2
Port Allegany 373 0X R:10 H:10 E:1
Smethport: Miller (1 SO, 5 BB), Benjamin (3) (2 SO, 2 BB) and TronettiPort Allegany: Wilcox (7 SO, 0 BB) and Errick
