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Rybacki’s three-run triple capped a 12-run second inning for the Wildcats in their District 3 Class 5A opener against Elizabethtown.
Mechanicsburg’s softball players streamed out of the home dugout, single file, to Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us” Monday afternoon, each one crossing the back of home plate as they took the field ahead of their District 3 Class 5A playoff opener.
In a break-out bottom of the second inning, the Wildcats put the song into practice.
The Wildcats scored 12 runs in their half of the second inning, belting two hits while drawing four walks and benefiting from four Elizabethtown errors and two batters hit by pitches. It led to a 14-0 victory in five innings and a first-round knockout of the Bears.
“We asked them just to go out and have fun,” Mechanicsburg coach Gail Hiestand said. “Our approach to this game was no different than what we’ve done all season. They know that they have a mission, and they know what that mission is, and I love what I saw today.”
With its second district tournament win since 1979, Mechanicsburg (20-2) moves on to Thursday’s quarterfinals, where it is scheduled to host Shippensburg at 4:30 p.m. The Greyhounds defeated Exeter 3-2 in 10 innings Monday.
Before the floodgates opened for Mechanicsburg, a single run trickled across in the bottom of the first inning when starting pitcher Sam Rybacki helped her own cause with some small ball. The junior laced a single into right field, took two bases on a Lauren Paul sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly from battery mate Emily Bittner.
“We always know that when Sam’s wheels get on base, she is a threat,” Hiestand said. “For her to see that, it’s one of those situations where I can’t even really call it. She’s got to see it, when she’s rounding second and no one’s there, and she has the green light to do those things. That kind of set the tone right from the beginning.”
Rybacki also delivered the biggest offensive blow of the breakout second inning. After Mechanicsburg had scratched across nine more runs, going station to station with walks, hit batters and Elizabethtown errors, Rybacki stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and cleared them with a three-run triple to right-center.
Greencastle-Antrim holds off Mechanicsburg in Mid-Penn softball semifinal
“She threw me an outside pitch in the at-bat before, and I kind of hit it that way, so I was kind of expecting it,” Ryabacki said. “Once I actually made contact with it, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going all the way to third.’”
Breonna Edgell took the loss for No. 15 Elizabethtown (10-11), pitching the first two innings. She finished with five walks, two hit batters and four hits allowed. Nine of the 13 runs she allowed were unearned.
“We pretty much competed in every game except this,” Elizabethtown coach Gary Wylde said. “However, some of those losses were just from an inning like that second inning where we just couldn’t put it together.”
In the regular-season meeting between the teams, Mechanicsburg built a 7-0 lead before the Bears clawed back in a 7-6 final. But with the early lead Monday, the Wildcats kept the pedal down. Emily Bittner scored a run in the fifth, leading off with a single, advancing to second on a groundout and coming home on a line-drive single from Jada Lacey. In the circle, Rybacki retained control throughout. She allowed baserunners in the first four innings – Chloe Wilkinson on a single in the first, walks to Keira in the second and fourth and Carli Zerphey via walk in the third – but none of them advanced beyond first base. In the fifth, Madison Bell drew a one-out walk and advanced on a fielder’s choice before Rybacki caught a popup to the pitcher’s circle for the final out.
“I felt like we had a ton more confidence and energy than we had in all the other games,” said Rybacki, who struck out two batters. “To come out today and to have that confidence and energy and trusting my teammates to have my back was actually something really special.”
Also in Class 5A
Shippensburg 3, Exeter 2 (10 inn.): Delaney Fisher’s single in the 10th inning plated Riley Mullen for the go-ahead run for the No. 10 Greyhounds (13-8), who advance to face Mechanicsburg. With the lead, Shippensburg pitcher Cierra Bender finished off the No. 7 Eagles (13-8) with a pair of strikeouts. Bender pitched all 10 innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs while striking out 16 and walking two. She also scored a run and recorded one of the Hounds’ four hits against Exeter’s Morgan Herb.
Northern 13, Red Land 3 (5 inn.): Six players drove in at least one run for the No. 5 Polar Bears (17-4), including Sammy Magee, who drove in three. She also earned the win in the circle, pitching the first four innings. She struck out five with zero walks. The No. 12 Patriots (10-11) took a 3-0 lead in the first on a Payton Myers home run before the Polar Bears answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Northern then took control with four runs in the bottom of the third, including two on a Hannah Keith home run. The Polar Bears advance to face No. 4 Donegal in a quarterfinal scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Mount Joy.
Tim Gross is the sports editor at The Sentinel and cumberlink.com. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at: @ByTimGross
