MIFFLINBURG — The players on Milton High School’s softball team have fashioned comebacks from coast-to-coast.
That’s the case when most of your team is made up of players who won a Little League Senior Division world title.
The Black Panthers needed another one of those rallies Tuesday against Susquehanna Valley League rival Mifflinburg. And they came through once again — scoring three runs in the sixth inning for a 3-2 victory.
Senior center fielder Aly Hoover was the hero as her two-out single up the middle drove in two runs. The win kept Milton perfect at 16-0 overall and 14-0 SVL and was the team’s 31st straight league victory. Mifflinburg is 12-4 overall and 11-3 in the league.
Milton had trailed since the first inning when the Wildcats’ Hannah Allison cracked a two-run homer over the fence in left. Leadoff hitter Amy Cline singled to lead off the ball game and Allison’s homer came one batter later.
And Mifflinburg sophomore hurler Emily Crandell was nearly perfect in the circle, allowing just one hit and fanning nine through five innings.
Melissa Balliet, the No. 9 hole hitter, started Milton’s rally with a single to right. After Kelley Pfleegor popped to Crandell on a bunt attempt, Larissa Luu drew a walk, Crandell’s only one in the game.
Pitcher Nicole Smith then gave Milton its first run with a double to right center. Luu went to third. They stayed put as Crandell got a strikeout and had two strikes on Hoover.
She hit the ball back through the middle and it hit the bag at second, caroming toward shortstop. Luu and Smith both scored.
“I just wanted to connect with the ball, not strike out. I wanted to give myself a chance,” Hoover said. “Our confidence level was low in the dugout. We were trying to get everyone’s heads up. It was kind of scary but we knew we had to score to win. We had to do it, so we did it.”
She had praise for Mifflinburg. “They hit the ball well, they were ready to play. They caught us off guard in the beginning.”
Smith, who allowed five hits (three to Allison), said “ We knew they weren’t going to roll over. They were hitting and we weren’t. We had to get our heads in the game and luckily we did.”
Smith said she felt Crandell was getting some calls on the outside of the plate, calls that she wasn’t getting. “I got a couple but she got so many. It’s really frustrating. You hope that you get an umpire who is the same for everyone.”
Bill Keefer, the Milton coach, said it was a game that the Milton team needed. “Most of our games this year haven’t been real close. It’s never nice to get down 2-0 but it was nice to see how we responded. It was a well-played game.
“The last couple of days, we have had no bat speed.”
Mike Beckley, the Mifflinburg coach, said he thought the game was the best his team played in the past three years.
“We came out swinging aggressively, we weren’t tentative, got after things defensively. She pitched a solid game. I’m thrilled, I really am,” the coach said. “They battled back, and sprinkled a little luck into the equation there with the ball bouncing off the bag. Allison was right there and there would have been a play at the plate had she gone.
“But that’s the way it happens. We played well.”
Smith fanned only three and didn’t walk anyone. Crandell had 12 strikeouts and walked only the one.
There was only one error in the game.
Milton visits Selinsgrove today while Mifflinburg is off until Saturday, when it hosts Shikellamy.