GREENCASTLE — The Battle of the Bats looked a lot more like The Battle of the Arms.
The traveling trophy that goes to the winner of the annual non-league duel between Chambersburg and Greencastle-Antrim in softball is called The Battle of the Bats and since both teams have potent lineups, that's what the game was expected to be.
Kori Leedy
Instead, Trojan pitcher Kori Leedy threw a complete game 6-hit shutout and her counterpart, G-A's Mackenzie Wingert, scattered 8 hits as Chambersburg picked up a 2-0 victory Friday in Greencastle and earn the trophy for the fourth straight year.
The game was played under unusual circumstances — it was a makeup from last Friday and, since it was after the District 3 playoff cutoff date, it did not affect the power rankings. Also, both teams had played big games on Thursday — the Blue Devils lost 10-4 to Cumberland Valley in the Mid Penn semifinals, while Chambersburg beat Central Dauphin to jump to No. 2 in the rankings.
"This is a good rivalry, but it was a different atmosphere today — it wasn't loud at all," Trojan coach Chris Skultety said. "We both played yesterday, and I think both teams looked a little lethargic."
Despite the loss, G-A coach Mark DeCarli wasn't displeased. The defeat to CV was harder to take because of 6 Blue Devil errors, but on Friday, Greencastle made only one error, centerfielder Kylie Kerns and rightfielder Kaidyn Zimmerman both made diving catches and leftfielder Alexis Jones and shortstop Meadow Gambacurta made excellent catches.
"We lost, but it was a good loss," DeCarli said. "We played well against the No. 2 team in 6A, so I'm happy, and maybe it will give us a push going into districts. I think we feel better today than after the CV loss. The outfield played great — they were aggressive at coming to get the ball."
Mackenzie Wingert
Chambersburg (17-3) scored single runs in the first and third innings.
In the first, Bree Paetow led off by slapping a single to left and went to second on an error. Karley Skultety then singled to left and Paetow scored easily. In the third, Paetow grounded a single up the middle, stole second and raced home when Skultety laced a base hit to left.
"We tried to make some adjustments and hit more balls on the ground because we had too many fly balls," said Paetow, who was 4-for-4 with three ground-ball hits.
Indeed, Wingert (4-2) got 12 outs on fly balls or pop-ups, and just three on ground balls.
"That might have been Wingert's best game of her career," DeCarli said. "She was spinning the ball really well. We wanted to get her an outing because she may pitch Monday (in the playoffs), and this should be a confidence booster."
Coach Skultety said, "That was smart to not throw a fast pitcher at us. (Wingert) moved the ball around and we did not make adjustments."
Leedy (12-2) allowed only three runners to get to second base and none to third, walked none and struck out five.
"Kori pitched really well," Paetow said, "and I'm glad we were able to turn that double play to help her."
Chambersburg does not play until Thursday. It will be a District 3 6A quarterfinal at 4:30 at Norlo Park against the winner of a first-round game between No. 7 Carlisle (13-6-1) vs. No. 10 Northeastern (12-7)
Greencastle (15-5), the No. 5 seed in Class 5A, will host a first-round game Monday at 4:30 against No. 12 Hershey (12-7).
