And against perennial powerhouse Central Columbia, those kind of mistakes could doom a team.

But Montoursville had other ideas. The Warriors excelled in every facet following that early hiccup, pounded out eight hits against quality pitcher Teddi Snavely and beat Central Columbia, 9-2, in their home opener Wednesday. 

“I’m very proud of the girls. I think last season, this got walked off three times to start our season, and so they wanted to come out and rewrite the story this season. I’m super proud of this first appearance,” Montoursville coach Mikayla Arnold said. 

Despite those early errors, Warrior pitcher Julie Friel never lost trust in her defense. The senior allowed just two hits en route to throwing all seven innings of no-earned-run ball. Friel didn’t walk any and struck out just three, but induced plenty of weak contact to keep a potent Blue Jay offense in check. 

PHOTO PROVIDED Montoursville's Trinity Belle looks to score during Wednesday's game against Central Columbia.

“We practiced really hard, and I knew after we got our nerves out that everything after that would be fine, and all you can do is let them keep hitting and make the plays,” Friel said.

After allowing those two runs in the top of the first, Montoursville used excellent plate discipline to put up a crooked number of their own in the bottom of the first. Trinity Belle laced a single up the middle to put two on with no outs, and three straight walks made it 2-2 with no outs.

Laney Yonkin added a sacrifice fly to put the Warriors up 3-2 and they added another run on a wild pitch with two outs to make it 4-2 after an inning. 

Friel helped herself in the second inning when she hit a two-out, two-run double over the head of the left fielder to extend the lead to 6-2.  And, after giving up a leadoff single to start the top of the third, Friel never let a Blue Jay reach base, retiring the last fifteen batters faced in a row.

Only three of those outs came via the strikeout. But Friel hit her spots, and the Blue Jays just could not build any momentum on offense. 

PHOTO PROVIDED Montoursville players react in the infield during Wednesday's game vs. Central Columbia.

“The great thing about our team is that a lot of these girls have been playing together for a long time,” Arnold said. “(Friel’s) seen them have success before, so you’re exactly right. She put all her trust in them and gave her best pitch by pitch.”

Montoursville hit up and down the lineup, and threatened multiple times in innings in which they were ultimately unable to put a run across. The Warriors got their exclamation point on a great performance at the plate from standout hitter Kayleigh Sheleman, a UConn-bound senior.

Sheleman came up to plate with two outs in the sixth inning with a runner on after Trinity Belle earned her third hit of the game. Frustrated by the lack of hittable pitches she’d seen in previous plate appearances, Sheleman was locked in and looking for a pitch to hit in a 3-0 count. She got the pitch she wanted, waist-high and middle-in, and sent it some 230 feet from home plate, clearing a deep left field fence with the wind blowing in for a two-run home run. 

“My first few at-bats, I didn’t see a lot of strikes, so going in there, hopefully I was going to see a strike. I got (up) 3-0, but I was just waiting for the pitch, and when it was there, my goal every time is to hit the ball hard,” Sheleman said. 

There is plenty of season ahead. But for a team with district title aspirations this year, they could not have asked for much of a better start. 

PHOTO PROVIDED Montoursville's Trinity Belle looks to make contact against Central Columbia during Wednesday's game.

“The greatest part of this game was that we started off with three errors, and then we turned it around. We had a lot of players who had things happen to them that didn’t go their way, whether they made an error, struck out, or whatnot,” Arnold said. “But as a team and as individuals tonight, we saw consistently across the board girls bouncing back and not leaning into their failures, but walking away from them. That’s what they all took away and are most proud of tonight.”

Montoursville 9, Central Columbia 2

Central 200 000 0 — 2 2 2

Montoursville 421 002 x — 9 8 4

Teddi Snavely and Grace Turner. Julie Friel and Danni DeTato. W: Friel. L: Snavely.

PHOTO PROVIDED Montoursville's Kayleigh Sheleman reacts during Wednesday's game against Central Columbia.

Top Central Columbia hitters: Kendra Poust 1 hit; Jude Flick 1 hit. Top Montoursville hitters; Trinity Belle 3-4, 3 runs; Julie Friel 1-3, 2B, 2 RBIs; Kayleigh Sheleman 1-1, HR, 2 RBIs, 3 runs.