Wildcats

Let's use this for analogies in the case of 'firsts.' When Williamsport and Middletown played for the first time in 1976, Williamsport won 6-0. Roll the clock way, way ahead to 2011 and Williamsport certainly would like to create another 'first' over Middletown - a first playoff win in its first-ever postseason game. Tonight, Williamsport (5-5) travels to powerful Middletown (9-1) in the Maryland Class 2A West semifinals at 7 with the winner moving on to face the Walkersville-South Carroll winner in the region final.

Every second counts in the sport of cross country, and Saturday was a big day of seconds for Washington County boys at the Maryland state championships at Hereford High School - in more ways than one. Senior Evan Hardy placed second in the Class 2A race, leading Williamsport to a second-place team finish, while Smithsburg junior Luke Daigneault finished second in Class 1A. “I'm really disappointed that I didn't win,” Hardy said. “But I'd take second any day as long as the team got second instead of third or fourth.” The Williamsport boys, who haven't won a team title at states since 1975, hadn't placed as high as second since 1978.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 PREP SOFTBALL WILLIAMSPORT — Kayla Ewing hit a walk-off three-run home run in the ninth inning to lift Williamsport to a 7-5 win over North Hagerstown in the MVAL Antietam Conference on Thursday. Ewing finished with three hits — including her fourth homer of the season and an RBI single — and walked twice for the Wildcats (3-5, 2-4). Autumn Stotler’s RBI single in the eighth tied the game at 4 and forced another inning. Casie Files had three hits and an RBI, and Ariah Giles went the distance, pitching a five-hitter with three walks and 11 strikeouts.

Forgive Williamsport coach Chris Downs if he has a personal dislike of penalty kick shootouts. In 2008, his Wildcats were favored in the Maryland Class 1A West final, only to watch Boonsboro prevail 4-3 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw through 100 minutes. Williamsport returned to the 1A West final again in 2009, this time traveling to top-seed Mountain Ridge. After a scoreless draw through 100 minutes, the Miners won the shootout, 5-3. With those painful losses behind them, Downs and the Wildcats have enough talent back to take another crack at winning the regional title and reaching the state tournament this year -- although, as usual, it won't be easy.

Williamsport went 2-for-2 in the Maryland Class 2A West soccer quarterfinals at North Hagerstown's Mike Callas Stadium on Thursday. The Wildcats did it in fashion with a pair of shutouts. In the opener, the boys defeated Century, 2-0. The girls followed with a 4-0 whitewashing of Walkersville. For the Williamsport boys, the victory means a quick turnaround in the weather-delayed playoffs as schools try to catch up on the schedule. The No. 3-seed Wildcats (10-4) will be on the road Friday night at No. 2-seed Liberty at 5. The girls have a day off before returning to action Saturday at home against No. 3-seed Oakdale at a time to be announced today, but most likely in mid-afternoon.

If Friday's game was Fear Factor, the Boonsboro boys basketball team would have won. “We scared them, but scaring isn't good enough,” said Boonsboro coach Skip Chambers. Instead, because it came down to scoring hoops instead of eating spiders, the Warriors came out on the short end. In far from its prettiest performance, Williamsport used its defense to build a 15-point lead and then held on for a 48-36 MVAL Antietam victory. “You got to give credit where credit is due,” said Williamsport coach Scott Mowbray.

Walkersville dominated the Williamsport softball team in all phases of the game on Friday afternoon. The Lions built a 7-0 lead in the first two innings en route to a 11-0 victory over the Wildcats, in a game that was halted after five innings by the 10-run rule. “It was obviously a letdown for us as a team,” Williamsport coach Jen Finafrock said. “We are going to try put it behind us and not have anymore like it. Walkersville is a good team. They are probably one of the better teams that we will play this season.” Walkersville (2-0)

In coach Emily Crabtree's words, Williamsport's volleyball team “got the monkey off its back.” The top-seeded Wildcats earned a 25-19, 25-17, 25-14 sweep of Century in the Maryland Class 2A West quarterfinals on Monday, but it was no cruise. “I don't know if it was because it was a Monday night game or because they were off from school today, but we weren't on our rhythm tonight,” said Crabtree. “But we're not going to make excuses. We still played hard and found a way to win tonight.” It got the Wildcats over a hump they couldn't last year when they were upset by Middletown in the region quarterfinals.

The Williamsport Wildcats football team had two reasons to celebrate on Friday night. For one reason, it was Senior Night at Williamsport High School. The Wildcats paid back the hometown support with their first win of the season in their regular-season finalé, 32-7 over the Clear Spring Blazers. Williamsport (1-9) is 9-0 against Clear Spring (3-7) since the first meeting between the two schools in 2004. Junior Jack Kelly caught three touchdown passes from senior quarterback T.J. Boyer and added a touchdown run to lead the way for the Wildcats.