Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS East Juniata catcher Gracie Myers tags out Upper Dauphin's Amaya Hoffman in a collision at home plate.

By Connor Jackson

Sports correspondent

COCOLAMUS — The East Juniata softball team hung in for four innings against Upper Dauphin Wednesday, but 13 runs scored by the Trojans over the fifth and sixth innings broke the game open for a 20-4 Upper Dauphin win in six innings.

“We played some competitive softball for the first three, four, five innings,” East Juniata coach Wes Diehl said. “Then we had a bad bottom of the fifth inning, bottom of the sixth inning, we gave up some runs because of defensive errors again. We were well within 10 runs this whole game and defensive errors put it out of reach.”

Madison Snyder started in the circle for the Tigers and limited the Trojan offense enough to keep East Juniata in the game early.

“She is a very good pitcher,” Diehl said. “She is the only pitcher I got right now. Maddie is doing the best she can. We are playing good teams that know how to hit the ball. But again, it comes down to defense. She has got eight players behind her that need to support her.”

The Trojans took a 4-0 lead in the first but East Juniata responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to keep them within striking distance. Landyn Cramer hit an RBI triple to make it 4-2.

Cramer later would hit an RBI double to make the score 7-4 in the third inning. “She is a good hitter,” Diehl said. “She swings hard, she swings for the fence every time. She is a strong enough girl that all she has to do is make contact with the ball, and she is going to get distance out of it.”

East Juniata (1-5) will play at home against Lewisburg at 4:30 p.m. Friday. “Choices, we’ve got to make better choices,” Diehl said. “That’s where it’s at right now.”