NTL SOFTBALL: HILEY SISTERS, JARVIS LEAD ATHENS PAST WYALUSING (April 3, 2026)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
ATHENS — Athens pitcher Gretchan Hiley threw her third double-digit strikeout game of the season as the Wildcats defeated Wyalusing, 5-1, in NTL softball action here Friday.

Hiley would strike out 10 without giving up a walk, and surrendered one unearned run.

“Gretchan being Gretchan,” coach Brian Wendela said. “She just does what she does. She knew it was a big game, and she steps up to that. She's a coach's dream when she does that and she just keeps doing her thing.”

Meanwhile, McKenna Jarvis contributed a solo home run and Madalyn Hiley added two hits to support their pitcher's effort.

Athens would score the game-winning run in the bottom of the second inning, then added a trio of insurance runs in the fifth.

With the score tied at one, Jarvis belted a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence to give the home team a 1-0 edge with two away in the first.

The Rams battled back to tie the game in their half of the second, taking advantage of an error, a single and a pair of sacrifice bunts. Kayla Carpenter reached on an infield miscue and moved to second on Emily Johns’ single to left. Addison Fluck’s sac bunt put both base runners into scoring position and a sac bunt by Josie Ferris plated Carpenter.

The Wildcats made it 2-1 when Memphis Paul singled to right and advanced to second on an error by the outfielder. Ground outs by Danica May and Abby Delosa moved Paul to third and then home for the lead.

With two down in the third, Wyalusing’s Treanna Nickerson singled to left and took second on the throw, but Gretchan Hiley struck out the next batter to end any scoring threat.

Madalyn Hiley singled to left with two gone in the Athens half of the inning, but Fluck induced a ground ball out to short to end the inning.

Gretchan Hiley and Fluck retired the sides in the fourth.

Wyalusing put a runner in scoring position in the fifth with a one out single by O’Connor and a stolen base from courtesy runner Ferris, but Gretchan Hiley struck out the next batter and snagged a line drive off the bat of Addisyn Bly.

The Rams mishandled Delosa’s ground ball and a walk to Mya Allen put runners at first and second in the bottom of the fifth. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Abigail Ahern erased Delosa at third, but put Allen at second and Ahern on first.

Allen scored on an error on Gretchan Hiley’s ground ball to make it 3-1. Gretchan Hiley stole second, then Ahern tallied on a passed ball. Gretchan Hiley moved to third on the passed ball and raced home on Madalyn Hiley’s double to left, giving the Wildcats their 5-1 advantage.

Fluck and Gretchan Hiley combined to retire the next seven batters, then Delosa drew a two-out walk, but was stranded at first.

Johns would lead off the seventh with a ground ball single, but Gretchan Hiley retired the side on three fly outs to end the game.

The Wildcats were solid in the field, committing just one error.

“That's one thing we specialize in,” Wendela said. “We do a lot of reps on defense whenever we get a chance with the weather. We take pride in our defense and I think that's a good recipe with Gretchan pitching and just making our plays when we need to. No errors is always a big thing for us.”

Both teams managed four hits. Madalyn Hiley accounted for two of the Wildcats’ hits. She added an RBI as well.

Jarvis added a hit, run and RBI; Paul had a hit and a run; Gretchan Hiley, Allen and Ahern chipped in with one run apiece; and Delosa drove in one run.

Taking advantage of offensive opportunities while only striking out twice made the Athens contributions at the plate key factors in the win.

“I was happy with our approaches,” Wendela said. “We've been talking a lot about our mental approaches at bat and trying to get into good counts, and I thought we did a great job.

“Even when we made outs, we were hitting the ball in play and hitting the ball hard at people, so it was good to see that. I think that warmer weather helps things out with that, so it was nice to see the bats come alive a little bit.”

Fluck allowed one earned run, but the Rams committed three errors.

Johns had two of Wyalusing’s hits.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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