CURWENSVILLE – After a week of postponements due to the weather, the Curwensville Lady Tide softball team opened defense of their 2007 PIAA Class A State Championship in terrific fashion. Curwensville downed visiting DuBois Central Catholic (DCC) on Wednesday afternoon 4-0.
Junior pitcher, Holly Lansberry, picked up were she left off last season, throwing a one hitter and striking out 14 Lady Cardinals while walking just one. As Curwensville head coach Allen Leigey said afterwards, “Holly was just super and looked like she was in mid season form. I was asked after the game if she is throwing faster this year than last ,and the answer is yes.”
A newcomer to the Lady Tide lineup this year is junior third baseman Jenessa Stiles. It was a great start for Stiles as she drove in two runs in the first with a two out single up the middle to bring home Lansberry and Shannon McDonald. Then in the third she stroked a hard grounder to short that was booted, enabling the Tide to score their other two runs with Lansberry and Ashley Demchak crossing the plate.
Leigey took time to mention the performance by Stiles, “Janessa has just crushed the ball in practice and today it carried over into the game. Her bat was huge in us getting the win.”
Curwensville had only four hits on the day as Leigey explained, “Abbie Heigel is a top pitcher and will win a lot of games for DuBois Central. She throws very well, with a variety of pitches that she mixes, making it tough on hitters.”
The lone hit for DCC was a harmless single by third baseman Sarah Flick in the fourth inning, prompting coach Leigey to add, “With 14 strikeouts we didn’t get much of a chance to test our defense but what I saw was very good. For our first time out, after all the delays, I am pleased with our overall performance.”
The Lady Tide return to action Friday against West Branch at Curwensville, with game time set for 4:15 pm.
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC – Meagan Thomas 2b 3000, Molly Yebernetsky cf 3000, Sarah Flick 3b 3010, Abbie Heigel p 2000, Gabby Saldutte c 3000, Bekka Stoughton 3000, Sarah Esposito ss 2000, Kim Caldori rf 2000, Kristen Nesbitt lf 1000, Kari Kruk lf 1000, Emily Miknis ph/rf 1000.
CURWENSVILLE – Holly Lansberry p 2210, Tess Bloom cf 1000, Shannon McDonald ss 3110, Ashley Demchak c 2100, Jenessa Stiles 3b 3012, Samantha Haney dp 2000, Erin Bressler flex/rf 1000, Stacey Johnson 1b 3010, Katie Wriglesworth pr 0000, Sara Clark lf 2000, Lauren McKeown ph 1000, Morgan Peterman 2b 3000.
Score by Innings R H E
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 000 000 0 0 1 1
CURWENSVILLE 202 000 X 4 4 1
ERRORS-Esposito: Johnson LOB- Curwensville – 4 DCC – 3 SAC – Bloom SB – Stiles, Wriglesworth, Demchak
PITCHING
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC Heigel 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
CURWENSVILLE Lansberry 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K
WP-Lansberry (1-0) LP-Heigel (0-1)