CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School softball team had some unfinished business to take care of before they could host a regularly scheduled game with Ridgway on Tuesday. The Lady Tide was able to post two victories after playing just four-and-a-half innings against the Lady Elkers.
The Lady Tide had been sitting on a 28-2 lead over the visiting Elkers for nearly a month as an earlier meeting between the two teams was suspended due to weather on April 8. Three outs were needed to invoke the mercy rule, and the Lady Tide and pitcher Stacey Johnson faced just three batters to get the job done with a strike out, a ground out and a liner to third.
Johnson finished that game officially with 10 K’s while giving up just three hits, walking none and hitting one batter. She also posted four hits and five RBI’s including a homer and a double. Sara Clark was 3-for-4 at the plate with two triples and Madi Peterman added two hits including a double. Of course, all of the Tide offense came before the suspension.
The day also saw a few line-up adjustments for the Tide that proved profitable as the Tide went from having no hits on Friday against West Branch to 16 hits against the Lady Elkers. Six of the hits came from the bottom four spots of the order that now features two sophomores and two freshmen.
“We can’t get slapped 16-0 and think that everything is okay,” admitted Curwensville Head Coach Allen Leigey. “I’ve never been one who looked at what grade a player is in. If you can play better than the other guy, you’re going to be in the line-up. If the job’s not getting done, I have to fill it with who will get it done.”
Curwensville started getting the job done in the first inning after Johnson set down the visitors in order with two strike outs and a lazy pop up back to the mound. Clark stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the first and sent the first pitch she saw over the centerfield fence for a 1-0 lead.
The rout continued in the second as 10 batters came to the plate for the Tide. The bottom of the order took advantage of their first chance as Hannah Bressler and Taylor Goodman opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Cheyenne Pentz grounded to short, but a wide throw to the plate allowed Bressler to score, and Peterman followed with a two-run triple. Following the first out the final two runs came home on consecutive singles by Tess Bloom, Clark and Johnson for a 6-0 score.
Curwensville batted around again in the third as Pentz singled, Peterman walked and Lindsay Barrett was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Bloom followed with a single, Clark doubled in two and Johnson doubled as well for another run. After a wild pitch put Johnson on third, she scored on a Rachel Holland ground out and the Tide led 12-0.
Ridgway got on the board in the fourth as Breezy Mazur singled up the middle with one out. Two wild pitches and a walk later set up the score as Sydney Kovalyak grounded out to second, and the fielder’s choice allowed Mazur to come home safely. After walking the bases loaded, Johnson ended the threat with her seventh and final strike out of the game. Johnson allowed just two hits in the game and walked four while giving up just one earned run.
The offense ended the game in the bottom of the fourth with Goodman leading off with her second hit of the game and Pentz following with an RBI triple to center. Barrett singled in the second run and took second and third on wild pitches. After a walk to Bloom, Clark’s ground out drove in Barrett. Johnson then walked and Macy Palmer ended the game with a pinch-hit shot to left-center to score Bloom for the 16-1 final.
“We needed to beat up on this team after getting beat up last week,” Leigey said. “Now if we can go beat up on Johnsonburg to keep this momentum. I told the girls we can run it out right up to ECC. We go into the seedings at 16-3 and see where that drops us. As long as we keep improving – we just have to be playing good down the stretch.”
Clark powered the offense with five RBI’s on three hits including the homer and double. Johnson doubled twice in her three-hit effort. Bloom, Goodman and Pentz all reached safely twice. Goodman and Pentz, both freshmen, recorded their first varsity hits.
The win sets Curwensville at 10-3 on the season. The Lady Tide will travel to Johnsonburg on Thursday.
In JV action, Curwensville defeated Ridgway.
GAME 1 (Suspended game from 4/8/10)
CURWENSVILLE – 28
Sara Clark ss 4535, Tess Bloom cf 5212, Stacey Johnson p 4545, Molly Demchak 3b 5325, Abby Johnson pr 0000, Rachel Holland lf 4112, Lindsay Barrett 1b 2312, Macy Palmer c 2312, Katie Wriglesworth dp 3111, Maddie Peterman rf 4323, Cheynne Pentz flex/2b 0201. TOTALS – 33 AB 28 R 16 H 27 RBI.
RIDGWAY – 2
Bekka Leitzel ss 3110, Bri Stenta 2b/p 3000, Chelsea Bryndel 3b 2010, Sam Kovalyak cf 2011, Sydney Kovalyak c 1100, Melissa Wehler lf 2000, Morgan Herzing p/2b 2000, Breezy Mazur 1b 2000, Kimmie Gardner rf 1000, Jill Gaio ph 1000. TOTALS – 19 AB 2 R 3 H 1 RBI.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
Curwensville – 3 2 8 3 12 X X 28 16 2
Ridgway – 0 1 1 0 0 X X 2 3 6
ERRORS – Peterman, Barrett; Mazur, Kovalyak, Wehler 2, Stenta 2. LOB – Curwensville 6, Ridgway 3 2B – Johnson, Demchak, Holland, Peterman. 3B – Clark (2) Demchak, Barrett; Bryndel. HR – Johnson (2 run, 2nd ). SB – Barrett, Palmer, Pentz; Leitzel 2. SAC – Bloom. HBP – Sydney Kovalyak (by Johnson). PB – Palmer 2; Kovalyak 4. WP – Herzing 2.
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE – Johnson 5 IP 3 H 2 R 1 ER 0 BB 10 K 1 HBP
RIDGWAY – Herzing 4.1 IP 13 H 24 R 21 ER 13 BB 2 K 0 HBP
Stenta 0.2 IP 3 H 4 R 4 ER 2 BB 0 K 0 HBP
Game 2
RIDGWAY – 1
Bekka Leitzel ss 2010, Bri Stenta 2b 2000, Melissa Wehler lf 2000, Breezy Mazur 1b 1110, Ashley Vigilonic 3b 1000, Sydney Kovalyak c 2001, Samantha Kovalyak cf 1000, lf 2000, Morgan Herzing p 1000, Jill Gaio 2000. TOTALS – 14 AB 1 R 2 H 1 RBI.
CURWENSVILLE – 16
Lindsay Barrett 1b 3211, Tess Bloom cf 3322, Sara Clark ss 4235, Stacey Johnson p 3131, Rachel Holland dp 3001, Macy Palmer ph 1011, Hannah Bressler rf 2110, Taylor Goodman 3b 3220, Cheyenne Pentz 2b 3321, Madi Peterman lf 1212, Katie Wriglesworth ph 1000, Tiffany Carter flex/c 0000. TOTALS – 27 AB 16 R 16 H 12 RBI.
SCORE BY INNINGS – R H E
Ridgway – 000 1xx x – 1 2 4
Curwensville – 156 4xx x – 16 16 0
ERRORS – Leitzel, Mazur, Wehler 2. LOB – Ridgway 5; Curwensville 5 2B – Clark, Johnson 2. 3B – Pentz, Peterman. HR – Clark (1 run, 1st ). SB – Leitzel, Bloom. HBP – Barrett (by Herzing). PB – Carter 2. WP – Herzing 5; Johnson 3.
PITCHING
RIDGWAY – Herzing 4 IP 16 H 16 R 14 ER 4 BB 1 K 1 HBP
CURWENSVILLE – Johnson 4 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 4 BB 7 K 0 HBP