PUNXSUTAWNEY – Jed Greslick, Cory Bloom and Derek Brothers drove in two runs apiece as the Curwensville Teener League 15-and-16 All-Stars scored all their runs in two innings for an all-important 7-5 Area VI Tournament win over Punxsutawney at Rich Kuntz Memorial Field Sunday evening.
Pitcher Ben McGary wasn\’t as sharp as in last week\’s shutout against Philipsburg-Osceola, but the left-hander registered another complete game with an eight-hitter, striking out four and walking only one. Four of Punxsy\’s runs were unearned.
Curwensville is 2-1 and can wrap up the Area VI championship with a win against P-O Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Curwensville Area High School Field.
P-O (1-1) can capture the title by sweeping Curwensville and Punxsy (1-2) this week. The other scenario is a three-way deadlock if P-O beats Curwensville and loses to Punxsy on Thursday.
Manager Denny Johns anticipates a tough battle in Curwensville\’s finale Tuesday.
\”P-O is rested, and they\’ll have their pitching lined up,\” he said. \”We\’ll have to play a strong game to beat them.\”
That is what he got from his team against Punxsy.
Curwensville posted four runs in the second inning. A one-out walk, Derek Dixon\’s double into the left field corner and Brothers\’ groundout produced the first run. Three consecutive walks made it 2-0 before Greslick cracked a single to left for a pair of RBIs.
Punxsy cut the margin in half on an error and Dane Kopas\’ triple in the second inning and Dylan Kachmar\’s single, a sacrifice and an error in the third.
Bloom\’s two-run single to left keyed Curwensville\’s three-run rally that widened the gap to 7-2 in the fifth. Brothers followed with an RBI-single.
In the sixth, Punxsy made it close again. Christian Muth reached base on an error and scored on Tommy Bush\’s double to right center. After Dakota Bish received McGary\’s lone free pass, Tyler Wingard singled in a run and losing pitcher Jacob Stumpf closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
Johns noted that two outstanding catches by Punxsy outfielders kept Curwensville from scoring several more runs. Two runners were on base in each instance.
Kopas made an over-the-shoulder grab of Greslick\’s long fly just before he ran into the centerfield fence in the fourth inning. Tyler Grayson backhanded Dixon\’s drive into the left corner in the seventh after tracking down Tyler Johns\’ shot to deep left earlier in the inning.
Bloom made two big defensive plays for Curwensville, throwing out Bush on a steal attempt in the third and picking off Kopas at third in the fifth.
Gardner was the only Curwensville player with two hits, while Kopas had a single, double and triple for Punxsy.
CURWENSVILLE – 7
Ben McGary p 3001, Jed Greslick lf 3012, Sam Gardner cf 4120, Jesse Hoover ss 3110, Nick Redden 3b 1000, Tyler Johns 3b 1000, Cory Bloom c 2212, Derek Dixon 1b 3110, Derek Brothers eh 2012, Brett Sutika 2b 2100, Wes McGarry rf 1100. TOTALS: 25 7 7 7.
PUNXSUTAWNEY – 5
Christian Muth ss 4100, Tommy Bush 2b 3111, Dakota Bish c 2100, Tyler Wingard 3b 3021, Jacob Stumpf p-1b 2101, Chase Tibbs eh 3000, Dane Kopas cf 3031, Sean Smith 1b-p 3000, Dylan Kachmar rf 3110, Tyler Grayson lf 2010. TOTALS: 28 5 8 4.
Score by Innings:
Curwensville 040 030 0 – 7 7 3
Punxsutawney 011 003 0 – 5 8 0
Errors – Hoover, Redden, Johns. DP – Punxsutawney 2 (Muth and Smith; Muth unassisted). LOB – Curwensville 8; Punxsutawney 5. 2B – Dixon; Bush, Wingard, Kopas. 3B – Kopas. Sac – Redden; Grayson. SF – Stumpf. SB – Gardner, Hoover. CS – Bush (by Bloom).
Pitching
Curwensville – McGary 7 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.
Punxsutawney – Stumpf 4-1/3 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 8 BB, 4 K; Smith 2-2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
W – McGary (2-0). L – Stumpf.
