BELLWOOD – Mount Union broke open a tight game with six runs in the top of the seventh inning at Drost Field 1 Saturday afternoon to eliminate Curwensville from the 58th VFW Teener League State Championships.
The deceiving 8-1 loss meant a fourth place finish for Curwensville, which won 12-6 when the two teams met in the opening round Thursday.
Until the final inning, the fast-moving elimination bracket semifinal was a pitching duel between winner Brock Goodling and Ben McGary.
Goodling fashioned a three-hitter while striking out nine and walking only one. Curwensville\’s run that tied the score in the third inning was unearned as a result of a Mount Union miscue after Jesse Hoover had walked and stolen second.
\”The reality was early in the game we hit the ball very hard, but they went for outs,\” Curwensville manager Denny Johns said. \”When Goodling tired, he went to the curve ball more, and we really struggled the last three innings.\”
Six of Goodling\’s strikeouts came in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
McGary, who was the winner in Thursday\’s game, did his part to keep the Curwensville All-Stars\’ hopes alive, though his final statistics don\’t reflect that fact.
Mount Union got a solo home run from Kyle Morrow with two outs in the third and an RBI-single from Jason Long in the fourth to lead 2-1 going to the seventh, when Long touched off the big rally with a solo homer to left center. Chuck Beaston had a two-run single, Sean Dixon drove in another run with a hit and two runs scored on an error.
\”To come back and throw the way he did on one day\’s rest is remarkable,\” Johns said of his left-hander, who struck out six and walked two in suffering his first loss after three wins in the Area VI and state tourneys.
\”He obviously tired a little bit in the seventh, but he has nothing to be ashamed of. He shut them down for six innings, and if we had put some pressure on them (with our bats), it might have been different in the seventh.\”
Mount Union followed up with a 16-4 romp over Altoona in the elimination bracket final to join undefeated Hollidaysburg in the championship game Sunday at 11 a.m. The Area V titlists, who have scored 49 runs in four consecutive wins, will have to beat Hollidaysburg twice to become state champs. Hollidaysburg, runner-up to host Altoona in the Area IV Tournament, gained some revenge with a five-inning, 16-6 victory in the winner\’s bracket finale Saturday morning.
Jed Greslick had two hits for the Curwensville All-Stars, finished 2-2 to match their record in the Area VI Tournament, where they were runners-up to Philipsburg-Osceola.
\”It\’s disappointing we came up a little short of where we ultimately wanted to be, but I\’m really proud of the kids,\” Johns said team, which included most of the players who wound up third in the 13-year-old division of the 2004 state tourney.
\”This has been such a long ride because we\’ve been with these kids for so long. I\’m grateful for everything they\’ve done, not only this year, but in past years.\”
\”And I want to thank the coaches, John Sutika, Corey Bailor and Mark Kelly, for all their help.\”
MOUNT UNION – 8
Kyle Morrow 3b 4221, Chuck Beaston cf 4112, Sean Dixon 1b 4121, Cole Walters c 4010, Jason Long rf 3122, Brock Goodling p 2100, Darrien Walker eh 2010, Jimmy Smith ph 1110, Elliott Clemons 2b 2000, Gavin Kuykendall 2b 0000, Josh O\’Leary ss 3000, Ben Walters lf 2000, Bill Grubb lf 0100. TOTALS: 31 8 10 6.
CURWENSVILLE – 1
Ben McGary p-1b 3010, Jed Greslick lf 3020, Sam Gardner cf 3000, Nick Redden 3b 2000, Andrew Starr ph 1000, Cory Bloom c 2000, Derek Brothers ph 1000, Wes McGarry rf-p 2000, Jesse Hoover ss 1100, Tyler Johns eh 2000, Brett Sutika 2b 2000, Derek Dixon 1b-rf 200. TOTALS: 24 1 3 0.
Score by Innings:
Mount Union 001 100 6 – 8 10 2
Curwensville 001 000 0 – 1 3 3
Errors – Clemons; Greslick, Hoover, Dixon. DP – Mount Union (Clemons and Dixon). LOB – Curwensville 2; Mount Union 5. 2B – Morrow, C. Walters. HR – Morrow, Long. Sac – Kuykendall. SB – Hoover. CS – O\’Leary (Bloom).
Pitching
Curwensville – McGary 6-2/3 IP, 10 IP, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; McGarry 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Mount Union – Goodling 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.
W – Goodling. L – McGary (3-1).
