ERIE – The Curwensville Area High School softball team\’s bid to repeat as PIAA Class A champion was short-circuited by Stephanie Baer and the Cambridge Springs Blue Devils in a first-round playoff game on the Penn State-Behrend campus Monday afternoon.
Baer bested Holly Lansberry in a 1-0 pitching duel that was a rematch of last year\’s Western Final, won 4-0 by the Lady Tide.
The Allegheny College-bound Blue Devil senior hurled a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and no walks in handing the Lady Tide its first shutout since a 2-0 loss to Punxsutawney on May 2, 2007.
Three Curwensville errors gave the District 10 champs the game\’s lone run in the fifth inning, as Lansberry suffered the tough-luck loss though surrendering just two singles.
The Lady Tide junior matched Baer with 10 strikeouts while walking one and, uncharacteristically, hitting three batters.
\”Holly pitched well,\” Curwensville coach Allen Leigey said. \”She never hits anybody, but their batters were leaning into the strike zone. That\’s not what beat us, though.
\”Holly was toe-to-toe with Baer. We just didn\’t make the plays in that one inning, or I don\’t know how long it would have gone until one team broke through. Both pitchers were sailing along pretty good.\”
Shannon McDonald just missed putting Curwensville ahead in the fourth inning. She had to settle for a leadoff double when her blast to left hit near the top of the high outfield fence. She advanced to third on Jenessa Stiles\’ one-out sacrifice bunt, but Baer shut the door with one of her strikeouts.
In the fifth, Cambridge Springs left field Rachel Payer robbed Tess Bloom of a an extra-base hit with a nice catch near the foul line right that was magnified when Erin Bressler followed with a single.
Then, a one-out bobble and a pair of two-out throwing errors doomed the Lady Tide.
Curwensville got the tying run into scored position in the sixth when Sara Clark reached base on a one-out error and move to second on Ashley Demchak\’s two-out single.
However, Baer again closed out the inning with a strikeout.
\”She not fast, fast, but she throws well and has a real deceptive motion,\” complimented Leigey. \”She was living on the outside.
\”She did a good job last year for a while, and then we got to her and put up four (runs), so when we hit the ball pretty sharp in the first inning, I thought we\’d get her. But it never materialized.
\”They\’re good defensively, too, but I thought we\’d find a way to beat them. We had practiced well Saturday and looked pretty good (hitting and fielding) before the game.
\”It seemed like whoever got the first run would win, and we had a couple opportunities and didn\’t get the big hit. Our bats were cold the last couple games, and now\’s not the time to have that happen.\”
Cambridge Springs (20-3) moves to the quarterfinals and a Thursday date with District 7 (WPIAL) champion Vincentian Academy (21-2), which shut out District 5 runner-up Fannett-Metal 12-0 Monday.
Curwensville finished 20-3, the other two losses to Clearfield 5-1 in the second game of the season and to Smethport 2-1 in the District 9 championship game Thursday.
Leigey emphasized to his players to remember what they\’ve accomplished, including another Moshannon Valley League tile, rather than dwell on how the season ended.
\”I told them, \’Measure on how far you came, and look at the good games,\’\” he said. \”As well we know, only one team gets the (gold) medals and gets to lift the trophy.
\”They were defending champions and I told them they were branded with that from Day One, and it wasn\’t fair then, and it\’s not fair now. Some of them were on the team, but only Holly and Tess (Bloom) were in the same spots as last year. The whole infield was new and Ashley moved from third base to catching.
\”Next year, the whole lineup wll be back, plus Jenea Stiles who missed all season with a knee injury, so we\’ve got the potential to be back here.\”
CURWENSVILLE — 0
Holly Lansberry p 3010, Sara Clark lf 3000, Shannon McDonald 3010, Ashley Demchak c 3020, Jenessa Stiles 3b 2000, Stacey Johnson 3000, Tess Bloom cf 3000, Erin Bressler rf 3010, Morgan Peterman 2b 2000. TOTALS: 25 5 0 0.
CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — 1
Stephanie Baer 3000, Annie Wilson cf 3000, Elizabeth Dine c 2110, Jessica Schaefer 2b 3000, Kristen Humes ss 3010, Tiffany Patterson rf 2000, Ashley Petrick 1b 2000, Carly Palmero 3b 0000, Emily Dine 3b 2000, Katie Schaefer dp 2000, Rachel Payer lf (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 22 1 2 0.
Score by Innings
Curwensville 000 000 0 – 0 5 4
Cambridge Springs 000 010 x – 1 2 2
Errors – McDonald, Stiles 2, Peterman; Schaefer, Humes. DP – Cambridge Springs 1 (Baer and Petrick). LOB – Curwensville 5; Cambridge Springs 7. 2B – McDonald. Sac – Stiles. SB – E. Dine.
Pitching
Curwensville – Lansberry 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 10 K, 1 BB.
Cambridge Springs – Baer 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 10 K, 0 BB.
HB – Lansberry 3 (E. Dine, Petrick, Palmero).
W – Baer. L – Lansberry (18-3).
