JOHNSONBURG — The Curwensville Golden Tide baseball team was coming off of a quick, four-inning thrashing of Glendale as they traveled to Johnsonburg to do battle with the Rams. The Tide won the first encounter by a score of 4-2, so the Rams were looking to even the score. Unfortunately, a big defensive play and an ensuing onslaught of hits took that opportunity away as Johnsonburg fell to Curwensville, 15-4.
Johnsonburg got on the board first, scoring two runs in the first inning. Curwensville answered right back in the top of the second by scoring two of their own to even up the score. Both teams would swap the lead in the third as Curwensville scored once and Johnsonburg scored twice, giving them an early 4-3 advantage.
A short time later, Curwensville then gave the fans in attendance the play of the game. With only one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, and a runner on third, the Rams hit a fly ball to right field, which was caught by Wes McGarry. Johnsonburg saw the opportunity to put more of a cushion on their lead as they went for the tag from third. McGarry knew what was happening and threw a bullet right to home plate, which made it to catcher Cory Bloom while the runner was nearly 15 feet from home plate, giving the Tide a pivotal and exciting double play to end the inning.
Head coach Ryan Briskar couldn’t help but comment on the spectacular play by McGarry. “Wow, that was an absolutely spectacular throw,” said Briskar.
The Tide knew they had to capitalize on the play when they came up to bat. What then ensued was an inning that Johnsonburg players would like to forget, as Curwensville put up an incredible nine runs, giving them a 12-4 lead. Johnsonburg pitcher Seth Peterson was pulled with one out remaining in the inning. He ended the afternoon giving up nine hits, and nine runs, eight of which were earned.
Curwensville scored three more runs in the seventh inning to cap off the rally. Tide pitcher Ben McGary threw all seven innings, giving up only eight hits and four runs.
Still the story of the game was the play by McGarry, which coach Briskar said was one of the best plays he’s seen all season. “That play fueled our rally in the sixth,” said Briskar. “Wes (McGarry) made a heck of a throw to home to make the double play.”
Curwensville (8-3) will try to make it three in a row on Friday as they are on the road again to face the Cameron County Red Raiders.
CURWENSVILLE-15 Ben McGary p 3110, Derek Brothers 3b 4101, Brett Sutika 2b 3011, Cory Bloom c 5232, Sam Gardner lf 5223, Wes McGarry rf 4221, Jed Greslick ss 2113, Mark Dell’Antonio 1b 3121, Derek Dixon cf 4332. TOTALS: 32 13 15 14.
JOHNSONBURG-4 Seth Streik ss 2121, Seth Peterson p/1b 4010, Stewie Griffin 3b 0200, Craig Carrow 1b/p 4120, Joe Holmberg c 4022, Andy Benson 3b/p 4011, Trey DeCecchis lf 3000, Cody Gorske rf 3000, Jesse Wolfe 2b 1000, Wade Bowley dh 2000, Vince Vavala cf 2000. TOTALS: 29 4 8 4
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 021 009 3 15 15 1
JOHNSONBURG 202 000 0 4 8 2
ERRORS-McGary, Peterson, Wolfe. 2B-CURWENSVILLE: Gardner (2), Dell’Antonio, JOHNSONBURG: Carrow. HR-CURWENSVILLE: Dixon, JOHNSONBURG: Streik. SB-Ben McGary
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE: McGary 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 K, 4 BB
JOHNSONBURG: Peterson 5 2/3 IP, 9 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 4 K, 4 BB; Carrow 2/3 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 K, 2 W; Benson 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB
WP-McGary LP-Carrow
