CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Lady Tide defeated the Brockway Lady Rovers for the third time this season Wednesday afternoon 2-0. Only this time is was win and keep going. Lose and go home.
In the District 9 Class “A” Softball Semi-Finals it was Lady Tide senior Shannon McDonald stroking a two out single in the bottom of the fifth inning sending home teammates Holly Lansberry and Tess Bloom with the game\’s only runs.
The victory moves the Lady Tide into their fourth straight District 9 Class “A” title game as they face Coudersport on Thursday. The Lady Falcons, now 21-0, edged Clarion 1-0, also on Wednesday, to advance to the title game at St. Marys at 4:30 pm.
Lady Tide head coach Allen Leigey talked about the win over Brockway, \”Brockway is very well coached along with being a very solid squad.. Dan (Allenbaugh) always has his team ready to play. We are fairly evenly matched.\”
The Lady Rovers were held to just one hit by Tide hurler Holly Lansberry for the second time this year. The Lady Tide ace also threw a one-hitter in the first game of the 2009 campaign against Brockway in a 5-0 Curwensville win.
Lansberry struck out nine batters along the way to her 20th win of the year while giving up a first inning single to right field by Lady Rover Cinnamon Monteville.
Monteville was the only Brockway runner to reach as far as second base when she was hit by a Lansberry pitch and then was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Rover catcher Emilee Ruff, all in fourth inning.
On the afternoon the Lady Tide stranded seven base runners, including two in the first inning with just one out.
Lansberry started the bottom of the first by singling to right field but was then erased on a fielder’s choice by the Tide’s Tess Bloom. Bloom would move to second on a single by Shannon McDonald with one out. However, the next two Lady Tide hitters, Ashley Demchak and Jenessa Stiles, both grounded out to Brockway shortstop Julie Genevero which stranded Bloom at third and McDonald at second to end the threat.
In the bottom of the second Tide first baseman Stacy Johnson led off by getting hit with a pitch by Brockway pitcher Lee Ann Holt. Johnson got as far as second as teammate Sara Clark put down a one out bunt before Holt pitched out of another jam.
Curwensville finally broke through against Holt in the last half of the fifth inning when Lansberry reached first on an infield single on the left side after Erin Bressler, right fielder for Curwensville, smacked a single to left. Bressler was out going to third when Bloom hit one to Rover third baseman Sarah Anderson who stepped on third forcing out Bressler from second.
With Lansberry on second and Bloom on first McDonald hit a single down the right field line that continued to roll into foul territory allowing Lansberry and Bloom both to score. Bloom took full advantage of the roll of the ball and just beat the throw home to give the Lady Tide a bit of a cushion.
In the top of the seventh it was all Lansberry as she struck out the side to preserve the win for the 21-1 Lady Tide.
Leigey also talked about a couple of his seniors, \”We haven’t had a clutch hit in a long time but Shannon (McDonald) really came through for us with the two out single in the fifth. That was just plain huge.\”
Then the Tide mentor added, \”Our defense played a terrific game, especially Jenessa (Stiles) at third base. I counted three big plays that kept Brockway from mounting any serious threats.\”
Johnson, McDonald and Lansberry each had two hits to pace the Tide’s offense.
As mentioned earlier, this is the fourth straight title game for the Lady Tide. In 2006 they lost to Elk County Catholic (ECC) 9-8. The Lady Tide won the championship in 2007 by turning the tables on ECC, 7-0. Last year Curwensville was edged by Smethport 2-1 in the title game.
Listen to Lady Tide softball Thursday starting at 4:15 pm on WOKW-FM, 102.9
BROCKWAY – 0 Sarah Anderson 3b 2000, Lee Ann Holt p 3000, Cinnamon Monteville cf 2010, Michelle Mancuso 1b 3000, Emilee Ruff c 3000, Jalina Sabatose 2b 2000, Becca Horton ph 1000, Savannah Brosky dp 2000, Sara Guilyard lf 2000, Julie Genevero ss 2000, Zoe Hawkins flex/rf 0000. TOTALS – 22 0 1 0
CURWENSVILLE – 2 Holly Lansberry p 3120, Tess Bloom cf 3100, Shannon McDonald ss 3022, Ashley Demchak c 3000, Jenessa Stiles 3b 3010, Lindsay Barrett pr 0000, Stacy Johnson 1b 2020, Molly Demchak dp 2000, Morgan Peterman ph 1000, Sara Clark lf 3000, Erin Bressler rf 3010, Jenae Stiles flex/2b 0000. TOTALS – 26 2 8 2
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
BROCKWAY 000 000 0 0 1 0
CURWENSVILLE 000 020 X 2 8 0
ERRORS – None. LOB – BROCKWAY – 3 CURWENSVILLE – 7. SAC – Clark, Ruff. HBP – Monteville (by Lansberry) Johnson (by Holt).
PITCHING
BROCKWAY – Holt 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HB.
CURWENSVILLE – Lansberry 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 HB.
WP – Lansberry (20-1) LP – Holt (15-3).
UMPIRES: Home Plate -Denny Copenhaver, 1st Base – Bill Overly, 2nd base – Ron Dolby, 3rd base – Ron Walter.