DUBOIS – The Curwensville Area High School softball team regained its focus on Thursday afternoon to handle Dubois Central 9-2 in a solid performance both offensively and defensively. The Lady Tide extended its early season record to 4-0 with the win.
“I wondered how we were going to hit tonight,” said Tide Head Coach Allen Leigey after a sluggish performance on Tuesday. “I was very pleased. Our bats came alive and we hit very well.”
The Tide slapped out 10 hits for the game with six starters making all the noise. Sara Clark powered the offense going 3-4 with a double and two RBI’s. Molly Demchak and Lindsay Barrett collected two hits and two RBI’s each to help the cause.
“This was a good rebound after playing so flat against Johnsonburg,” Leigey said. “We put together a nice game both pitching and hitting.”
Senior pitcher Stacey Johnson was solid in the circle for the Lady Tide as she scattered six hits, walked just one batter and posted a season high 12 strikeouts.
“This was Stacey’s best game of the season by far,” complimented Leigey. “She was on. Her placement was good. She had a variety of pitches working well. She hit her spots and didn’t struggle at all. Everything was clicking on all cylinders.”
Johnson and the Tide breezed through the first three innings facing just 10 batters. Dubois Central’s Christine Begley led off the bottom of the first inning and the Tide’s only error of the game put her on base. Begley stole second but was stranded there after Johnson posted two strike outs on either side of a pop out to left. Begley was the only runner to reach second base for Dubois Central through the first five innings.
Curwensville posted its first run in the third inning after two outs. The threat was bigger, but Katie Wriglesworth was nailed at home after she had singled to lead off the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a catcher throwing error. However, when Wriglesworth was sent home on an infield bouncer, she was cut down at the plate by shortstop Lauresa Gulvas. Hanna Bressler was then left on base by the fielder’s choice and scampered home from first on Clark’s double to the right-center fence for the 1-0 lead.
The Tide’s fourth inning opened with a Johnson single with an error on the relay that set her up at second. Demchak then drilled a ball to left that was mishandled and put runners at second and third with no outs. Johnson scored on a long sacrifice fly off the bat of Rachel Holland. A throwing error on Barrett’s grounder set runners at the corners, and Demchak scored on an RBI ground out by Macy Palmer to stand at 3-0.
The runs kept coming for the visitors in the fifth with Hannah Bressler leading off with her first varsity hit in her first start. She pulled into second on the play when the relay was again misplayed and went to third on a passed ball. Clark followed with her second hit of the game to plate Bressler. A sacrifice bunt by Tess bloom ended in a dropped ball at first and a wild pitch set runners on second and third and after the first out Demchak drove in two runs with a single. Demchak had moved to second on the throw to home and moved to third on a wild pitch. Holland then walked and move to second uncontested to score with Demchak on a Barrett shot to right. Barrett put herself in scoring position by stealing second and moving to third on a dropped third strike that had to be thrown to third. She purposefully put herself in a rundown and an error on the play set the score at 9-0 after five innings.
Taylor Thomas pushed the first Lady Cardinal run across in the sixth inning after Juliana Ingham led off the inning with a double. Two singles by Alyssa Marchioni and Begley sandwiched around a passed ball led to the second DCC run in the seventh. However, Johnson and the defense still had the game under control for the Tide. In the final two innings, Johnson struck out three and fielded a grounder back up the middle. Two other fly ball outs took care of the hosts who fell to 0-5 on the season.
“I keep telling the girls that we have to outwork everybody,” Leigey said “and it has to come from everybody. They keep showing me that they are willing to do it. Hannah (Bressler) earned her spot on the field today. She has been working hard in practice and to see it pay off with her first hit was great. I was pleased with the way we won this game as a team.”
The Lady Tide will take to the road on Monday for a 3:00 double-header with Sheffield.
CURWENSVILLE – 9
Sara Clark ss 4132, Tess Bloom cf 3100, Stacey Johnson p 4110, Molly Demchak 3b 4222, Rachel Holland lf 2101, Lindsay Barrett 1b 4122, Macy Palmer c 4001, Katie Wriglesworth dp 3010, Hannah Bressler rf 3210, Maddie Peterman rf 0000, Cheyenne Pentz flex/2b 0000, TOTALS – 31 9 10 8
DUBOIS CENTRAL – 2
Christine Begley cf4011, Juliana Ingham ,c 4110, Lauresa Gulvas ss 4000, Katlyn Yebernetsky lf 3000, Tricia Varcello p/2b 1000, Taylor Thomas 3b 3010, Bekka Stoughton 1b/p 3010 , Abby Kolash pr 0000, Alyssa Marchioni rf/1b 3110, Megan Hasson 2b 2010, Kristen Nesbit rf 1000 TOTALS – 28 2 6 1
SCORES BY INNINGS R H E
Curwensville 0012600 – 9 10 1
Dubois Central 0000011 – 2 6 9
ERRORS – Barrett; Ingham, Gulvas, Yebernetsky 2, Thomas, Stroughton, Hasson 3 LOB – Curwensville 4; DCC 5 2B – Clark; Ingham DP – DCC SAC – Bloom, Holland
PITCHING
Curwensville – Johnson 7 IP 6 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 12 K 0 HB
Dubois Central – Varcello – 5 IP 8 H 9 R 6 ER 1 BB 4 K 0 HB, Stoughton 2 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 0 HB