CURWENSVILLE – Each time this season that the Curwensville Area High School softball team has lost a game, they have been able to bounce back with a winning effort. That made Monday night’s contest with Dubois Central Catholic a bounce back date. The Lady Tide didn’t veer from the norm by bumping off the Lady Cardinals 6-4.
Stacey Johnson picked up the win in the circle for the Tide, now 11-4on the season. Johnson struck out 14 on the night while allowing just two hits. She was charged with two earned runs and scattered 10 walks to hold off the visitors.
“Stacey is learning that walks can hurt you,” said Tide Head Coach Allen Leigey, “but if you spread them out, you can get away with a few here and there. She kept them spaced out enough that it didn’t hurt us. She really pitched well tonight.”
The game’s start seemed to be a bit twisted as Johnson struck out seven in the first three innings but found herself on the wrong side of a 3-1 score.
DCC opened the game with two runs in the first inning. Christine Begley led off the game with an infield single and after a strikeout Lauresa Gulvas and Tricia Varcello drew walks to load the bases. After a second strikeout, walks to Taylor Thomas and Bekka Stoughton brought home the two runs to give the Lady Cardinals the lead.
Curwensville was able to get one run back in the second inning as consecutive singles by Taylor Goodman, Hannah Bressler and Rachel Holland loaded the bases with no outs. However, the opportunity for a big inning soon faded as a force play at the plate and a strikeout kept the bases full with two outs. Lindsay Barrett then drew a walk to allow a run to score before a ground out ended the inning.
In the third inning the score pushed to 3-1 as Gulvas led off with a double for DCC. An error on the same play allowed her to pull into third base, and she scampered home on a wild pitch before the next three batters were retired in order.
Curwensville again had things rolling in the bottom of the third with Sara Clark leading off with a double. Goodman’s one-out grounder was too hot to handle at short and a throwing error from center allowed Clark to score. Bressler’s fly ball to right was then dropped to put runners at second and third. However, a running error caused Goodman to be thrown out at home on Holland’s grounder to short. The miscue was soon forgiven as Cheyenne Pentz’s double plated two runners to give the hosts their first lead of the game at 4-3.
“Overall, my freshmen played well,” Leigey said. “Cheyenne and Taylor came through with big hits when we needed them, and Tiffany (Carter) had a good game behind the plate making the plays we needed from her.” They are coming on and certainly came through tonight when we needed it.”
Dubois Central was able to tie the game up in its half of the fourth when an error on an infield fly gave them life. Johnson had struck out the first batter before the error. And when she struck out the next batter, it looked like the error would not hurt. However, three straight walks tied the game before Johnson could strike out the side.
In the bottom of the fourth DCC replaced Stoughton, the starting pitcher, with Varcello, who appears to have more speed on her pitches but may have less control. The result was a quick Tide score.
Tess Bloom opened the threat with a one out single to right. A throw to first base sailed wide, and Bloom pulled into second. After the second out, Johnson drew a walk and Goodman singled up the middle for the eventual game-winning RBI.
Curwensville added some insurance in the sixth as Pentz singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. After a Sarah Wriglesworth walk and the second out, Bloom found the outfield for a single that allowed Pentz to score for the 6-4 final.
We were really out of sync last week at Johnsonburg,” said Leigey. “I still don’t know how to explan it. But, the girls came to practice early on Saturday and stayed late. That showed me that it still matters to them. We’re where we should be. We’re 11-4 and have had a pretty good season.
“We’re getting better. Other teams aren’t going to want to play us because we have the potential for an ‘A’ game. We put that together and we’ll send some teams home.”
Offensively on the night Bloom, Goodman and Pentz all had multiple hits. Clark and Pentz doubled with Pentz leading the team with two RBI’s. The Tide took advantage of six DCC errors while committing three of their own.
Curwensville will move back into Mo Valley League play for the rest of this week as they host Harmony on Wednesday and travel to Moshannon Valley on Friday.
The Lady Tide JV team was also successful over DCC on Monday.
DUBOIS CENTRAL – 4
Christine Begley cf 2110, Juliana Ingham c 3000, Lauresa Gulvas ss 2211, Tricia Varcello 2b/p 3000, Katlyn Yebernetsky lf 3000, Taylor Thomas 3b 3001, Brekka Stoughton p/1b 3001, Alyssa Marchioni 1b/rf 2100, Megan Hasson rf 2000, Kristen Nesbit ph 1000, TOTALS – 28 AB 4 R 2 H 3 RBI.
CURWENSVILLE – 6
Lindsay Barrett 1b 3001, Tess Bloom cf 4121, Sara Clark ss 4110, Stacey Johnson p 3000, Taylor Goodman 3b 4021, Hannah Bressler rf 4210, Rachel Holland lf 3110, Cheyenne Pentz 2b 3122, Madi Peterman rf 2000, Sarah Wriglesworth ph 0000, Tiffany Carter flex/c 0000, TOTALS – 30 AB 6 R 9 H 5 RBI.
SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E
Dubois Central 201 100 0 – 4 2 6
Curwensville 013 110 x – 6 9 3
ERRORS – Begley 2, Gulvas, Thomas, Marchioni, Hasson; Holland 2, Pentz. LOB – DCC 8; Curwensville 9. 2B – Gulvas; Clark, Pentz. DP – Curwensville. PB – Carter 2. WP – Varcello 2, Johnson 2.
PITCHING
Dubois Central – Stoughton 3 IP 5 H 4 R 1 ER 1 BB 2 K 0 HB
Varcello – 3 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 2 BB 4 K 0 HB
Curwensville – Johnson 7 IP 2 H 4 R 2 ER 10 BB 14 K 0 HB