CURWENSVILLE – The one game that kept Curwensville Area High School softball coach Allen Leigey restless during the 2010 campaign was a loss to Johnsonburg. The uneasiness stemmed from one inning in which the Ramettes scored 14 runs. That uneasiness should be a thing of the past after Monday night’s rubber game between the two teams.
Curwensville turned in a near perfect performance in the opening round of the District IX Class A playoffs to oust Johnsonburg 7-0.
The two teams had traded home field victories during the regular season. Curwensville won the first contest 4-2 while Johnsonburg captured the second match-up 14-12 – Johnsonburg scored 14 runs in the fourth inning of their win.
On Monday Johnsonburg had little chance to put any runs on the board as Stacey Johnson controlled the pitching circle for the duration of the game. Johnson struck out 12 batters while allowing just one hit, walking three and hitting one batter. The Lady Tide played errorless ball behind her to deny the visitors and ease their coach’s mind.
“At no time in the game did I feel we were in danger of a meltdown,” said Leigey. “Stacey did a great job in the circle. The third out in the first was the biggest. She seemed to settle into a groove after that and then got a little help at the plate.”
Johnson did get off to a bit of a shakey start in the first inning. Paige Dececchis led off the game with a looping liner to left and Kianna Myers walked for the Ramettes. After the first strike out of the game, Johnson hit Justis Myers to load the bases. However, Kadie Zilkofski popped out to shot, and Johnson struck out Tomi Wildnauer to end the inning.
That would be as close to scoring as Johnsonburg could get in the game. The Ramettes managed just two more base runners via two walks and neither advanced past that point. After the hit batsman in the first, Johnson and her defense set down 13 straight hitters, including eight K’s.
Meanwhile, the Lady Tide held a 3-0 lead through the first five innings. Curwensville opened the first inning with a single to left by Sara Clark. Tess Bloom sacrificed Clark to second, and an error off the bat of Taylor Goodman allowed Clark to score and left Goodman at second.
The “help at the plate” which Leigey referred to came on a long fly to left by Johnson. As Johnsonburg left fielder Erika Solorio sprinted to the fence, the ball skipped off the end of her glove and cleared the fence for a two-run home run and a 3-0 lead.
Curwensville had base runners in all but the third inning, but couldn’t finish any rally until the sixth. Ten Lady Tide batters came to the plate in the host’s last at bat.
Hannah Bressler opened the bottom of the sixth by drawing a walk. Sarah Wriglesworth followed with a grounder to short that was thrown into right field in an out attempt at second allowing both runners to move up an extra base. Lindsay Barrett dropped down a perfect safety squeeze that allowed Bressler to score. With Wriglesworth now at third, Cheyenne Pentz drove a ball deep enough to right to push the score to 5-0 with two outs.
Tiffany Carter and Clark kept the inning alive with consecutive singles. Clark was able to pull into second behind a throw to third that failed to cut down the speedy Carter. Bloom followed with a third consecutive hit that chased both runners home for the 7-0 lead.
“It was one of those games that everything we tried seemed to work,” said Leigey. “The safety squeeze by Lindsay was big, and I really thought she beat it out. The added runs in the sixth were all big.”
Johnson continued her dominance in the top of the seventh as she struck out the first two batters. After a walk, Clark hustled to catch a soft liner between the mound and third to end the game.
Clark, Bloom and Wriglesworth all had two hits. Clark scored two runs while Bloom and Johnson drove in a pair of runs each – Johnson’s on the only extra base hit.
The Lady Golden Tide will now travel to Coudersport to take on the number two seed on Wednesday at 4:30. Coudersport had a bye on Monday.
“I think we’ll match up pretty well with Coudersport from what we hear,” Leigey said. “It’s a rematch of last year’s D-9 final minus a big part of both teams.
“I’m pleased with where we are right now. I told the girls, win or lose, they’ve given me everything. Right now we are two games away from our goal of making the finals. I don’t think we’re done yet.”
JOHNSONBURG – 0
Paige Dececchis 2b 3010, Kianna Myers 3b 3000, Dani Dwyer c 3000, Justis Myers ss 2000, Kadie Zilkotski 1b 3000, Tomi Wildnauer rf 3000, Erika Solorio lf 2000, Laura McAlee p 3000, Brittany Watts, cf 1000, TOTALS – 22 AB 0 R 1 H 0 RBI.
CURWENSVILLE – 7
Sara Clark ss 3220, Tess Bloom cf 4022, Taylor Goodman 3b 4100, Stacey Johnson p 3112, Hannah Bressler rf 3100, Sara Wriglesworth dp 3120, Lindsay Barrett 1b 2011, Cheyenne Pentz 2b 1001, Macy Palmer ph 1000, Tiffany Carter c 1000, Rachel Holland ph 1110, Madi Peterman flex/rf 0000, TOTALS – 26 AB 7 R 9 H 6 RBI.
SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E
Johnsonburg – 000 000 0 – 0 1 3
Curwensville – 30o 004 x – 7 9 0
ERRORS – J. Myers 2, Dececchis. LOB – Johnsonburg 5; Curwensville 7. HR – Johnson. DP – Johnsonburg. SB – Dececchis. SAC – Bloom, Barrett, Pentz. HBP – J. Myers (by Johnson).
PITCHING
Johnsonburg – McAlee 6 IP 9 H 7 R 2 ER 4 BB 2 K 0 HB
Curwensville – Johnson 7 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 3 BB 12 K 1 HB