CURWENSVILLE – At the beginning of a new season fans wait in anticipation to see what kind of team emerges. Coaches, however, have the players and schedule scrutinized down to the last at-bat. Curwensville Area High School head softball coach Allen Leigey has as good a picture of his upcoming season as anyone, and he feels pretty good about the outcome.
Last season Curwensville finished at 15-7. The season ended in the District IX quarterfinals with a 4-2 loss to Coudersport.
The Lady Golden Tide have eight returning letter-winners – all filling in defensive positions on what appears to be a solid line-up. Lone senior Katie Wriglesworth will handle the first base position. Juniors Molly Demchak, Hannah Bressler and Madi Peterman fill third base, right field and left field respectively. That leaves five positions for the sophomore class in Tiffany Carter (catcher), Taylor Goodman (second base), Cheyenne Pentz (shortstop), Sara Wriglesworth (center field) and Abby Johnson (designated player/catcher). Pitching duties will fall to freshman Tierra Shope as the starter.
“Our defense is our strength,” said Leigey. “We’ll make the routine plays and most of the tough catches. We’re young but seasoned. This is not a senior laden team, but we do have experience.
“I can’t take away anything from the spots that we lost in last year’s seniors, but we fill the vacancies with different kinds of strengths from last year’s squad. Some have better gloves while others are better hitters; it should be a fun season.”
This season couldn’t come fast enough for Demchak. The hard-hitting, sure handed junior, who was part of the 2009 state title team as a freshman, played in only five games last year due to a fractured hand. Demchak will be anchoring the offensive line-up. While some of the power from last year’s batting order did graduate, Leigey is looking for more consistency at the plate this season.
“Molly’s injury, in reality, will really help us this year,” Leigey said. “If Molly didn’t get hurt, Taylor (Goodman) might not have gotten the experience she did. Funny, but an injury last year made us a better team this year.”
With the pitching circle moving back three feet this season, hitters should gain an advantage by having more time to react to the ball. Seasoned pitchers used the off-season to readjust their mechanics, while Shope and the rest of the young Tide pitching staff have found the distance.
“Our pitchers are so young that we don’t know any difference,” Leigey said. “The farther distance should help batters against good pitchers. We just want to keep the ball in good spots and make other teams put it in play. Tierra just has to trust the good defense behind her.”
Curwensville is looking to be competitive in both the Moshannon Valley League and the District IX Allegheny League Small School Division Southern Tier. Leigey feels that his squad is going to be battling for some close games that will make a memorable season.
“We should be favored in 10 of our 20 games on the season,” Leigey predicted. “The season depends on how many tough games we can get. Who can we split with or steal a game from. It will depend on our maturity and focus – this is going to be fun.”
Missing from this year’s line-up are the final members of the two-time state champions of 2007 and 2009. Centerfielder Tess Bloom, pitcher Stacey Johnson, shortstop Sara Clark and first-baseman Lindsay Barrett will all be missed in 2011.
Helping Leigey this season are assistant coaches Dave Clark, Dean Lansberry, and junior varsity coaches Ron Rea and Mike Carter. Curwensville is scheduled to open the season on Monday at home against Dubois Central Catholic at 4:15.
VARSITY ROSTER / POSITION
Seniors
*Katie Wriglesworth 1b
Juniors
*Hannah Bressler rf, *Molly Demchak 3b, *Madison Peterma lf,
Sophomores
*Tiffany Carter c, *Taylor Goodman 2b, *Abby Johnson c/dp, Emily McGarry p, *Cheyenne Pentz ss, Sara Wriglesworth cf
Freshmen
Abby Dugo infield, Tierra Shope p, Julia Test p, Kealy Wassil 1b
* denotes letterwinners
SCHEDULE
March
28 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC
31 @ Brockway
April
04 SHEFFIELD (DH) 4:00 p.m.
06 RIDGWAY
08 @ Harmony 4:00 p.m.
12 @ Kane
14 JOHNSONBURG
18 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
20 @ Dubois Central Catholic
25 REDBANK VALLEY
27 BROCKWAY
29 @ Punxsutawney
May
02 GLENDALE
05 @ Ridgway
06 @ West Branch 4:30 p.m.
09 KANE
11 @ Johnsonburg
16 MOSHANNON VALLEY
18 @ Elk County Catholic
All games scheduled for 4:15 p.m. starts unless otherwise noted.