Lady Tide Pound DCC 12-1 in Season Opener

CURWENSVILLE – After an extra day of practice due to an opening day postponement, the Curwensville Area High School softball team easily handled DuBois Central Catholic in a 12-1 mercy rule victory at Riverside Stadium on Tuesday.  The Golden Tide followed coach Allen Leigey’s pre-season formula with solid defense, strong hitting and consistent pitching for the victory.

“Tierra (Shope) did exacrly what was asked of her – throw strikes and don’t walk anyone,” Leigey praised his freshman hurler.  “Our defense made the plays they had to make and we hit the ball even better than I thought.

Shope took the circle in her first game and gave up just one unearned run on three hits.  She walked no one and struck out two with one wild pitch to set up the Lady Cardinals lone score.  Only five DCC base runners were allowed by Shope and her defense in the game.

“Tierra pitched well, “Leigey added.  “If she can stay focused and keep us in the game, we’re going to win some games this year.”

The Lady Tide shook off their early season jitters in the first inning.  Two errors – one on the infield and one in the outfield – surrounded by an out put DCC runners at first and second.  With the meat of the order coming to the plate, Shope got Katlyn Yabernetsky to pop out to first and struck out Taylor Thomas to end the threat.  The Tide played errorless ball after that.

“You’d be surprised how much we work on the simple plays,” said Leigey.  “We don’t want easy outs to get away from us.  But, that first inning was big because we got out of it.  We were able to build off that first inning’s defense and got a little help from their mistakes.”

Curwensville put the season’s first run on the board in the second inning.  Hannah Bressler started the frame with a walk.  She was able to move to second on a wild pitch and came home on a two-out single by Katie Wriglesworth.

Three more runs came in for the Tide in the third.  Sarah Wriglesworth opened the inning with a base hit and moved to second on a wild pitch.  Madi Peterman followed with a free pass, and both runners advanced on a pass ball.  An error off the bat of Taylor Goodman scored Wriglesworth.  Molly Demchak’s sacrifice fly plated Peterman and catcher Tiffany Carter doubled to give the hosts a 4-0 advantage.

In the fourth inning the game was put out of reach. With one out, designated player Abby Johnson singled.  Sarah Wriglesworth singled for the second straight inning, and Peterman crushed a three-run homer to dead center for a 7-0 count.  The inning continued as Goodman and Bressler walked on either side of a Demchak single to load the bases.  An error off the bat of Cheyenne Pentz scored two runs, Katie Wriglesworth singled to plate Bressler and Sarah Wriglesworth drove in two on her third hit of the day for a 12-0 lead.

DuBois Central broke the shutout in the top of the fifth when Kayla Bittner doubled after one out.  Bittner moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Lauresa Gulvas’ sacrifice fly to center.  A soft liner to short closed the game with the mercy rule after four-and-a-half innings.

“We’re very pleased with the way everyone played today,” said Leigey.  “This was one of those games that we needed to play well to win, and the girls came out and got the job done.  We had players step up when others didn’t have the kind of day we expect from them.  That’s what a team is all about.  We don’t want everyone going cold all at once, and we picked each other up well today.”

Curwensville is scheduled to take its 1-0 record on the road to Brockway on Thursday.  Because of PSSA testing in the afternoon, the start of the game has been pushed back to 4:30 p.m.    

CURWENSVILLE – 12

Sarah Wriglesworth cf 4232, Madison Peterman lf  3223, Taylor Goodman 2b 2200, Molly Demchak 3b 2111, Hannah Bressler rf 1200, Tiffany Carter c 3011, Cheyenne Pentz ss 3100, Katie Wriglesworth 1b 3121, Abby Johnson dp 2110, Tierra Shope p 0000, TOTALS –  24 AB 12 R 11 H 8 RBI.

DUBOIS CENTRAL – 1

Lauresa Gulvas ss 2001, Juliana Ingham c 3000, Tricia Varacallo p 2000, Katlyn Yebernetsky lf 2000, Taylor Thomas 3b 2000, Alyssa Marchioni 1b 2010, Kylee Shaffer cf 2010, Megan Hassan rf 1000, Kayla Bittner 2b 2110,  TOTALS: 18 AB 1 R 3 H 1 RBI.

SCORES BY INNINGS –  R H E

Dubois Central – 00o 01 – 1 3 2

Curwensville – 013 8 x – 12 11 2

ERRORS –  Goodman, Bressler; Gulvas 2.  LOB – DCC 4; Curwensville 6.  2B – Marchioni, Bittner; Carter.  DP – none. SB – Bressler, Wassil.  SAC – Gulvas, Hassan; Demchak. HBP – none.  PB – Ingham.  WP – Varacallo 7; Shope.

PITCHING 

Dubois Central – Varacallo 4 IP 11 H 12 R 4 ER  5 BB 5 K 0 HB

Curwensville – Shope 5 IP 3 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 0 HB

W – Shope (1-0). L – Varacallo.