CURWENSVILLE – The inexperience of the Curwensville Area High School softball team showed itself in Monday afternoon’s 10-0 loss to visiting Elk County Catholic. The Lady Golden Tide fell behind early in the contest and never really got their game rolling in the season’s first loss.
The Lady Crusaders opened the contest with a five-run first inning that allowed pitcher Taylor Schlimm and her squad to cruise to the win.
ECC showed great patience at the plate in the top of the first as the first three batters drew free passes from the Tide’s Tierra Shope. The freshman hurler battled back with a pair of strike-outs before the dam broke. Kristy Hanes of ECC slapped a two-run single down the third base line, and Jesse Ginther cleaned the bases with a three-run homer deep to right.
“If we could have made one more play in the first inning, that would have been big,” said head coach Allen Leigey. “We got the ground ball but couldn’t get to it to make the play. The walks always kill us and combine that with a few hits in a row, and we were in a hole.”
Curwensville’s offense never put a threat together in the game despite leaving seven runners on base in the game. A triple off the bat of second-baseman Taylor Goodman in the third inning gave the Lady Tide its only runner past second base. The Tide gathered just three hits in the game as Cheyenne Pentz finished with two singles to add to Goodman’s hit.
Schlimm complimented the three-hit shutout with nine strike outs and just three free passes. Schlimm stands at 4-0 on the season, as ECC moves to 4-1 with a forfeit to Brockway on the books.
The Lady Crusaders put together scores in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings – four of the final five runs coming with two outs in the innings. In those scoring innings, ECC pounced out six hits and took advantage of four additional walks.
“This was a game of growing pains,” said Leigey. “ECC always has a pretty good team, and we knew we were coming in with some work to do. When we hit the ball, it seemed to be right at them, and they played them well.”
The visitors piled up 12 hits on the day. Ginther, with the homer and a double ended 3-for-5 on the day as did Hanes with three singles. Ginther drove in five runs while Hanes plated three. Hannah McGowen and Jenny Cappiello also had two hits each.
Shope finished the game with seven strike outs while walking 11 and allowing 12 hits.
“We have to try to learn from this game and get better as the season goes on,” Leigey said. “We’ll see them again at the end of the year, and we want to be competitive.”
The Lady Tide falls to 2-1 on the season and is scheduled to travel to DuBois Central Catholic on Thursday. The Tide defeated the Lady Cardinals 12-2 in the season opener.
ElLK COUNTY CATHOLIC– 10
Hanna McGowan cf 3221, Jena Struble 2b 3100, Anna Hawkins rf 3211, Jenny Cappiello dp 5120, Taylor Schlimm p 3100, Julia Sacchitti ph 0000, Kristy Hanes 1b 5133, Jessie Ginther lf 5135, Michelle Imbrogno ss 2000, Elexa Hanson ph 1000, Torie Gradizzi c 2110, Jessie McLaughlin flex/3b . Totals 32 AB 10 R 12 H 10 RBI.
CURWENSVILLE –0
Sarah Wriglesworth cf 4000, Madison Peterman lf 1000, Taylor Goodman 2b 3010, Molly Demchak 3b 3000, Hannah Bressler rf 2000, Tiffany Carter c 3000, Cheyenne Pentz ss 3020, Katie Wriglesworth 1b 3000, Abby Johnson dp 3000, Tierra Shope flex/p 0000. TOTALS – 25 AB 0 R 3 H 0 RBI.
SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E
Elk County- 500 120 2 – 10 12 1
Curwensville – 000 000 0 – 0 3 0
ERRORS – McLaughlin. LOB – Elk County 13; Curwensville 7. HR – Ginther. 3B – Goodman. 2B – McGowen, Ginther, Gradizzi. DP – none. SB – none. SAC – none. HBP – Hanson. PB – Carter. WP – Shope.
PITCHING
Elk County– Schlimm 7 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 3 BB 9 K 0 HB
Curwensville – Shope 7 IP 12 H 10 R 10 ER 11 BB 7 K 1 HB
W – Shope (2-1). L – Schlimm (4-0).
