Curwensville Follows Goodman’s Lead for 9-5 Win over Glendale

CURWENSVILLE – Curwensville Area High School head softball coach Allen Leigey made some minor adjustment to his line-up on Monday and the result was rewarding.  The Lady Tide was more productive up and down the score card, and lead-off hitter Taylor Goodman paced the 9-5 victory over visiting Glendale with a 4-for-4 afternoon.

Goodman wasted no time getting her big day started as she sent the second pitch offered by Laura Jeffries in the bottom of the first over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead for the home team.  Goodman would finish the day with a double and two singles, three runs scored and two RBI’s.

“I reshuffled the order a little and it paid big dividends,” said Leigey.  “Taylor hit the stuffing out of the ball and gave us what I wanted from the start.”

The Lady Tide finished with 12 hits in the game – the most in any game this season.  Catcher Tiffany Carter hit safely twice including a double while Hannah Bressler also collected two hits, and each scored twice.  Cheyenne Pentz and Sarah Wriglesworth also contributed with two runs-batted-in each.

While the offense began to click, Curwensville also showed some toughness by overcoming a mid-game deficit.

The Lady Vikings evened the game in the second inning.  Kellie McGarvey walked to open the second, and after the first out, Kaitlyn Matthews was hit by a pitch to put two on.  Both runners moved up on a wild pitch.  Marissa Grega grounded out to third, but McGarvey was able to scamper home on the play to first.

The Tide went back in the lead in the third with Goodman starting things again with a one-out single.  A wild pitch moved the sophomore to second, and after the second out, Carter doubled to left-center for a 2-1 advantage.

The offense cooled through the middle innings to allow the visitors to claw back into the lead.  In the fourth inning Matthews tripled with two outs and scored on an error to knot the score.   A second error in the fifth (the Tide committed two errors in the game) cost the hosts the lead.  Jeffries led off the fifth with a double, moved to third and scored on a grounder that was thrown into right field.

“We gave them the lead in that fifth inning, and we just can’t make those mistakes if we want to be competitive,” said Leigey.  “But we battled through the 3-2 deficit, came in and put some runs up.  I was pleased at the way we bounced back.”

Five runs crossed the plate in the bottom of the fifth as the Lady Tide took control.  Bressler opened the frame with a single to right and pulled into second when the ball was misplayed.  Goodman followed with a double to tie the game again at 3-3.  Madi Peterman then singled to plate Goodman for the lead.  

Carter kept the train rolling with the fourth straight single before Molly Demchak walked to load the bases.  Pentz collected the fifth hit of the inning and chased home both Peterman and Carter.  Abby Dugo, who pinch ran for Demchak,  hustled to third on Pentz’s hit and scampered home on an infield out off the bat of Sarah Wriglesworth to set the score at 7-3.

Glendale was not ready to go away quietly and put two runs on the board in the sixth.  McGarvey was hit by a pitch to open the inning.  Morgan Biddle singled to put runners on the corner (courtesy runner Elisha Matier was now in for McGarvey).  Biddle took second uncontested and both runners scored on a two-out single by Caitlyn Kimberly.  The inning ended as Kimberly was cut down at third by Carter.

The two runs were gotten back in the bottom of the sixth.  Bressler lined a hit to right to start things once again.  Goodman followed with her fourth hit and Peterman sacrificed to move both into scoring position.  Carter walked to load the bases, and Demchak watched four pitches miss the zone to pick up an easy RBI.  Goodman was forced at home on a ground out, but Wriglesworth drew a free pass to see Carter trot home for the 9-5 finale.

While the offense provided the spark for the victory, freshman pitcher Tierra Shope turned in another solid performance.  Shope scattered five hits in her seven innings of work.  She walked just two, hit two others and struck out six for her fourth win of the year in six outings.

“Tierra mixed it up pretty well tonight,” Leigey praised.  “Her change-up is coming along very well, the curve was working and she had some good spin on the ball that caused quite a few pop-ups.”

“I’m pleased with where we are in the season.  I thought we played with more intensity on Friday (against Punxsutawney) even though we lost.  But we played pretty good tonight.”

With all the postponments on the season, the Lady Tide will have little time to enjoy the win.  Curwensville will try to host Sheffield in a double-header Tuesday afternoon if the weather co-operates.

GLENDALE – 5

Kristen Shaffer cf  4000, Nichole Heverly 3b 3010, Sarah Tarr ss 4000, Kellie McGarvey c 1200, Morgan Biddle 1b 3110, Kaitlyn Matthews 2b 2110, Marissa Grega rf 3001, Caitlyn Kimberly lf 3012, Laura Jeffries p 3110. Totals 26 AB 5 R 5 H 3 RBI.

CURWENSVILLE – 9

Taylor Goodman 2b 4342, Madison Peterman lf  3111, Tiffany Carter c 3221, Molly Demchak 3b 2011, Abby Dugo pr o100, Cheyenne Pentz ss 4012, Sarah Wriglesworth cf 3002, Katie Wriglesworth 1b 4010, Abby Johnson dp 3000,  Hannah Bressler rf 3220, Tierra Shope p 0000. TOTALS – 29 AB 9 R 12 H 9 RBI.

SCORES BY INNINGS –  R H E

Glendale – 010 112 0 – 5 5 3

Curwensville – 101 052 x – 9 12 9

ERRORS –  Grega; Shope, Pentz.  LOB – Glendale 3; Curwensville 7.  HR – Goodman. 3B –Mathews.  2B – Heverly, Jeffries; Goodman, Carter.    DP – none. SB –none. SAC –Petermn. HBP – Matthews, McGarvey.  PB – none.  WP – Jeffries 3; Shope.

PITCHING 

Glendale – Jeffries 7 IP 12 H 9 R 9 ER 4 BB 6 K 0 HB

Curwensville – Shope 6 IP 5 H 5 R 3 ER 2 BB 6 K 2 HB

W  – Shope (4-2).  L – Jeffries.