ALLPORT – A Moshannon Valley softball clash between Curwensville and West Branch turned into a solid pitching duel between Lady Warrior senior Jada Larson and Lady Tide Freshman Tierra Shope. Unfortunately for the Tide, the dual didn’t start until the second inning after the score read 10-1 in favor of West Branch.
Curwensville (6-4) struck first as Taylor Goodman reached on an infield error to start the game. Goodman was sacrificed to second by Madi Peterman, tagged and went to third on Tiffany Carter’s long fly out to left and scored on a seeing-eye hit off the bat of Molly Demchak. Demchak hit a soft liner over third that Warrior shortstop Bethany Kopchick nearly made an amazing play on, but Goodman crossed the plate for a 1-0 lead for the Tide.
The advantage didn’t last long as the hosts scored five times in the bottom of the first. Shope opened the first with two strikeouts. However, the first batter reached on a dropped third strike and throwing error. Leann Bell then followed with a solid double down the third base line that tied the score. Bell moved to third on a wild pitch to set up a second run on a Kopchick fly out to right.
Larson kept the West Branch first inning going with a single. Mekayla Ahlberg followed with a walk, and Melesha Ahlberg singled as well. When the throw came home, Larson had stopped at third and the cut-off was then overthrown at second to allow two runs to score and set Ahlberg on third. Missy Croyle then drove in the fifth unearned run of the inning for the 5-1 start.
The Warrior bats were back at it in the second as Albright was given life with a dropped third strike as well. Albright stole second and scored on Bell’s second hit of the game. A Kopchick single, Larson double, Mekayla Ahlberg single, a ground out RBI by Melesha Ahlberg and a single by Reams added four more runs in the second to set the score at 10-1.
“We imploded during those first two innings – it didn’t look like we had even showed up,” said Lady Tide coach Allen Leigey. “We did the same thing the night before (in the 11-10 loss to Ridgway). We have to figure out a way to clean that up.”
Curwensville bounced back in the third inning when Goodman dropped a one-out double into left. Peterman followed with a single for an RBI. Two passed balls set Peterman on third to be knocked in by a Carter base hit. A double play off a liner to third closed the visitor’s threat with a 10-3 deficit. It would be the last scoring that was done in the game.
After the top of the third, the pitching and the defense tightened up on both sides as only five more batters reached base the rest of the game. Just two of those were by hits and nobody on either side passed second.
“Tierra seems to be able to get ahead of the batters later in the game, and we made them hit our pitches,” Leigey said. “We just can’t make those mistakes and give good teams four outs in an inning – they’ll hurt you every time.”
Larson finished the game allowing four hits and striking out eight. The senior ace didn’t walk a batter giving up just two earned runs. Bell was 3-for-4 on the day with two RBIs. Larson and Mekayla Ahlberg each finished with two hits.
“Larson is better than any pitcher we’ll see in District IX,” Leigey said, “We just have to bring our gloves and put forth the kind of effort that we did in the last part of this game.”
Shope finished the game with three strike outs and two walks while the West Branch bats ripped 11 hits. The early miscues made the real difference as only four Warrior runs were earned.
Curwensville will take the weekend off before hosting a double-header with Kane on Monday as part of a four-game week.
CURWENSVILLE – 3
Taylor Goodman 2b 3210, Madison Peterman lf 2111, Tiffany Carter c 3011, Molly Demchak 3b 3011, Cheyenne Pentz ss 3000, Sarah Wriglesworth cf 3000, Katie Wriglesworth 1b 3000, Abby Johnson dp 3000, Hannah Bressler rf 2000, Tierra Shope flex/p 0000. TOTALS – 34 AB 10 R 9 H 8 RBI.
WEST BRANCH – 10
Janene Couteret lf 4100, Desiree Albright cf 4100, Leann Bell 2b 4232, Bethany Kopchick ss 3110, Jada Larson p 4221, Mekayla Ahlberg 1b 3221, Melesha Ahlberg 3b 4111, 3b 4112, Taylor Reams c 2011, Missy Croyle dp 3011, Jenessa Ceprish flex/rf 0000. Totals 31 AB 10 R 11 H 7 RBI.
SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E
Curwensville – 102 000 0 – 3 4 4
West Branch – 550 000 x – 10 11 2
ERRORS – Demchak, Carter, K. Wriglesworth; Kopchick, Larson. LOB – Curwensville 2; West Branch 6. HR – None. 3B –None. 2B – Goodman; Bell, Larson. DP – West Branch. SB – Courteret, Alberg. SAC –Peterman; Kopchick. HBP – None. PB – Reams 3. WP – Shope.
PITCHING
Curwensville – Shope 6 IP 11 H 10 R 4 ER 2 BB 3 K 0 HB
West Branch – Larson 7 IP 4 H 3 R 2 ER 0 BB 8 K 0 HB
W – Larson; L – Shope.