DUBOIS – While the Curwensville Area High School softball team never trailed in Tuesday’s season opener against the Lady Cardinals of Dubois Central Catholic, the Lady Tide was unable to sustain a comfortable lead. However a strong seventh inning on the mound from sophomore pitcher Tierra Shope helped the visitors walk away with an 8-7 victory in the brisk opener.
Shope used 11 pitches in the final frame and got the defensive support needed from her teammates to record the only 1,2,3 inning of the game for the Tide.
“Tierra struggled the whole game until the last inning when we needed her,” said Curwensville head coach Allen Leigey. “She gave up key walks earlier in the game that hurt us when DCC was chipping away at our lead, but came on very strong in the final inning.”
Shope finished her season debut by giving up nine hits to go along with the seven earned runs. She struck out seven Cardinal batters while walking six with one wild pitch in the winning effort.
Offensively, the plate belonged to senior first-basemen Madi Peterman. Peterman went 4-for-4 on the afternoon including two doubles and five RBI’s. Her coach praised her on both sides of play.
“Madi hit the ball hard every time she stepped into the batter’s box,” beamed Leigey. “She also moved into a new position on the field and had some great plays scooping the ball on low throws at first base.”
Junior Abby Johnson slapped out two hits for the Tide on the day while Tiffany Carter also contributed an extra-base hit.
Curwensville put up three runs in the first inning on RBI’s by Peterman, Carter, and Cheyenne Pentz. Taylor Thomas’ single with two outs in the bottom of the frame set the score at 3-1. Curwensville’s scoring continued in the second and third innings with two runs in each for a 7-1 count. However, an error and three walks in the bottom of the third allowed for three DCC scores as they battled back on their home field.
The Lady Cardinals added a run in the fifth after a Laura Gulvas triple to push the margin to 7-5. The sixth inning produced the eventual winning run as center fielder Sarah Wriglesworth plated Peterman on a two out single up the middle. Two walks and two singles kept the game interesting for the hosts in the sixth with two runs and the 8-7 final before DCC was denied in the seventh.
Thomas, Alyssa Machioni, and Juliana Ingham all provided two hits for DCC in the losing effort.
One note of concern for Curwensville came in the sixth inning when senior Molly Demchak left the game with soreness in her throwing shoulder.
“Molly felt she hurt her shoulder earlier in the game making a strong throw to first,” Leigey noted. “After a single in the sixth that put us in scoring position, she was in obvious pain and had to come out of the game. We just hope that it isn’t serious and she’ll be in the line-up on Thursday.”
The Lady Tide will host Brockway in the home opener on Thursday. That game has a 4:15 start time.
CURWENSVILLE – 8
Taylor Goodman 2b/3b 3210, Madi Peterman1b 4245, Tiffany Carter c 2111, Molly Demchak 3b 4000, Abby Dugo pr/2b 0000, Cheyenne Pentz ss 4011, Sarah Wriglesworth cf 3011, Abby Johnson lf 4120, Alaina Stiles pr 0000, Megan Barrett dp 4110, Hannah Bressler rf 4110, Tierra Shope p 0000, TOTALS – 32 AB 8 R 12 H 8 RBI.
DUBOIS CENTRAL – 7
Lauras Gulvas ss 4210, Kylee Schaffer cf 3210, Tricia Varacallo p/3b 3000, Katlyn Yabernetsky lf 4011, Taylor Thomas 3b/p 4122, Alyssa Marchioni 1b 4121, Juliana Ingham c 3120, Megan Hassan 2b 3002, Erin Stoddard rf 3000, TOTALS – 31 AB 7 R 9 H 6 RBI.
SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E
Ciurwensville 322 001 0 – 8 12 2
Dubois Central 103 012 0 – 7 9 1
ERRORS – Johnson 2; Varacallo. LOB – Curwensville 8; DCC 8 2B – Peterman 2, Carter; Gulvas. 3B – Ingham. SB – Dugo; Gulvas, Schaffer. DP – none. PB – Carter; Ingham. WP – Shope; Varacallo. HB – Goodman (Varacallo)
PITCHING
Curwensville – Shope 7 IP 9 H 7 R 7 ER 6 BB 7 K 0 HB
Dubois Central – Varacallo 2 IP 6 H 5 R 5 ER 3 BB 1 K 1 HB
Thomas – 5 IP 6 H 3 R 1 ER 2 BB 0 K 0 HB
WP – Shope (1-0). LP – Varacallo.