Lady Tide Solid In Season Opener; Shut Out Sheffield Twice

CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School softball team made the most of its home opener by picking up a pair of wins against visiting Sheffield on Thursday afternoon.   The Golden Tide used just eight innings total to capture the twin-bill shutout by scores of 10-0 and 17-0 respectively.

In the circle for the home squad, Tierra Shope picked up both wins as she scattered four hits in four innings in the first contest to blank the Lady Wolverines. Shope struck out five, walked two and hit one batter in the opener before getting stronger in the second game.  The junior hurler threw four innings of no-hit ball in the nightcap before yielding to sophomore Nikki Harker in the fifth inning.  Shope added six K’s in game-two while walking two and hitting another.  Harker used her debut in 2013 to strike out the only batters she faced in the fifth to preserve the no-no for the team.

“Tierra pitched well on a cool day,” said Tide head coach Allen Leigey.  “She really only had trouble in one inning when Sheffield had the bases loaded in the first game, but the defense backed her with two strong plays at the plate before she struck out the last batter.  Tierra had good control and made good pitches.

“Nikki came up big in game two and saved Tierra some pitches.  I was worried about her control problems and didn’t want to have to put our starter back in, but she mowed them down with a solid effort as well.”

While things were solid in the circle, the Lady Tide offense scored in all but the first inning of the first game.  However, the slow start to the season quickly changed as senior catcher Tiffany Carter opened the second inning with a home run to start the hit parade.

Carter held the big stick on the day with six hits in seven at-bats – she added a double in the second game and later was inches away from a grand slam as a line shot riccoched off the top of the left-field fence.  Sarah Wriglesworth and Abby Dugo added five hits each – both legged out a triple on the day.  Others turning in multiple hits for the afternoon included Taylor Goodman and Cheyenne Pentz with three apiece and Harker with two.

“We don’t really worry about our bats because we have been in the cage more than anyone,” Leigey stated.  “Once we started making contact, everyone got into the act and contributed.”

Curwensville finished Thursday afternoon’s contest with 29 total hits and committed just one error in both contests.

“I’m just glad we were able to get the game in,” said Leigey.  “Things will be a lot different on Friday against West Branch.”

The Lady Tide will be back in action at Riverside Stadium this afternoon at 4:15 against the Lady Warriors in an important Moshannon Valley League clash.

GAME 1

SHEFFIELD – 0

Rockwell cf 2000, Maddie Fiscus p 3020, Anna Baldensperger c 3000, Hannah Vile 1b 2020, Brooke Hoffman 3b 3000, Rachel Maines ss 1000, Zhara Pratz lf 2000, Mary Fiscus rf 2000, Sammy Pollick 2b 2000, TOTALS – 20 AB 0 R 4 H 0 RBI.

CURWENSVILLE – 10

Sarah Wriglesworth cf 4122, Taylor Goodman 2b 4121, Cheyenne Pentz ss 3112, Tiffany Carter c 3221, Abby Johnson lf 2101, Alaina Stiles rf 3121, Abby Dugo 3b 3120, Nikki Harker 1b 3221, Melanie Milliron pr 0000, Tricia Laird dp 2000, Kealy Wassil ph 1000, Tierra Shope flex/p 0000, TOTALS – 28 AB 10 R 13 H 9 RBI.

SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E

Sheffield   000 0x x – 0 4 1

Curwensville  033 31x x – 10 13 1

ERRORS – Pollock; Harker.  LOB – Sheffield 8; Curwensville 4.  HR – Carter.  SAC – Johnson. PB – Baldensperger. HB – Maines (by Shope).

PITCHING

Sheffield –   Fscus 5 IP 13 H 10 R 5 ER 0 BB 1 K 0 HB

Curwensville –  Shope 5 IP 4 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 5 K 1 HB

WP – Shope (1-0).  LP -Fiscus (0-1).

GAME  2

CURWENSVILLE – 17

Sarah Wriglesworth cf 4332, Taylor Goodman 2b 3202, Cheyenne Pentz ss 4323, Tiffany Carter c 4443, Emily McGarry pr 0000, Abby Johnson lf 4012, Alaina Stiles rf 3011, Tricia Laird ph 1001, Abby Dugo 3b 4130, Nikki Harker 1b 2100, Megan McCartney dp 1211, Melanie Milliron pr 0000, Kealy Wassil ph 1110, Tierra Shope flex/p 0000, TOTALS – 31 AB 17 R 16 H 11 RBI.

SHEFFIELD – 0

B Rockwell cf 2000, Maddie Fiscus 1b/p 1000, Anna Baldensperger c 2000, Hannah Vile p 1000, A Solt rf 1000, Mary Fiscus rf/p/1b 2000, M Devine 2b 2000, Brooke Hoffman 3b 0000, Rachel Maines ss 0000, A Mihalic dp 1000, Zhara Pratz flex/lf 0000,  TOTALS – 12 AB 0 R 0 H 0 RBI.

SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E

Curwensville    337 4xx x – 17 16 0

Sheffield    000 00x x – 0 0 5

ERRORS – Hoffman, Maines 2, Devine, Maddie Fiscus.  LOB – Curwensville 6; Sheffield 3. 2B – Carter.  3B -Wriglesworth, Johnson, Dugo. PB – Baldensperger 3. WP – Maddie Fiscus, Mary Fiscus, Vile 2. HB – Maines (by Shope).

PITCHING

Curwensville –  Shope 3 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 6 K 1 HB

Harker 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 3 K 0 HB

Sheffield –   Vile 2 IP 11 H 11 R 11 ER 3 BB 0 K 0 HB

Mary Fiscus 1.2 IP 5 H 7 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K 0 HB

Maddie Fiscus 0.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K 0 HB

WP – Shope (2-0). LP – Vile (0-1).

Umpires – J.R. Rosselli, Norm Bender.