ST. MARYS – First came a triple play, then came more lightning and rain, and then it was over.
The Curwensville Golden Tide baseball team indeed lost a tough game Wednesday afternoon to Elk County Catholic (ECC) in St. Marys, 1-0. The game was called in the top half of the sixth due to the inclement weather.
Junior Tide pitcher Brett Gardner did his part in limiting the Crusaders to just two hits and one run in a tough-luck loss.
Curwensville head coach Denny Johns said afterwards, “I just can’t say enough about the great effort by Brett (Gardner) this afternoon. He did everything a pitcher needs to do to get a win. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.”
The Tide had a golden opportunity to put runs on the board when they had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the second inning when a blooper over the head of shortstop Dan Singer looked like it would fall in for a hit.
Singer, however was able to track down the soft liner and turn it into a triple play, taking Curwensville out of their biggest threat of the day.
Johns could only shrug and say, “The triple play was a tough play for us in the second inning. It looked like it was going to drop in for a hit. It was just a real back breaker at the time.”
ECC scored the game’s only run in the bottom half of the second on a sacrifice fly by catcher Hank Cappiello that drove home Brock McCullough with what turned out to be the game winner.
Hunter McCracken had two hits for the Golden Tide on the day.
Curwensville, now 1-3 on the young season, is on the road again Friday, traveling to Houtzdale to battle the Black Knights of Moshannon Valley. Game time is 4:15 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – 0
Tanner Elensky ss 1000, Travis Lansberry rf 2010, Kyle Bloom c 3000, Jake B. Stiles 3b 1000, Brad Coudriet lf 2010, Jason Bloom 1b 1000, Brett Gardner p 2000, Hunter McCracken 2b 2020, Jordan Russell cf 2000, TOTALS – 16 0 4 0
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 1
Dan Singer ss 3000, Jonathan Dippold 2b 3000, Ivan Wortman cf/1b/p 3010, Ben Cortina 1b/3b 3000, Jack Herzing p/1b 2000, Brock McCullough lf 1110, Joe McLaughlin c /cf 2000, Mitchell Vallone cr 0000, Hank Cappiello 3b/c 1001, Wes Brennen rf 2000, TOTALS – 20 1 2 1
SCORE BY INNINGS
CURWENSVILLE 000 00 – 0 4 4
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 010 00 – 1 2 1
Game called in top of sixth inning due to lightning and rain.
ERRORS – Elensky 2, McCracken, Russell; McLaughlin. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 5; ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 6. 2B – McCullough. SB – Elensky. SAC – Cappiello. TRIPLE PLAY – ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC (2nd inning). HBP – None.
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
Gardner 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
Herzing 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 7 K
WP – Herzing LP – Gardner (0-2).
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/25 | @ Johnsonburg | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/27 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/02 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/03 | HARMONY | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/06 | @ Harry Combs Classic | ||
| vs. Central, VA | 10 – 11 | 0 – 1 | |
| vs. Millbrook, VA | 2 – 13 | 0 – 2 | |
| 4/08 | KANE | 11 – 1 | 1 – 2 |
| 4/10 | @ Elk County Catholic | 0 – 1 | 1 – 3 |
| 4/12 | @ Moshannon Valley | ||
| 4/15 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
| 4/16 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 4/18 | RIDGWAY | ||
| 4/19 | @ Brookville | ||
| 4/22 | JOHNSONBURG | ||
| 4/24 | @ DuBois Central | ||
| 4/29 | WEST BRANCH | ||
| 5/02 | @ Kane | ||
| 5/03 | GLENDALE | ||
| 5/06 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ||
| 5/08 | @ Brockway | ||
| 5/09 | BROOKVILLE | ||
| 5/13 | HARMONY | ||
| 5/15 | @ Ridgway |