CURWENSVILLE – For head coach Allen Leigey and the Curwensville Area High School softball team, the after-taste of defeat had been left to linger too long over the past week. The Lady Tide has been unable to play due to weather since last Wednesday when Kane left them an extra-inning loss. That bitter taste was rinsed out on Monday afternoon with a 14-0 pasting of Johnsonburg.
“It was just nice to be back on the field again for something that counted,” Leigey said. “We got that bitter taste out of our mouths by taking care of business in a big way.”
At the start of the game, Leigey may have felt a little deja-vu as the Rammettes mounted a small rally in the first inning after two outs. However, Tide hurler Tierra Shope closed things out with a comebacker to the circle to record the out at first.
“I was a little nervous early as it felt like a sub-par team was going to try to hang around and make anything possible,” noted Leigey. “We started slow, and they had runners on in the first and loaded the bases later. But the defense and offense rose to the occasion.”
Curwensville did score in each of its four offensive innings – the first run came on a two-out, RBI single by Abby Johnson to drive home Taylor Goodman, who singled earlier in the frame. Abby Dugo opened the second inning with a double while consecutive walks to Nikki Harker and Tricia Laird loaded the bases. With one out, Goodman singled, Cheyenne Pentz walked, Tiffany Carter sacrificed to center and Johnson singled for a 5-0 advantage.
The biggest threat from the Rammettes came in the third frame when they loaded the bases on a single and two walks with just one out. Pentz flagged a hard liner at short, and Carter came out of her stance behind the plate for a diving catch into fair territory to end the threat.
“We had some great defensive plays tonight,” noted Leigey. “Tiffany made a tough play on a pop-up and Alaina (Stiles) threw a runner out from right field – we have been working hard on that play, and she came up throwing and made it work.”
Shope didn’t allow another Johnsonburg runner to reach base after the defensive effort, and the bats finished the game with three runs in the third and six in the fourth.
Harker drew a walk to open the third and yielded to pinch runner Riley Young, who scurried to third on a Kealy Wassil pinch-hit double. Young scored on a ground out off the bat of Sarah Wriglesworth. Goodman followed with her third single of the game, stole second and scored on a Pentz single.
In the fourth inning, Harker singled with one out to start things again. After the second out, Wriglesworth singled and Goodman’s hard smash was not handled at third and was bobbled in left to allow her to stand at third base. The next five batters all contributed to the run production as Pentz singled, Carter doubled, Johnson walked and Stiles and Melanie Milliron singled for RBI’s.
Goodman and Johnson paced the Lady Tide’s 16-hit attack with three hits and two RBI each, while Pentz and Stiles added two hits apiece. Pentz drove in three runs on the day and Stiles chased two runs home on her second hit. Shope allowed only two balls to get out of the infield – both hits. She struck out two and walked three for the win in five innings.
“We have been hitting the ball well with 16 hits today and 19 against Kane. We even got great efforts off the bench today,” Leigey recapped. “I hope we can keep that rolling tomorrow against Brockway. I’m looking for a dog fight in that game.
The Tide will be looking to continue the winning cause as they travel to Brockway for their first game of the year on the road.
JOHNSONBURG – 0
Kassa Kojancic p/ss 2000, Jenna Tomaski 2b 3010, Hannah Newman dp 0000, Brittany Watts lf/cf 2010, Aleka Marciniak 3b 2000, Ashton Watts 1b 2000, Raimi Akers ss/p 2000, Lydia Hefright cf/lf 2000 , Taylor Raubenstauch rf 2000, Mekena Rowles flex/c 0000, TOTALS – 17 AB 0 R 2 H 0 RBI.
CURWENSVILLE – 14
Sarah Wriglesworth cf 3112, Taylor Goodman 2b 4432, Cheyenne Pentz ss 3122, Tiffany Carter c 2111, Abby Johnson lf 3132, Alaina Stiles rf 4022, Abby Dugo 3b 2110, Bethany Carns ph 1000, Melanie Milliron 1011, Nikki Harker 1b 1310, Riley Young pr 0000, Tricia Laird dp 0100, Keayly Wassil dp 2210, Megan McCartney ph 1000, Tierra Shope flex/p 0000, TOTALS – 28 AB 14 R 16 H 312 RBI.
SCORES BY INNINGS
Johnsonburg 000 00x x – 0 2 2
Curwensville 143 6xx x – 14 16 0
ERRORS – Marciniak, Hefright. LOB – Johnsonburg 5; Curwensville 10. 2B – Carter, Dugo, Wassil. SAC – Wriglesworth, Carter. SB – Goodman. WP -Kojancic 2.
PITCHING
Johnsonburg – Kojancic – 4.2 IP 16 H 14 R 9 ER 7 BB 0 K 0 HB
Akers – .1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K 0 HB
Curwensville – Shope – 5 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 3 BB 2 K 0 HB
WP – Shope (4-1). LP -Kojancic.
Umpires – Norm Bender, Bill Pringle.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/25 | JOHNSONBURG | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/27 | @ DuBois Central | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/03 | SHEFFIELD (Doubleheader) | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/04 | SHEFFIELD (Doubleheader) | 10 – 0 | 1 – 0 |
| 4/04 | SHEFFIELD (Doubleheader) | 17 – 0 | 2 – 0 |
| 4/05 | WEST BRANCH | 4 – 3 | 3 – 0 |
| 4/08 | KANE | 11 – 12 | 3 – 1 |
| 4/10 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ppd. | 3 – 1 |
| 4/12 | MOSHANNON VALLEY | ppd. | 3 – 1 |
| 4/15 | JOHNSONBURG | 14 – 0 | 4 – 1 |
| 4/16 | @ Brockway | ||
| 4/18 | @ Ridgway | ||
| 4/20 | @ DuBois Central | ||
| 4/22 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 4/24 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
| 4/26 | @ Punxsutawney | ||
| 4/29 | @ Glendale | ||
| 5/02 | @ Kane | ||
| 5/03 | @ Redbank Valley | ||
| 5/06 | @ Elk County Catholic | ||
| 5/08 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 5/13 | @ Harmony | ||
| 5/15 | RIDGWAY |