WESTOVER – The Curwensville Golden Tide baseball team pulled to within one win from hitting the .500 mark on the 2014 season by defeating the Harmony Owls on Tuesday afternoon, 14-2, in Westover.
The game was called after five innings due to the ten-run mercy rule.
The victory also gave the Tide the 2014 Moshannon Valley League (MVL) title with a perfect 4-0 record. Curwensville now sits at 8-9 on the year with two games remaining on the regular season schedule.
Curwensville head coach Denny Johns first talked about winning the MVL championship afterwards, “My hat goes off to the kids for winning the Moshannon Valley League title. It is one of our goals going into the season and they accomplished that.”
The Golden Tide jumped out to a 14-0 lead after batting in the top half of the fourth before Harmony scored two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Travis Lansberry highlighted an eight-run third inning for Curwensville with a two-run homer with no outs.
Tanner Elensky had three hits for the Tide, including a double.
Kyle Johns had a big day at the plate for Curwensville with two hits and four RBI’s. Johns also stroked a double.
Tyler Mays and Brett Gardner added two hits apiece for the Golden Tide.
Devin Beck had a double for the Owls.
Sophomore Noah Strickland made the most of his first ever varsity pitching start for Curwensville, giving up just two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts in going the distance and getting the win.
Johns liked what he saw in his young pitcher and his team’s offensive output, saying, “I was very pleased and happy for Noah (Strickland) with his first varsity start and win. He pitched well.” About the offense, Johns said, “We had a very balanced offensive attack this afternoon which has been our recipe for success this season.”
The Tide are scheduled to play a doubleheader at home on Wednesday against Ridgway. The first game will start at 3 pm, with the second contest to immediately follow. As mentioned earlier in this article, these will be the final regular season games for Curwensville.
CURWENSVILLE – 14
Tanner Elensky ss 4330, Jake Terry 2b 1100, Tyler Mays dh 3122, Jake B. Stiles 3b 1200, R. J. Olson 3b 1000, Brett Gardner lf 3221, Kyle Johns 3124, Jake C. Stiles rf 1000, Ricky Magnuson 1b 2110, A. J. Bloom 1b 2010, Alex Olson c 4111, Noah Strickland p 2111, Travis Lansberry cf 3112, TOTALS – 30 14 14 11.
HARMONY – 2
Austin Young c 3000, Dustin Kurtz p/ss 3000, Logan Sral 1b 1000, Cody Fritz 1b 1000, Austin Hugill ss/p 3110, Jeff Schneider 3b 2000, Devin Beck 2b 2111, Matt McGarvey lf 1000, Brandon Black lf 1000, Logan Watson cf 1000, John Polisky rf 0000, Ron Marshall rf 0000, Troy Solley dh 2010, TOTALS – 20 2 3 1.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 418 10x x 14 14 2
HARMONY 000 20x x 2 3 3
Game called after five innings due to the ten run rule.
ERRORS – Terry, Elensky; Schneider, McGarvey, Young. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 5; HARMONY – 4. 2B – Elensky, Johns; Beck HR – Lansberry (3rd, 1 on). SB – Elensky, Jake B. Stiles, Olson. DP – HARMONY.
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
Strickland 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
HARMONY
Kurtz 2+ IP, 12 H, 13 R, 11 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
Hugill 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
WP – Strickland (1-0). LP – Kurtz.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/24 | JOHNSONBURG | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/26 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/28 | CLARION | susp. – 1st | 0 – 0 |
| 3/31 | BROOKVILLE | 1 – 7 | 0 – 1 |
| 4/02 | CLARION | 0 – 10 | 0 – 2 |
| 4/03 | @ Harmony | ppd. | 0 – 2 |
| 4/04 | JOHNSONBURG | ppd. | 0 – 2 |
| 4/07 | @ Kane | ppd. | 0 – 2 |
| 4/09 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 1 – 3 | 0 – 3 |
| 4/11 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 0 – 3 |
| 4/14 | @ Brockway | ppd. | 0 – 3 |
| 4/16 | @ Ridgway | ppd. | 0 – 3 |
| 4/17 | @ Punxsutawney | 1 – 4 | 0 – 4 |
| 4/21 | MO VALLEY | 8 – 4 | 1 – 4 |
| 4/23 | @ Johnsonburg | 2 – 3 | 1 – 5 |
| 4/25 | @ West Branch | 9 – 6 | 2 – 5 |
| 4/26 | JOHNSONBURG | 9 – 5 | 3 – 5 |
| 4/28 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 0 – 5 | 3 – 6 |
| 5/01 | @ Kane | ppd. | 3 – 6 |
| 5/02 | @ Glendale | 8 – 2 | 4 – 6 |
| 5/05 | KANE | 9 – 7 | 5 – 6 |
| 5/07 | @ Elk County Catholic | 0 – 10 | 5 – 7 |
| 5/08 | @ DuBois Central | 4 – 10 | 5 – 8 |
| 5/10 | @ Kane | 11 – 4 | 6 – 8 |
| 5/12 | BROCKWAY | 5 – 3 | 7 – 8 |
| 5/12 | BROCKWAY | 4 – 5 | 7 – 9 |
| 5/13 | @ Harmony | 14 – 2 | 8 – 9 |
| 5/14 | RIDGWAY (DH) |
