Golden Tide Storm Back in Final Inning to Defeat Kane

KANE — No baseball game comes to an end until the final out is recorded.  That was the case for the Curwensville Golden Tide on Tuesday afternoon.

Entering their final stretch of competition, head coach Tom Harzinski and his team went on the road to take on the Kane Wolves, a squad that they already had lost to on April 18 in a close game, 5-4.  In an ironic twist, this game would be a close one as well, but not over the course of seven innings.  Instead, it was one inning that made all the difference.

The Tide was in a deep hole entering their final three outs of the game.  But, that was the one inning where everything changed.  Curwensville rallied to score six runs in the final inning to come back to steal the 9-8 victory over Kane.

Pitching for both teams was strong, but each squad gave up 10 hits in the contest.  A.J. Bloom would get the victory with his relief pitching.  He would go just two-thirds of an inning, but yielded no hits.  R.J. Olson would pitch a scoreless seventh inning to earn the save for the Tide. On the opposite side, Jake Lister would pitch the majority of the game for the Wolves, staying on the mound for all but one out.  He would give up all nine runs, and would be saddled with the loss.

Curwensville would start the scoring in the third inning with two runs by Jake Terry and Jake C. Stiles, one on an error and another on a tag up.  An inning later, an RBI-single by Garrett Shaw would bring in Mo Newkirk.  In the bottom half of the inning, Kane would come storming back.

Jack Kocjancic scored first on an RBI-single by Ryan Swanson.  A few batters later, Trace Gordon would bring two more runs in to tie the game.  Gordon would come home a little later in the inning on an error, giving Kane a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Wolves added on another three runs thanks to an RBI-single once more by Swanson to plate Kocjancic, followed by Andrew Peterson scoring in the same fashion.  Gordon would then bring in Swanson on an RBI-double to make it a 7-3 game.

The final run for Kane came in the sixth, but in the most unconventional fashion.

Kocjancic would walk and then advanced to second on a balk.  Lister would then single to advance him to third, putting runners on the corners.  Peterson then walked to load the bases.  Then, with Swanson at the dish, on the throw back to the pitcher, Kocjancic would dash for home plate, stealing the Wolves’ eighth run of the game.

Entering the final inning, the Tide were faced with an 8-3 deficit, and the odds were not in their favor.

After Noah Strickland struck out to start the inning, suddenly everything changed, causing the Curwensville to get on a roll.  Shaw and Terry would both single, then Jake B. Stiles would walk, loading the bases.  Bloom then nailed a double into left field, bringing in both Shaw and Terry.

With the score now 8-5, Hunter Lancaster then stepped to the plate.  Feeding off the momentum of his teammates, he would nail the 1-1 pitch into deep center, putting him on second base and bringing in both Stiles and Bloom.  The gap was reduced from five runs down to just one, and only one out was on the board.

The Tide were not done yet.  Olson then came to the plate and blasted a ground ball up the gap to right-center, bringing home Lancaster and tying the game at eight.

Harzinski and team could feel the momentum change, and not even a groundout by Bryce Timko could stop the rally.  The out moved Olson to second, and a batter later Jake C. Stiles would be hit by the first pitch by Lingenfelter, putting a runner at first and second.  Stiles and Olson pulled off a double steal, moving Olson onto third.

The Tide’s final run of the game came on an error, as Olson charged home to give Curwensville it’s sixth run of the inning, and the lead.

Olson then took the mound for the final inning.  Bryden Jordan would start play with a flyout to right field.  Andrew Zilkofski would then single into shallow left, and would move to second thanks to a walk by Ange Costanzo.  The game-tying and potential game-winning runs were now in position.

But  they would be left hanging.  Lingenfelter and Kocjancic would swing and miss on their final pitches, striking out, giving Curwensville the amazing come-from-behind victory.

Curwensville (3-12) has a bit of time to savor the win as their next game is on Thursday.  It is Senior Day as the Tide’s final home game of the year will be against DuBois Central Catholic.

SCORE BY INNING

Curwensville  002 100 6 – 9 10 3
Kane  000 431 0 – 8 10 5

Curwensville-9

Shaw 5121, Terry 3220, J.B. Stiles 3200, Bloom 4112, Lancaster 3123, Olson 3121, Timko 4000, J.C. Stiles 1000, Newkirk 2110, Strickland 2000.  TOTALS 30 9 10 7.

Kane-8

Lingenfelter 5000, Kocjancic 3320, Lister 4010, Peterson 1200, Swanson 4222, Phillips 4011, Gordon 1000,  Morehead 2123, Zilkofski 1010, Jordon 3010, Blankenship 1000, Costanzo 2000.  TOTALS 31 8 10 6.

HBP:  J.C. Stiles, Strickland
SB:  J.B. Stiles, J.C. Stiles, Terry/Kocjancic, Lister, Peterson, Swanson

Pitching

Curwensville:  Timko-4.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO; J. C. Stiles-0.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO; Bloom-0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO; Olson-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.

Kane:  Lister-6.2 IP, 9 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO; Lingenfelter-0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

WP – Bloom.  LP – Lister. Save – Olson.

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