CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School girls softball team swept a doubleheader from Johnsonburg on a very warm Friday afternoon on the Lady Tide’s home field, 3-2 in the opener and a come from behind win in the nightcap, 9-6.
The two wins pushed the Lady Tide to 11-6 on the year, while the visiting Ramettes fell to 5-10.
GAME 1
Curwensville took a 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the third inning on an Alaina Stiles double and singles by Nikki Harker, Megan McCartney and Haley McGarry.
The Lady Tide stretched the margin to 3-0 with a lone run in the bottom of the fourth.
Tide third baseman Jordan Round picked up a walk to start the fourth frame, with Olivia McGarry coming in as a pinch runner.
McGarry later scored on a one out single by Stiles that proved to be the game winner for Curwensville.
The Ramettes made it interesting with two runs in the top of the sixth before Tide pitcher Rylee Young shut the door the rest of the way.
Curwensville picked up four doubles in the first game with Stiles, Kayley Harnett, Morgan Ross and Round each having one.
Young, pitching with flu-like symptoms, went the distance, scattering five hits and picking up seven strikeouts.
Johnsonburg got two hits from Nicole Myers and a double from Skylee Watts.
JOHNSONBURG – 2
Jaylie Johnson cf 2000, Maddie Herzing lf 4000, Britnee Thorwart dp 2000, Skylee Wall pr 0100, Hannah Park c 2010, Ashton Watts 3110, Hollie Schneider p 3012, Sierra Kos p 0000, Jenna Tomaski 3000, Alexa Marciniak 3b 3000, Nicole Myers ss 3020, Emily Spiers flex/rf 0000, TOTALS – 26 2 5 2.
CURWENSVILLE – 3
Kayley Harnett 2b 3010, Rylee Young p 3000, Emily Miller ph 1000, Alaina Stiles c 2121, Nikki Harker 1b 3011, Heather Thorp pr 0100, Megan McCartney lf 3010, Hannah Dixon ss 3000, Haley McGarry rf 2011, Morgan Ross dp 3010, Jordan Round 3b 2010, Olivia McGarry pr 0100, Madison Bumbarger flex/cf 0000, TOTALS – 25 3 8 3.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
JOHNSONBURG 000 002 0 – 2 5 0
CURWENSVILLE 002 100 x – 3 8 1
ERRORS – Round. LOB – JOHNSONBURG – 6; CURWENSVILLE – 8. 2B – Watts; Harnett, Stiles, Ross, Round. SB – Wall 2, Myers 2. DP –JOHNSONBURG. HBP – Stiles (by Schneider).
PITCHING
JOHNSONBURG
Schneider 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HB
Kos 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
CURWENSVILLE
Young 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
WP – Young (10-6). LP – Schneider.
UMPIRES: Scott Viedorfer, Jay Siegel
GAME 2
Down 5-0 after the first inning, Curwensville, the visitors in game two, showed true grit to come back for a hard fought 9-6 victory.
Lady Tide senior Nikki Harker started game two in place of Young, and in all fairness to Harker it was her first outing in the circle this year.
Having trouble getting out of the first inning, Lady Tide head coach Allen Leigey went to his junior, Young, to bail Curwensville out of the first.
And after one frame the Lady Tide found themselves down 5-0.
Curwensville picked up a run in the top of the second on a bases loaded walk to Morgan Ross that drove home Megan McCartney who led off the inning with a single to left field.
Meanwhile, Young sucked it up and held the Ramettes scoreless over the next four innings until Johnsonburg scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 5-1 after three innings, the Lady Tide offense exploded for six runs in the top of the fourth to take a 7-5 lead.
The offensive spark in the fourth came from a Dixon double, with singles by Stiles and McCartney.
It also helped that Johnsonburg committed two errors and walked two to aid the Lady Tide’s big inning.
Picking up an insurance run in the fifth inning and one in the sixth gave Curwensville a 9-5 lead before Johnsonburg scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to close the gap to 9-6, the eventual final score.
McCartney and Dixon paced the Tide offense in game two as McCartney had four hits while Dixon chipped in with three. Both players contributed doubles.
As for Young, she went six and two-thirds innings, giving up five hits, one run and striking out eight to pick up her 11th win of the year.
The performance was not lost on Leigey, who said afterwards, “Rylee (Young) was the difference today, no question about it. The girl was definitely ill but somehow managed to hang in there and help us win both games.”
Then Leigey added, “The whole team just picked it up in the second game, rallying around Rylee. McCartney (Megan) and Dixon (Hannah) each had big games at the plate in the nightcap and I couldn’t be more proud of how this team responded after being down 5-0 in the second game. They showed a lot of heart and determination.”
Finally, the coach mentioned his defense, “I thought we played very good defensively also. We had just one error on the entire day and that was huge. We made a lot of plays, good plays, all day.”
The Lady Tide plays Brockway at home on Tuesday at 4:15 pm. Curwensville defeated the Lady Rovers in mid-April, 8-2.
CURWENSVILLE – 9
Kayley Harnett 2b 5100, Rylee Young 2b/p 4011, Heather Thorp cr 0000, Camryn Richards ph 1000, Alaina Stiles c 4110, Nikki Harker p/1b 3000, Olivia McGarry pr 0100, Megan McCartney 5141, Thorp pr 0100, Hannah Dixon ss 5130, Haley McGarry rf 3010, Morgan Ross dp 2001, Madison Bumbarger pr 0100, Jordan Round 3b 2100, Teghan Jacobson pr 0100, Bumbarger flex/cf 0000, TOTALS – 34 9 10 3.
JOHNSONBURG – 6
Jaylie Johnson cf 3100, Maddie Herzing lf 3111, Makayla Hoffman lf 0000, Britnee Thorwart c 4122, Alexa Marciniak cr/p/lf 1000, Hannah Park ss/p 3010, Raimi Akers ss 1000, Ashton Watts 1b 4110, Jenna Tomaski 2b 3100, Kylee Wall 3b 3001, Nicole Myers rf/ss 4130, Emily Spiers dp 2000, Sierra Kos flex/p 0000, TOTALS – 31 6 8 4.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 010 611 0 – 9 10 0
JOHNSONBURG 500 001 0 – 6 8 3
ERRORS – Park 2, Tomaski. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 12; JOHNSONBURG – 7. 2B – McCartney, Dixon; Thorwart 2, Herzing. SB – O. McGarry 2, Dixon, Myers. HBP – Round (by Marciniak).
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
Harker 1/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 0 K.
Young 6 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K.
JOHNSONBURG
Kos 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.
Marciniak 2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 1 HB.
Park 1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
WP – Young (11-6). LP – Marciniak.
UMPIRES: Jay Siegel, Scott Viedorfer
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/24 | BROOKVILLE | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/31 | @ Johnsonburg | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/01 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 4/06 | HARMONY | 6 – 0 | 1 – 0 |
| 4/08 | SHEFFIELD (DH) | ppd. | 1 – 0 |
| 4/09 | SHEFFIELD | 15 – 0 | 2 – 0 |
| 4/09 | SHEFFIELD | 14 – 5 | 3 – 0 |
| 4/10 | KANE | ppd. | 3 – 0 |
| 4/13 | WEST BRANCH | 9 – 16 | 3 – 1 |
| 4/14 | DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH. | 0 – 8 | 3 – 2 |
| 4/16 | @ Brockway | 8 – 2 | 4 – 2 |
| 4/17 | BROOKVILLE | 4 – 3 | 5 – 2 |
| 4/20 | @ Clearfield | ppd. | 5 – 2 |
| 4/22 | @ Johnsonburg | ppd. | 5 – 2 |
| 4/23 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ppd. | 5 – 2 |
| 4/24 | MO VALLEY | 4 – 11 | 5 – 3 |
| 4/27 | @ Purchase Line | 7 – 3 | 6 – 3 |
| 4/28 | @ Elk County Catholic | 2 – 5 | 6 – 4 |
| 4/29 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 3 – 7 | 6 – 5 |
| 4/30 | @ Glendale | 6 – 2 | 7 – 5 |
| 5/04 | PURCHASE LINE | 10 – 0 | 8 – 5 |
| 5/05 | @ Kane | 7 – 1 | 9 – 5 |
| 5/05 | @ Kane | 4-4, susp. | 9 – 5 |
| 5/07 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 1 – 4 | 9 – 6 |
| 5/08 | JOHNSONBURG (DH) | 3 – 2 | 10 – 6 |
| 5/08 | JOHNSONBURG (DH) | 9 – 6 | 11 – 6 |
| 5/12 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 5/13 | @ Clearfield |