ST. MARYS — The Curwensville Area High School softball team remained in the unbeaten ranks by riding an eight-run second inning to a 10-6 victory over Elk County Catholic Wednesday afternoon.
Two-run singles by winning pitcher Rylee Young and Taghen Jacobson highlighted the rally that put the Lady Tide up 10-1 en route to their first win over the Lady Crusaders since 2013.
Keisha Maines, Maddi Bumbarger and Hannah Dixon also contributed hits in the outburst that was aided by three walks and two Lady Crusader misplays.
Curwensville had posted two runs in the first inning when Kyley Harnett tripled home Dixon, who had singled, and then scored on Emily Miller’s hit.
Dixon paced the Lady Tide’s 11-hit attack with three singles, scored twice and drove in a run, while Miller had two singles and two RBIs and Jacobson added two singles.
The win was extra special for Curwensville coach Allen Leigey even though ECC has only one starter returning from last year’s Class A state championship team and now is 0-4.
“This is one we wanted,” Leigey said, pointing out the Lady Tide had the Lady Crusaders on the ropes twice during their title run. “I really didn’t want to go up there and have them find a way to beat us. I knew they wanted to get off the slide, and we didn’t want to be the one to let them off.”
Young made sure of that, though giving up seven hits.
She limited the hosts to one run after the third inning and surrendered only two earned runs.
Young had two strikeouts and no walks in the her third win.
Curwensville was guilty of four errors after being charged with four in a 3-2 squeaker over Johnsonburg Tuesday night.
The Lady Tide then buckled down and played much better defense after the third inning, when their lead was 10-5.
“(Tuesday) night, we weren‘t crisp because we hadn‘t played in 12 days,” Leigey said. “All these errors were physical. I tell them if you get enough opportunities, those are gonna happen. I just don’t want mental errors.
“How many outs there are and where the runners are dictates where you’re gonna go with the ball. And you can’t take a pitch off. If you do, the ball’s gonna find you, and you’re not gonna know what to do.
“This team has bought into that. They’re real coachable and listen to what we’re telling them. They back up as well as any team I’ve ever had. They work really hard and try to make the right play at the right time.
“As a coach, that’s all you can ask for.”
Josie Smith had a pair of singles for ECC, which got a triple from Emily Evers and a double from Rosina Nero.
Weather permitting, the Lady Tide will take their 3-0 record to Amesville Saturday for their Moshannon Valley League opener against Moshannon Valley.
CURWENSVILLE — 10
Hannah Dixon ss 4231, Rylee Young p 4112, Kyley Harnett 2b 5211, Hayley McGarry c 5000, Emily Miller dp 3022, Olivia McGarry pr 0100, Kayli Sedgwick 1b 1100, Clarissa Cole pr 0000, Taghen Jacobson rf 4122, Keisha Maines lf 2110, Maddi Bumbarger cf 3110, McKenzie Anderson ph 1000, Chloe Tubbs (flex) 3b 0000. TOTALS: 32 10 11 8.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC — 6
Jenna Weisner ss 4100, Josie Smith 2b 4020, Emily Evers 1b 4110, Maggie Dinsmore dp 4111, Jenna Labant rf 4111, Sophie Viglione lf 3000, Rosina Nero c 3110, Emily Wolf p-cf 3111, Sady VanAlstine cf-p 3000, Brianna Weisner (flex) 3b 0000. TOTALS: 32 6 7 3.
Score by Innings
Curwensville 280 000 0 – 10 11 4
Elk County Catholic 122 000 1 – 6 7 3
E – Dixon, Tubbs 2, Maines; J. Weisner, B. Weisner. LOB – Curwensville 10; Elk County Catholic 5. 2B – Nero. 3B – Harnett; Evers. Sac – Maines. SB – Dixon, Sedgwick, Bumbarger 2; Smith. CS – Labant (by H. McGarry).
Pitching
Curwensville – Young 7 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
Elk County Catholic – Wolf 3 IP, 9 H, 10 R, 6 ER, 4 BB,2 K; VanAlstine 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
HB – VanAlstine 1 (Miller). WP – Wolf 4, VanAlstine 1.
W – Young (3-0). L – Wolf.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/24 | CLARION | 3 – 1 | 1 – 0 |
| 4/04 | JOHNSONBURG | ppd. | 1 – 0 |
| 4/05 | JOHNSONBURG | 3 – 2 | 2 – 0 |
| 4/06 | @ Elk County Catholic | 10 – 6 | 3 – 0 |
| 4/09 | @ Moshannon Valley | ||
| 4/11 | GLENDALE | ||
| 4/13 | @ Purchase Line | ||
| 4/14 | KANE | ||
| 4/18 | @ Harmony | ||
| 4/19 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | ||
| 4/21 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 4/25 | PURCHASE LINE | ||
| 4/27 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 4/29 | @ West Branch | ||
| 5/02 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ||
| 5/04 | @ Sheffield | ||
| 5/04 | @ Sheffield | ||
| 5/05 | CLEARFIELD | ||
| 5/10 | @ Kane | ||
| 5/12 | DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH. | ||
| 5/17 | @ Brockway |