CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Lady Tide softball team is once again targeting the District 9 Playoffs with 11 returning letter winners from last year which includes a transfer from DuBois Central Catholic.
Allen Leigey is back for his 17th season as head coach of the Lady Tide after Curwensville posted a 9-12 record in 2017 which included another trip to the District AA postseason. The Tide lost 10-0 to Johnsonburg in the quarter-finals last year.
Leigey now sports an overall record of 229 victories and 119 losses.
Among all those wins the Lady Tide have won two PIAA State Class “A” Championships, one in 2007 and another in 2009.
The Lady Tide have also captured three District 9 crowns with two “A“ titles (2007 & 2009) and one “AA” championship in 2013.
Recently Leigey talked about the upcoming season, saying, “We are a young squad and our main goal is to improve each and every day we take the field. My four freshmen players are pushing the older girls and the older girls are responding to the challenge. I continue to teach team above self.”
The veteran coach then continued about commitment to the team, commenting, “Commitment to the team, there is no such thing as in between, you are either in or out. As a team we set one high goal that we are going to shoot for, one middle range goal that is obtainable, and one goal that is acceptable”.
This season the Lady Tide are set to go again with junior hurler Rachel LeGars who last year was 2-6 with a 5.83 ERA.
Clerissa Cole, who shared duties in the circle last year with LeGars, has transferred to West Branch Area High School.
LeGars will have Bailey Bloom behind the plate once again. In her freshman season, last year, Bloom hit a healthy .323 while driving in 13 runs.
The Lady Tide infield is fairy well set with three underclassmen and Sabrina Spencer, a senior, who transferred from DuBois Central Catholic playing third base. Spencer batted .300 and scored 18 runs for the Lady Cardinals in 2017.
Sophomore Lauren Tozer will be at first base after hitting .271 in 2017 while Keisha Maines, a junior, settles in at second base and newcomer Abby Pentz, a freshman will be at shortstop. Pentz will also see some time in the circle for Curwensville.
Others seeing infield playing time will be seniors Kelsi Bumbarger and Jayna Vicary along with another freshman in Emma Caldwell.
Defending in the outfield will have the Lady Tide using perhaps up to seven different players which will also dictate the batting order on many evenings.
Junior Ariel Zattoni, who hit .358 last season, has a lock on left field with center field being patrolled by Anne Hoover, a senior.
Alex Zattoni, a sophomore and freshman Ally Hess are battling for the right field spot.
Leigey has also made plans to insert two seniors, Mackenzie Anderson and Olivia McGarry, along with Erica Buck, a freshman, into the outfield mix at times.
The designated player spot will be split by Anderson or senior Mikayla Warren.
Leigey likes the ability of this year’s team to play different types of ball and is obviously very excited, saying, “When the season is over we will see where this team landed. This team has the capability of playing Earl Weaver style of ball, beating you by hitting three home runs, or playing Billy Beane style of ball. Get to first, steal second and third and suicide squeeze you home.”
“This team practices hard and sometimes I have slow them down”, Leigey said. “The young girls have brought a lot of enthusiasm with a very competitive edge that we were missing in the past couple of years. The veterans along with the youngsters are certainly all leading the charge to improve this team and who knows, maybe, just maybe, another state title run will happen before 2021. The Lady Tide are back!”
The Lady Tide open its season, at home, on Monday, against rival Clearfield with the first pitch set for 4:15 pm.
ROSTER:
SENIORS: *Mackenzie Anderson, *Kelsi Bumbarger, *Anne Hoover, *Olivia McGarry, *Sabrina Spencer, *Mikayla Warren, Jayna Vicary
JUNIORS: *Rachel LeGars, *Keisha Maines, *Ariel Zattoni
SOPHOMORES: *Bailey Bloom, *Lauren Tozer, Alex Zattoni
FRESHMEN: Erica Buck, Emma Caldwell, Ally Hess, Abby Pentz, Logan Sheeder
SCHEDULE:
MARCH: 26 CLEARFIELD, 27 at Brockway
APRIL: 4 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC, 6 at West Branch (4:30 pm), 9 JOHNSONBURG, 13 at Purchase Line (4 pm), 17 KANE, 19 at Dubois Central Catholic, 24 BROCKWAY, 26 at Moshannon Valley (4 pm), 27 PURCHASE LINE, 28 (Sat) at North Star (11 am), 30 GLENDALE
MAY: 1 at Elk County Catholic, 7 at Harmony (4:30 pm), 8 at Sheffield DH (3 pm), 10 at Kane, 15 at Johnsonburg, 16 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC
HOME GAMES IN CAPS. ALL GAMES START AT 4:15 PM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.