CURWENSVILLE – If one miserable, horrible inning can ruin a ballgame, then the Curwensville Lady Tide softball team did just that Monday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the District 9 AA playoffs against visiting Moniteau.
The Lady Warriors came into Curwensville with a 7-11 record and a number five seed, and left with a 7-3 victory to move into the semifinals Wednesday against number one seed Cranberry (11-2), at Cranberry.
The one miserable, horrible inning?
Well, it was the top of the first, when the Lady Tide played give away, committing three errors and issuing one base on balls as Moniteau took control with four early runs. Only two of the runs were earned.
Head coach Allen Leigey of Curwensville spoke about the first inning, saying, “It all happened against us in the first. We played an ugly inning with the three errors and basically those four runs cost us the ballgame. I just wish we would have played better and came up with a clean game. I would have been happy with that, but it just didn’t happen.”
Leading 4-0 going into the top of the second the Lady Warriors tacked on two more tallies to put even more pressure on the Lady Tide, leading 6-0 after two innings.
Curwensville picked up its first run in the bottom of the third when freshman Logan Sheeder drew a two out walk and then reached second base on a passed ball. Sabrina Spencer followed with an RBI single down the right field line to put the Lady Tide on the board.
Moniteau would pick up its final run in the top of the fourth against Lady Tide relief pitcher Clerissia Cole.
Cole came on in relief of Curwensville starter Rachel LeGars with just one out in the second inning and did a fairly good job of keeping the Lady Tide somewhat still in the game, giving up just two runs over the final five and two-thirds innings.
Curwensville cut into the 7-1 Lady Warrior lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth as Abby Pentz scored on a two out single by Mackenzie Anderson after picking up a two out walk earlier in the frame.
The tough part was that the Tide left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, something that haunted them also in the sixth and almost again in the seventh.
And yes, Curwensville didn’t score in the bottom of the sixth, but, once again left the bases loaded.
The Lady Tide picked up the game’s final run in the bottom of the seventh when catcher Bailey Bloom led off with a triple to right field with Anderson bringing her home with a single with no outs.
Once again the stat called “Left On Base” haunted the Lady Tide in the seventh, leaving two more runners stranded.
On the afternoon Curwensville left a total of 12 runners on base with eight coming over the final three innings.
Anderson had two hits and two RBIs for the Lady Tide in a losing effort.
Moniteau also left a bunch of runners stranded on base with a total of 10.
The Lady Warriors had four players with two hits each in Dolcey Shunk, Cassidy Claypoole, Amanda Dailey and Megan Hepler.
Shunk, Dailey and Hepler each had a double for the Lady Warriors who improved to 8-11 on the season and kept its hopes alive for a fifth straight District 9 AA title.
Leigey says goodbye to seven seniors from this years team who finished over 500 with an 11-10 final record.
Those seniors are Sabrina Spencer, Clerissia Cole, Mackenzie Anderson, Kelsi Bumbarger, Olivia McGarry, Anne Hoover, and Jayna Vicary.
About the 2018 season Leigey closed with, “Even though we obviously wanted to win today, overall I was pleased with how the year went, especially with playing a lot of underclassmen. Again, I wish we would have played better today but it wasn’t to be.”
MONITEAU – 7
Dolcey Shunk c 3320, Cassidy Claypoole lf/cf 5120, Amanda Dailey cf/p 4121, Lexi Miller rf 3011, Abby Rottmen ss 4121, Taylor Shultz 2b 3100, Megan Hepler 3b 4022, Breanne Noah pr 0000, Madison Clark 1b 3000, Amelia Thompson pr 0000, Courtney Stewart p/lf 4000, TOTALS – 33 7 11 5
CURWENSVILLE – 3
Abby Pentz ss 2110, Logan Sheeder 2b 2100, Sabrina Spencer rf 3011, Bailey Bloom c 3110, Mackenzie Anderson dp 4022, Erica Buck pr 0000, Lauren Tozer 1b 2000, Kelsi Bumbarger pr 0000, Ariel Zattoni lf 3010, Emma Caldwell 3b 2000, Ally Hess ph 1000, Olivia McGarry ph 1000, Anne Hoover cf 4000, Rachel LeGars flex/p 0000, Clerissia Cole flex/p 0000, TOTALS – 27 3 6 3
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
MONITEAU 420 100 0 7 11 1
CURWENSVILLE 001 010 1 3 6 4
ERRORS – Hepler, Caldwell, LeGars, Bloom, Hoover. LOB – MONITEAU – 10 CURWENSVILLE – 12. 2B -Shunk, Dailey, Hepler. 3B – Bloom. SB – Dailey. SF- Dailey, Rottmen. SAC – Stewart. HBP – Sheeder (by Stewart), Tozer (by Dailey).
PITCHING
MONITEAU
Stewart 4 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, 1 HB
Dailey 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HB
CURWENSVILLE
LeGars 1 1/3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Cole 5 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
WP – Stewart. LP- LeGars.
UMPIRES: Joe Shick (plate), Bill Pullman (1st base), Colleen Shannon (3rd base)
Final 2018 Lady Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/26 CLEARFIELD 2 – 14 0 – 1
3/27 @ Brockway ppd. 0 – 1
4/04 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC ppd. 0 – 1
4/06 @ West Branch 1 – 13 0 – 2
4/07 @ Brockway ppd. 0 – 2
4/09 JOHNSONBURG ppd. 0 – 2
4/13 @ Purchase Line 6 – 2 1 – 2
4/14 @ Brockway 14 – 0 2 – 2
4/17 KANE ppd. 2 – 2
4/19 @ DuBois Central Catholic ppd. 2 – 2
4/21 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 7 – 9 2 – 3
4/23 JOHNSONBURG 3 – 2, 9 inn. 3 – 3
4/24 BROCKWAY 14 – 4 4 – 3
4/26 @ Mo Valley 5 – 13 4 – 4
4/27 PURCHASE LINE 9 – 4 5 – 4
4/28 @ North Star 7 – 2 6 – 4
4/30 GLENDALE 3 – 13 6 – 5
5/01 @ Elk County Catholic 4 – 14 6 – 6
5/02 @ DuBois Central Catholic 2 – 13 6 – 7
5/07 @ Harmony 16 – 0 7 – 7
5/08 @ Sheffield 25 – 5 8 – 7
5/08 @ Sheffield 16 – 1 9 – 7
5/09 KANE 14 – 0 10 – 7
5/09 KANE 7 – 6 11 – 7
5/15 @ Johnsonburg 3 – 8 11 – 8
5/16 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH. ppd. 11 – 8
5/17 @ DuBois Central Catholic 5 – 11 11 – 9
5/21 District 9 Playoffs
5/21 MONITEAU 3 – 7 11 – 10