CURWENSVILLE — The skies all day on Thursday seemed to be teasing everyone. Will it rain, or won’t it rain? That’s the question everyone was wondering as the Curwensville Golden Tide took to their home field to host the Glendale Vikings.
After a few innings, the skies did open up, and rain began falling. At certain points it hit hard, but the umpires let the game continue. For Curwensville, the rain seemed to match their mood, as they were dreary at the plate all game long, falling to the visiting Vikings, 9-0.
The Tide put Matt Sunderlin on the mound for his first start of the season, and things for him did not go as planned. After a lead-off single, followed by a walk, Lance Westover brought in the first run of the afternoon with an RBI-single to bring home Josh Potutschnig. One batter later, with one out on the board, Austin Hummerle blasted another RBI-single to bring Westover to the plate.
After giving up a double and another walk, coach Tom Harzinski came in and relieved Sunderlin of his duties, and brought in Christian Bakaysa to take over.
Sunderlin only went a third of an inning, but got tagged with the loss on the afternoon.
Bakaysa got the Tide to close out the inning as his 0-2 pitch to Justin Jasper connected into a 6-3 double play to close out the first inning.
For the Vikings, it was an excellent afternoon of defense as only one Curwensville batter managed to reach third base the entire game. It was also an excellent afternoon for Westover on the mound, as he pitched six and one-third innings, giving up only four hits, and striking out three in the Viking victory.
Glendale got a run each in the third and fourth innings, both coming on fielding errors, to increase the lead to 4-0.
No scoring took place again until the final inning, and that inning saw rain fall and the Tide recede all at once. The Vikings saw their entire lineup go to the plate in the inning, as they got to relief pitcher Jeremiah Farley early, starting first with Ethan Cavalet scoring on a stolen base, then a bases-loaded walk to bring in Lougan Smeal.
After giving up those runs, Harzinski then brought Jake McCracken to the mound, the fourth Tide pitcher on the afternoon, to close out the inning, but the change made no difference.
McCracken’s first batter was Westover, who blasted a two-RBI double to center field to increase the lead to 8-0, virtually putting the game out of reach for the Tide in the bottom half of the inning. The final out came with Westover on third, as he tagged up on a sacrifice fly by Ben Kasaback to set the final.
Next week is the final week of action for Curwensville (3-14) as they will have three games in as many days. The week starts on Monday as they welcome in Sid Lansberry and the Clearfield Bison. Back on April 4, the Bison got the better of the Tide, 5-2. First pitch is set for 4:15 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Glendale 201 100 5 – 9 11 0
Curwensville 000 000 0 – 0 4 4
Glendale – 9
Potutschrig 4320, Misiura 2100, Westover 4323, Hammerle 5031, Kasaback 3020, Blake 3000, Jasper 5000, Cavalet 4110, Lo. Smeal 0000, La. Smeal 2110. TOTALS 32 9 11 4.
Curwensville – 0
Von Gunden 4000, Mullins 4000, Francisco 2010, McCracken 3010, Bakaysa 1000, Brown 2010, Evans 3000, Wilson 2000, Farley 2000, Irwin 2010. TOTALS 25 0 4 0.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/22 Deer Lakes @ S. Carolina 5 – 9 0 – 1
3/23 Lakeview @ S. Carolina 4 – 9 0 – 2
3/26 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH. 2 – 8 0 – 3
3/28 BROCKWAY 5-2, 10 inn. 1 – 3
4/02 HARMONY 11 – 1 2 – 3
4/04 @ Clearfield 2 – 5 2 – 4
4/08 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 4 – 5 2 – 5
4/10 @ Kane 2 – 1 3 – 5
4/12 @ Mo Valley ppd. 3 – 5
4/15 @ West Branch ppd. 3 – 5
4/16 @ Punxsutawney 4 – 14 3 – 6
4/17 @ West Branch ppd. 3 – 6
4/18 @ Johnsonburg 0 – 8 3 – 7
4/22 @ Elk County Catholic 1 – 3 3 – 8
4/23 @ DuBois Central Catholic 0 – 13 3 – 9
4/25 @ Brockway 1 – 2 3 – 10
5/03 MO VALLEY 1 – 5 3 – 11
5/06 WEST BRANCH 1 – 11 3 – 12
5/07 KANE 6 – 10 3 – 13
5/09 GLENDALE 0 – 9 3 – 14
5/13 CLEARFIELD
5/14 @ West Branch
5/15 JOHNSONBURG