CURWENSVILLE — The 2021 baseball season has not been kind to any high school team, not because of the pandemic, but because of the weather. The last week has kept all games for the Curwensville Golden Tide idle either because of the rain, or due to field conditions not being acceptable. Even Saturday’s skies were not looking promising, but somehow enough dryness came about to let the Tide take to their home field for the first time in seven days. Their opposition, the Black Knights of Moshannon Valley.
The time off did real good for the home squad as thanks to some strong pitching, and early-game success on offense, the Tide would get the 4-0 victory.
Jake Mullins would get the nod on the hill for Curwensville, and never looked back. In total, he would face a total of 28 batters, walking just three of them. But, half the batters he would face saw strike three. A complete game victory would see him give up three hits, and strike out 14.
It wasn’t easy right away as an error, walk and single loaded up the bases in the first inning for Mullins, with only one out on the board. However, a pop up went into foul territory from Michael Kitko, and first baseman Keegan Wilson pulled it down for the second out. Tanner Kephart then came to bat, and after fouling off and swinging at a second strike, he watched the third pitch go right past him, ending the inning and stranding all the runners on base.
The Tide took advantage of the strong finish to the top of the inning when it was their chance to bat as Spencer Hoover and Thad Butler both got on base courtesy of an error and walk, respectively. Wilson then took a shot at the first pitch he saw, blasting into center field, bringing in Hoover. Butler would round third and roar to the plate, beating the throw to put Curwensville up by a pair of runs. Wilson advanced to third when Jake McCracken hit a ground out, but would make his way home when Mullins sacrificed an out in the next at-bat. The 3-0 score held up at the end of the inning, and that was when Mullins would get rolling on the mound.
With the exception of a pair of walks, a single, and an error, Mullins would drop all batters he saw on strikes, averaging four batters in each of the remaining six innings.
On the opposing side, Zach Witherow struggled to start the day, only going two innings and giving up three hits, and all four runs, being tagged with the loss on the afternoon..
The final run of the game came in the second inning, a sacrifice fly by Hoover that allowed Chase Graham to come to the plate. Although Curwensville would not score again, the early-inning runs gave enough of a cushion that Mullins continued to deal strikeout after strikeout, and the defense stayed ready each time a ball came their way.
Curwensville (6-6) is back home on Monday when they host West Branch.
SCORE BY INNING
Moshannon Valley 000 000 0 – 0 3 1
Curwensville 310 000 X – 4 5 1
Moshannon Valley – 0
Jacob O’Donnell-LF 4000, Christian Nelson-1B 3000, Zach Witherow-P/SS 2000, Michael Kephart-C 3010, Michael Kitko-SS/P 2010, Tanner Kephart-CF 3010, Ethan Webb-3B 3000, James Hummel-2B 3000, Cameron Collins-RF 1000, Jayden Coder-PH 1000, Trey Lyon-PH 0000. TOTALS 25 0 3 0.
Curwensville – 4
Spencer Hoover-CF 2101, Thad Butler-SS 2100, Keegan Wilson-1B 3122, Jake McCracken-DH 3000, Jake Mullins-P 2001, Matt Brown-C 2000, Grant Swanson-CR 0000, Shane Sunderlin-3B 3010, Nick Fegert-CR/3B 0000, Chase Graham-RF 3110, Shane Haney-CR 0000, Tyler Lee-2B 2010. TOTALS 22 4 5 4.
LOB: 7/4
E: O’Donnell/Lee
ROE: Nelson/Hoover
2B: Kitko/Sunderlin, Wilson
SF: Hoover
Pitching
Moshannon Valley: Witherow-2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB; Kitko-4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 SO, 1 BB.
Curwensville: Mullins-7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 14 SO, 3 BB.
W-Mullins
L-Witherow