HARMONY — The slight setback on Monday for the Curwensville Golden Tide seemed to be only a hiccup in what is shaping up to be a busy week. Their loss to Moshannon Valley put the final two weeks of competition to a critical stage, as they loaded up the bus for a league contest against the Harmony Owls.
Curwensville appeared to erase that loss as the entire team had the bats going from the top of the lineup to the bottom, racking up 13 hits and taking the “hoot” out of the Owls with a 15-2 victory in six innings.
The lone lead change came in the top of the second inning when after Jake McCracken singled on a ground ball that skipped by pitcher Jake Bracken, and after stealing second one batter later, Matt Brown would connect on a 2-1 shot that flew to center field, yielding an RBI-double to open the scoring. An inning later, two more runs came in without one swing of a bat. After Bracken hurled a wild pitch past catcher Lucas Tarnow, Spencer Hoover advanced home, which also allowed Thad Butler to move to third. Keegan Wilson swung on a full-count pitch, but Tarnow could not keep the ball in his glove, and Wilson went sprinting. The throw to first to prevent a runner from getting on was not enough, and Butler would also make his way around to add the second run, making the score 3-0 midway through the third.
The Owls got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the inning, Curtis Boring connected for an RBI-single into left field, allowing Colhton Fry to make his way around to put the first run on the board. Bracken then helped his own cause, thanks to an RBI-double to bring Boring to the plate, cutting the lead down to 3-2.
That would be as close as the Owls would get, as the Tide would put up seven runs in the fourth to put the game well out of reach.
Brown started the inning off with a lead-off triple, which made it easy for Shane Sunderlin to capitalize on some struggles on the hill. Brown came to the plate thanks to an RBI-double, then Chase Graham added in another run with his RBI-single one batter later. Two more RBI-singles in successive at-bats made the score 7-2, but Curwensville was not done yet. In his second stint at bat in the inning, Brown hit a two RBI-single into center field, and when the throw was heading home, Mullins beat the throw. The 10-2 score was more than enough to put the Owls in a tough spot.
Unfortunately for the home squad, they would ultimately give up another five runs in the next two innings, with four coming in the sixth to hit the threshold of the Mercy Rule.
Bracken’s four innings of work, where he gave up 10 runs, only five earned, would hand him the loss on the afternoon. For the Tide, Brown got credited with the victory with a pair of runs given up, but striking out seven.
After giving up another run on a wild pitch in the fifth, Curwensville’s final runs all came on swings of the bat, with an RBI-double from Mullins, then a pair of RBI-singles from Brown and Graham, put the run total at 15 for the Tide. After seeing the final three batters for Harmony go down to a strikeout, fly out, and ground out, the game was over.
Curwensville (7-7) is back home on Wednesday when they play host to Elk County Catholic.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 012 714 – 15 13 1
Harmony 002 000 – 2 3 3
Curwensville – 15
Spencer Hoover-C 4221, Thad Butler-LF 4111, Aiden Sutika-PH 1000, Keegan Wilson-1B 4211, Jake McCracken-CF 3310, Jake Mullins-SS 3212, Matt Brown-P/SS 4245, Chris Fegert-CR/LF 0000, Shane Sunderlin-3B 4111, Chase Graham-SS/P 3122, Tyler Lee-2B 2000, Nick Fegert-PH 1100. TOTALS 33 15 13 13.
Harmony – 2
Colhton Fry-SS/P 2100, Curtis Boring-CF 3111, Jack Bracken-P/SS 3011, Anthony Maseto-1B 3000, Lucas Tarnow-C 2000, Zach Hutton-3B 2010, Ethan Cornelius-LF 2000, T.J. Eli-2B 2000, Foster Rowles-RF 2000. TOTALS 21 2 3 2.
LOB: 4/2
E: Lee/Fry, Bracken-2
ROE: Butler, McCracken-2/Fry
2B: Brown, Mullins, Sunderlin, Wilson/Bracken
3B: Brown
FC: N. Fegert, Wilson
GIDP: Sutika
SB: McCracken, Wilson
CS: Fry
Pitching
Curwensville: Brown-4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 7 SO, 1 BB; Graham-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.
Harmony: Bracken-4 IP, 9 H, 10 R, 5 ER, 5 SO, 2 BB; Fry-1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB; Hutton-1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 2 BB.
W-Brown
L-Bracken