CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville Golden Tide have found their late-season charge, and after back-to-back victories on the road, they were ready to bring that mojo to their home field just outside the high school. Friday afternoon, they had that opportunity as the Punxsutawney Chucks came into town for a non-league contest that was sure to be a challenge.
For the Chucks, it wasn’t so much of a challenge as they got on the board early, and took away all momentum late. Curwensville could not get rolling, and all the momentum suddenly stopped as the Chucks would keep them off the scoreboard, handing the Tide a 10-0 loss.
Punxustawney got the lead in the opening inning. It got started quickly with Isaac London opening the game with a double into center field. After a walk and a strikeout, Ashton Stonbracker blasted a 1-1 pitch into left field, yielding a two RBI-double that put the Chucks in the lead, one that would never be surrendered. Chase Graham would start the game for Curwensville, but only lasted one inning, getting tagged with the loss.
Meanwhile, Jake Sikora was dealing on the mound, going four innings for the victory and striking out seven.
Punxsutawney added a run each in the fourth and fifth innings. London would blast a 1-1 pitch over the center field wall in the fourth for a solo home run, while Peyton Hetrick added an RBI-single in the fifth that brought Dakota Long to the plate.
Shane Sunderlin moved to the mound in the second inning, and pitched a majority of the game, but would give up the most runs, as the sixth inning would be disastrous for Curwensville. Five of Punxsutawney’s 10 runs came in the inning, putting the Tide in a deeper hole that they could not be overcome.
With the bases loaded, Carter Savage sacrificed an out in order for London to cross the plate. One batter later, Ashton Stonbracker connected on an RBI-single to left field, making the score 6-0. Two batters later, Hetrick brought in Josh Tyger on another sacrifice fly. Sikora then added to the run total with a hard grounder up the right field line, bringing in two runners to make it 9-0. The final run came in the seventh on a ground out from Savage, allowing Tyger to cross home.
Curwensville (8-8) finishes the 2021 regular season next week with a pair of home games. The first comes on Monday when they host West Branch.
SCORE BY INNING
Punxsutawney 200 115 1 – 10 14 3
Curwensville 000 000 0 – 0 4 3
Punxsutawney – 10
Isaac London-2B 5431, Zeke Bennett-CF 5110, Josh Tyger-3B/P 3200, Carter Savage-1B 4014, Ashton Stonbraker-DH 4041, Dakota Long-LF 4120, Zach Dinger-CR 0000, Peyton Hetrick-SS 3012, Jake Sikora-P/3B 3022, Wood-RF 3000, Phillips-PH 1000, Justin Miller-CR 0200. TOTALS 35 10 14 10.
Curwensville – 0
Spencer Hoover-C 3000, Thad Butler-RF/3B 4020, Keegan Wilson-1B 3000, Jake McCracken-CF/P/2B 3000, Jake Mullins-SS 3000, Matt Brown-DH 2010, Shane Sunderlin-3B/P/CF 3010, Chase Graham-P/3B/RF 3000, Tyler Lee-2B/P 2000, Jayson Rowles-CR 0000, Nick Fegert-CR 0000. TOTALS 26 0 4 0.
LOB: 11/9
E: London, Savage, Stonbraker/Butler, Lee, Wilson
ROE: London, Bennett, Wood/Butler, Hoover
2B: London-2, Bennett, Savage, Long/Butler
HR: London
SF: Savage, Hetrick
FC: Bennett/McCracken
CS: Bennett, Wood
GIDP: Graham
Pitching
Punxsutawney: Sikora-4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 7 SO, 4 BB; Tyger-3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB
Curwensville: Graham-1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB; Sunderlin-4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB; McCracken-0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 1 BB; Lee-1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
W-Sikora
L-Graham