ALEXANDRIA — The 2022 season for Curwensville has seen games that were close, blowouts, some coming down to defense, and some being called due to offense. One thing that has not been seen as much is a good pitching duel, but the Golden Tide got just that as they traveled to Alexandria to face the Juniata Valley Hornets. The Hornets were the only blemish on the Curwensville record all season, but the team that made the trip is a lot different than the team that lost that first game.
Pitching would be amazing between the two squads. Curwensville’s Jake Mullins and Juniata Valley’s Bryant Allison would battle hard, giving up just seven hits all game. Allison would fan 14 of 25 batters on the afternoon, an incredible feat that would often lead to victory. However, a pair of hits given up by Allison were just enough to hand Curwensville a 4-0 win, their fifth shutout in six games, and improve to 8-1 on the season.
Both pitchers were having stellar afternoons, with only two hits given up through the first three innings, and neither team able to make it home.
Curwensville finally got things going in the fourth after Mullins helped his own cause, reaching first on an error. After advancing to second on a passed ball, he then moved to third on a fielder’s choice by Thad Butler. Shane Sunderlin came to the plate, and staring down a 2-1 pitch, blasted the ball into deep center field. The first hit of the game for Curwensville was a two-RBI double that cleared the bases, and put all the energy in the Tide dugout.
The hit and lead change seemed to get to Allison, as he would hit Spencer Hoover to put runners on first and second. Luckily for him, three consecutive strikeouts finished the inning, and got the Hornets out of a jam to keep the game in check.
Allison would go nearly the entire game on the hill, six and two-thirds innings. He possibly could have made it the entire game, but he eclipsed the 100-pitch mark and had to be pulled in the seventh. Still, his 14-strike out performance was exceptional as the crowd applauded as the Hornet staff made a change on the hill. He would be tagged with the loss on the afternoon.
He gave up two more runs in the fifth when Butler hammered a two-RBI single to bring in both Mullins and Logan Kunkle to set the final score.
At the same time, Mullins was dealing hard but did find himself in a tight spot in the sixth inning. After Jacob Johnson makes it to first on an error, he advanced to third after stealing second then moving one more base on a groundout. Reid Edwards then walked to first to put runners on the corners, but Nicolas Sodmont struck out for out number two. Edwards stole second when Allison came to the plate, and coaches decided to intentionally walk him, loading the bases with Michael Miller III coming up to bat. He would take a 1-2 pitch, tip it foul, and would get called out, allowing Mullins to escape the jam still maintaining the lead.
Mullins closed out the afternoon getting help from his defense. Sutika’s second error of the game was enough to put a runner on first, as Nathan Soder would see Conner Harbst come in as the courtesy runner. One batter later, Sutika made up for it, going for a fielder’s choice as Jordyn Couch hammered the ball up the third-base line, but the toss to second baseman Tyler Lee put the first out on the board, despite having another runner on the bag.
Nick Morningstar knew he had to try and get a rally going, and hammered an 0-1 pitch to the gap between first and second. Unfortunately for him, Lee scooped up the ball, tossed it to shortstop Butler at second, and then he had just enough time to get the ball to Sunderlin at first for a game ending 4-6-3 double play.
Mullins time at the mound saw him strike out seven, walk four, and only give up three total hits.
Curwensville has a stacked schedule in the upcoming week with two games on the road, and three technically at home. They will start the week hosting Bellwood-Antis at 4:30 p.m. before going on the road Tuesday at Williamsburg. Thursday they will have the second game against Bellwood-Antis, this one on the road, before being home on Friday to host a double-header against the Harmony Owls to make up the first postponed game from earlier in the season.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 000 220 0 – 4 4 2
Juniata Valley 000 000 0 – 0 3 1
Curwensville – 4
Jake Mullins-P 3210, Thad Butler-SS 3112, Shane Sunderlin-1B 3012, Spencer Hoover-C 2000, Jayson Rowles-RF 3000, Ayden Sutika-3B 3010, Tyler Lee-2B 3000, Logan Kunkle-DH 2100, Chris Fegert-CF 3000. TOTALS 25 4 4 4.
Juniata Valley – 0
Nick Morningstar-CF 4000, Jacob Johnson-SS 3010, Trey Wilson-C 2000, Reid Edwards-1B/P 1000, Nicolas Sodmont-2B 3010, Bryant Allison-P/1B 2000, Michael Miller III-RF 3010, Zack Dick-LF 1000, Kendan Beck-PH 1000, Nathan Soder-PH 1000, Connor Harbst-CR 0000, Jordyn Couch-3B 3000, Carter Rowe-CR 0000. TOTALS 24 0 3 0.
- LOB: 3/7
- E: Sutika-2/Johnson
- ROE: Mullins/Johnson, Soder
- 2B: Sunderlin/Johnson
- FC: Butler/Couch
- HBP: Hoover, Kunkle/Wilson
- DP: Butler, Sunderlin, Lee
- GIDP: Morningstar
- CS: Mullins/Johnson, Edwards
PITCHING
Curwensville: Mullins-7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 7 SO 2 BB.
Juniata Valley: Allison-6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 14 SO, 0 BB; Edwards-0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 1 BB.
W-Mullins
L-Allison