SENECA — One day prior, the Curwensville Golden Tide were in disbelief when a game that saw them trailing by just one, still with fight in the dugout and the outfield, suddenly became a frustrating loss. Thirteen runs given up, 18 batters to the plate, and all that came in one inning. The loss against West Branch was still painful, yet the entire team had to refocus, and put the devastation behind them. Head coach Derek Dixon and his staff loaded up the bus for a trip to Seneca, ready for a chance to redeem that agony as they faced off with the Cranberry Area Berries.
During the game, visions of the loss came back, as similar scenarios played a bit of deja vu on Curwensville. However, this time, the Tide overcame it with some of their own luck, coming from behind to achieve a 14-9 victory to get back to their winning ways.
The Tide struck first in the top of the second as a bases-loaded walk to Chris Fegert brought in the opening run. Andrew Pentz put up a sacrifice fly to plate the next, and Cael Butler scored as Logan Kunkle’s hit to first base was mishandled by the Berries’ Landon Burgdorfer. An RBI-single from Ayden Sutika meant four runs in as many trips to the plate, giving Curwensville a lot of energy heading into the bottom of the inning.
Yet, the bottom of the second went the opposite way, as Cranberry roared to life with a bases-loaded walk of their own to get on the board. Back-to-back RBI-singles from Burgdorfer and Connor Morrow brought the Berries to within one, and with the bases still loaded it was an easy run when Austin Shoup got struck by starting pitcher Lawson Neiswender. Two more walks, plus another hit batsman, added another three runs. With shades of a day ago happening once again, Curwensville found themselves down by three runs. Two innings later, an RBI-single by Cole Findlay increased the lead to 8-4, and sent the Tide dugout reeling.
But, the fight still was with every player in a Tide uniform, and the fifth inning that fight came to life in a big way.
With the bases loaded, Merek Sutika walked to bring the Tide to within three. Cayden Pierce then singled to bring Neiswender home for an RBI, and the lead suddenly was cut to two. All of a sudden, a walk and a hit by pitch brought the Tide back to tie the game at eight runs a piece.
Curwensville grabbed the lead when Kunkle’s RBI-single brought Pierce around the bases. One batter later, Sutika brought in two more on a liner to right field. All the momentum that Cranberry had with a four-run lead instead was shut down and turned into a four-run deficit.
That was just enough for Sutika, who came in for relief with one out in the fourth, to grab his second win of the year. He would pitch two complete innings, striking out one, but gave up no hits and no runs.
Curwensville added three more runs in the seventh as Sutika added two more RBI’s to his stat line, then Nik Fegert added one of his own to give Curwensville a six-run cushion.
The Tide put Chris Fegert in for relief late in the sixth, and he would nab the save on the afternoon despite giving up one final run to the Berries in the final inning.
For Cranberry, Travis Carbaugh took the loss in a four and one-third inning effort, giving up six runs, four earned, and six hits while only striking out three.
Much like the loss on Tuesday, Curwensville (3-5) won’t have much time to enjoy the victory because they play host to Mount Union on Thursday afternoon, with the first pitch set for approximately 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 040 070 3 – 14 12 1
Cranberry Area 070 100 1 – 9 7 2
Curwensville – 14
Christian Fegert-cf/p 2302, Andrew Pentz-c 3101, Logan Kunkle-ss 5131, Ayden Sutika-3b/p 4144, Nik Fegert-lf 4111, Lawson Neiswender-p/1b 3110, Merek Sutika-rf 4211, Tristan Wills-1b 1100, Cayden Pierce-ph/2b 3111, Cael Butler-2b 3211. TOTALS 32 14 12 12.
Cranberry Area – 9
Landon Burgdorfer-1b 5121, Connor Morrow-cf 3211, Austin Shoup-ss/p/ss 3111, Cayden Baker-3b 3001, Travis Carbaugh-p 3210, Hudson Galla-ph/p/3b 2001, Landon Baker-rf/3b 4011, Ryan Hanna-c 0101, Cole Findlay-ph 1011, Seth Deloe-lf 1100, Colin Zerbe-2b/ss 2101, Braydon Shaffer-ph 1000. TOTALS 28 9 7 9.
- LOB: 9/12
- E: Butler/Burgdorfer, Shoup
- ROE: Kunkle/Carbaugh
- SF: Pentz
- HBP: C. Fegert/Shoup, Hanna-2
- GIDP: Shoup
- SB: N. Fegert, C. Fegert, A. Sutika/Shoup, C. Baker, Deloe, Findlay-2
PITCHING
- Curwensville: Neiswender-3.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 1 SO, 5 BB; A. Sutika-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 4 BB; C. Fegert-1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB.
- Cranberry Area: Carbaugh-4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 3 SO, 4 BB; Galla-0 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 SO, 3 BB; Shoup-1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB; Zerbe-1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 SO, 2 BB.
W-A. Sutika (2-0)
L-Carbaugh (0-1)
S-C. Fegert (2)
