CURWENSVILLE — The late season struggles that Curwensville has experienced on the diamond took what seemed to be a strong season and brought it to a lackluster ending. After everything the team endured to start the year, the hope was to finish it out on a positive note. With the Moshannon Valley Black Knights coming in for the regular season finale, and coming off a tough loss against Clearfield, the Golden Tide were ready for the opposition.
Early success, and taking advantage of situations, made all the struggles this year worth it as the Tide would finish out the regular season with a 10-5 triumph over the Black Knights.
It was the visiting squad striking first in the opening inning. With runners on first and second, Tyler Lobb connected on a line drive to right field. It was enough to have Zach Witherow round his way to home plate. But, it also ended the inning as right fielder Merek Sutika hurled a laser to Caleb Pierce at short, getting the tag out of Lobb at second to end the inning with only the one run on the board.
Curwensville got that run back, and more, in the bottom half of the inning as Andrew Pentz took a full-count pitch on a liner to left field. It allowed Chris Fegert to make it all the way around from first to score, tying up the game rather quickly. Both Logan Kunkle and Ayden Sutika connected for a pair of singles to load up the bases for Nik Fegert. A fly out would put the first out on the tally, but Pentz tagged up and hurried home from third to give the Tide the one-run lead.
That lead lasted until the third inning when Tanner Kephart hit an RBI-double to tie up the score. Two batters later, a sacrifice fly from Andre Wells would put the Black Knights back in the lead.
For the visitors, that would be the final time they would lead the game, as the Tide roared back in a big way in the bottom half of the third.
An RBI-single from Merek Sutika opened up the scoring, tying things up at three runs each. Aidan Finn would walk to load the bases for pitcher Jacob O’Donnell, who came in for relief in the second inning. Lobb would have trouble handling the ball when Cael Butler connected to third base, giving Nik Fegert the chance to make it home and put Curwensville ahead for the final time. Two RBI-singles from Chris Fegert and Kunkle put the score at 6-3 at the end of the third, more than enough to give the Tide some added cushion as the game progressed.
Moshannon Valley pitcher James Hummel took the loss on the afternoon, not making it out of the first inning after giving up two runs, no strikeouts, and one walk.
Curwensville, meanwhile, kept the scoring going in the fourth courtesy of a bases-loaded walk to Butler, then a flyout by Chris Fegert that allowed Merek Sutika to make his way across home.
The final runs by the Black Knights came in the fifth as Tanner Kephart hit a ground out to short, bringing in Reifer from third. One batter later, Zach Witherow flew out to center, bringing in O’Donnell. Those would be the final runs given up by Tide starter Kunkle, who earned his third win of the season with a four-inning performance, giving up five earned runs. Despite only striking out one and walking five, the defense of Curwensville was the difference that allowed him to earn the victory.
Curwensville got the runs back in the bottom of the inning after a fielding error by Reifer, then a bases-loaded walk to Butler, set the final.
The Black Knights would be the final opponent on the 2023 season for the Golden Tide, as head coach Derek Dixon’s first season as the leader of the team finished with a regular season record of 7-12.
SCORE BY INNING
Moshannon Valley 102 020 0 – 5 4 2
Curwensville 204 220 X – 10 11 1
Moshannon Valley – 5
Jacob O’Donnell-lf/p/cf 3210, Tanner Kephart-cf/p 4112, Zach Witherow 3111, Andre Wells-c 1001, Tyler Lobb-3b 3011, Landyn Evans-1b 2000, Dom Moore-dh 2000, Sam Howard-rf 3000, Zach Reifer-ss 2100. TOTALS 23 5 4 5.
Curwensville – 10
Christian Fegert-cf 4122, Andrew Pentz-c 5111, Logan Kunkle-p/ss 4121, Ayden Sutika-3b/p 4220, Nik Fegert-lf 2101, Lawson Neiswender-1b 4110, Merek Sutika-rf 3222, Aidan Finn-dh 3110, Cael Butler-2b 2003. TOTALS 31 10 11 10.
- LOB: 3/12
- E: Reifer, Lobb/Neiswender
- ROE: Lobb/Butler, M. Sutika
- 2B: O’Donnell, Kephart/C. Fegert
- SF: Wells
- HBP: A. Sutika
- SB: O’Donnell, Kephart, Reifer/A. Sutika
PITCHING
- Moshannon Valley: Hummel-0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 SO, 1 BB; O’Donnell-3.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 SO, 3 BB; Kephart-1.2 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 4 BB; Reifer-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
- Curwensville: Kunkle-4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 SO, 5 BB; A. Sutika-3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB.
W-Kunkle (3-2)
L-Hummel (0-1)
GOLDEN TIDE FINAL SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/20 @ Brockway 10 – 9 1 – 0
3/23 JUNIATA VALLEY ppd. 1 – 0
3/28 GLENDALE 2 – 12 1 – 1
3/30 @ Williamsburg 5 – 8 1 – 2
4/04 @ Bellwood Antis 8 – 6 2 – 2
4/06 HARMONY 5 – 7 2 – 3
4/06 HARMONY 4 – 7 2 – 4
4/11 WEST BRANCH 3 – 17 2 – 5
4/12 @ Cranberry 14 – 9 3 – 5
4/13 MT. UNION 1 – 15 3 – 6
4/17 @ Purchase Line 16 – 6 4 – 6
4/18 MO VALLEY ppd. 4 – 6
4/20 @ Juniata Valley 14 – 13 5 – 6
4/25 @ Glendale 5 – 4 6 – 6
4/27 WILLIAMSBURG 1 – 7 6 – 7
5/02 BELLWOOD ANTIS ppd. 6 – 7
5/04 @ West Branch ppd. 6 – 7
5/06 JUNIATA VALLEY 2 – 4 6 – 8
5/06 BELLWOOD ANTIS 3 – 10 6 – 9
5/08 @ Mo Valley 0 – 7 6 – 10
5/09 @ Mt. Union 1 – 11 6 – 11
5/15 CLEARFIELD 3 – 10 6 – 12
5/16 MO VALLEY 10 – 5 7 – 12