Story by Rusty McCracken
BROCKWAY – The District 9 Class AA play-offs needed an extra day to determine who the second-place team would be to move on to the PIAA Championships. That game, which took place on Tuesday, needed extra innings to settle the spot. When the dust cleared, Moniteau earned the extended season with a 10-6 victory over Curwensville in eight innings.
The true second place game was deemed necessary because both Curwensville and Moniteau had been beaten by district champion Cranberry in the tournament. Consequently, because the two teams hadn’t met in the brackets, and both had defeated Johnsonburg, the D9 Committee set up the true second place game for just such a scenario.
The Warriors broke the 6-6 tie in the top of the eighth with a four-run inning that held up for the win. Moniteau finished the game with seven hits, and four of those came in the final frame including three singles and a two-run triple by winning pitcher Emma Covert.
Perhaps the most difficult pill for the Golden Tide to swallow is the fact that Curwensville committed more errors (9) in the game than Moniteau had hits. In all, only one Warrior run on the afternoon was earned.
The Tide did hold an early lead as the bats came alive in the first inning. Addison Butler led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and promptly scored on Addison Warren’s double to right. Warren had moved to third on the throw to the plate and took advantage of a wild pitch to set the early lead at 2-0.
However, Moniteau tied the score in the second inning and grabbed a 5-2 lead in the third taking advantage of five Curwensville errors. All five runs crossed the plate after two outs were recorded in the respective innings.
The Warrior advantage held until the fifth inning when the Tide offense regrouped and put three runs up to tie the score 5-5. Ava Hainsey’s single to center started the action, and designated player Sydney Simcox followed with a run-scoring double. Simcox was erased trying to take third on a play at the plate. However, Butler followed with a walk and Warren reached on an infield single. Both runners were able to score on consecutive hits by Addison Siple and Teagan Harzinski for the 5-5 knot after five innings.
Curwensville grabbed the lead again in the sixth inning when Hainsey drove a one-out double to left. Simcox’s ground-out advanced the runner, and Hainsey scampered home for the 6-5 lead on Butler’s single to right.
However, the Warriors found some timely hitting in the seventh as Lily Staab reached on a bunt and moved to second on a wild pitch. Covert proved to be the hero in the sixth as she doubled home Staab to tie the game before finishing off Curwensville in the eighth as well.
Curwensville finished the game with 13 hits but couldn’t overcome the miscues to grab the win. Harzinski finished her last game with the Tide with three hits while Butler, Warren, Siple, and Hainsey all had multiple hits in the loss.
In the circle, Siple scattered seven hits, while striking out nine and giving up just one free pass. The freshman hurler finishes the season with a 13-9 record while totaling 242 strikeouts.
Score by Innings
R H E
Moniteau 023 000 14 10 7 1
Curwensville 200 031 00 6 13 9
CRANBERRY – 10
(LF) Brianna Rottman 3 1 1 1, (2B) Lily Staab 5 2 1 1, (P/RF) Emma Covert 5 0 2 3, (3B) Autumn Stewart 5 1 0 0, (CF/P) Mariska Shunk 4 1 0 0, (C) Addy Williams 4 0 2 0, (1B) Alex Stewart 4 2 1 0, (SS) Emily Staab 4 1 0 0, (RF/CF) Ashley Huffman 4 1 0 0, TOTALS: AB 38, R 10, H 7, RBI 5.
CURWENSVILLE – 6
(C) Addison Butler 4 3 2 1, (RF) Addison Warren 4 2 2 1, (P) Addison Siple 4 0 2 1, (1B) Teagan Harzinski 4 0 3 1, (PR) Jenna McCartney 0 0 0 0, (SS) Shyanne Rudy 3 0 0 0, (2B) Natalie Wischuck 4 0 0 0, (CF) Ava Olosky 4 0 0 0, (3B) Ava Hainsey 4 2 2 0, (PH) Alaina Reitz 1 0 0 0, (DP) Sydney Simcox 3 0 1 1, (LF/Flex) Kaylie Shaw 0 0 0 0, TOTALS: AB 35, R 6, H 13, RBI 5.
Pitching IP H R ER SO BB WP
Moniteau – W – Covert 5 6 2 6 1 0 1
Shunk 3 7 4 4 1 2 0
Curwensville – L – Siple 8 7 10 1 9 1 1
Batting
3B – Moniteau: Covert. 2B – Moniteau: Covert; Curwensville: Warren, Simcox, Hainsey. SB – Moniteau: Shunk, Anderson; Curwensville: McCartney. E – Moniteau: L. Staab; Curwensville – Harzinski 3, Rudy, Wischuck 2, Olosky, Hainsey 2.. HBP – Moniteau: Rottman. LOB – Moniteau: 8; Curwensville: 6.
2023 Schedule final overall ICC
March score record record
20 W @ Brockway 21-0 1-0
28 L @GLENDALE 2-1 1-1 0-1
30 W WILLIAMSBURG 7-0 2-1 1-1
April
4 W BELLWOOD-ANTIS 6-4 3-1 2-1
6 W @ Penns Manor 9-1 4-1
11 L @ West Branch 9-3 4-2 2-2
13 L @ Mount Union 5-3 4-3 2-3
17 W @ Purchase Line 17-1 5-3
20 L JUNIATA VALLEY 2-1 5-4 2-4
25 L GLENDALE 13-0 5-5 2-5
27 W @Williamsburg 11-0 6-5 3-5
May
5 L WEST BRANCH 1-0 6-6 3-6
6 W @ Bellwood-Antis 13-0 7-6 4-6
8 W MOSHANNON VALLEY 15-0 8-6 5-6
9 L MOUNT UNION 2-0 8-7 5-7
11 W PENNS MANOR 9-0 9-7
15 W @ Juniata Valley 2-1 10-7 6-7
16 W @ North Star 7-2 11-7
16 W @ North Star 10-0 12-7
25 W Johnsonburg 7-6 13-7 D9 Class AA Semifinal
29 L Cranberry 7-6 13-8 D9 Class AA Final
30 L Moniteau 10-6 13-9 D9 Class AA True Second