Lady Tide Close Out Busy Week With Third Straight Loss

CURWENSVILLE – With six games in six days, the Curwensville Area High School softball team has had their ups and downs over that span.  The first three games saw the Lady Tide on top of things with three wins.  However, over the span of the last three days, they have dropped a trio of contests.  The most recent came on Thursday afternoon with DuBois Central Catholic notching the 9-3 victory.

“We knew these last three games were going to be tough,” said Lady Tide Allen Leigey,  “We were hoping to get at least one of them, but they got away from us.  We’re a little banged up right now, and we have people in their third and fourth positions since the start of the season.  I don’t want to use that as any excuse; we just have to have people step up and make plays to clean up some of our mistakes.”

Perhaps the most obvious position change for the Lady Tide on Thursday was in the circle.  Sophomore Riley Young stepped to the rubber to give senior Tierra Shope time to rest a sore leg.  Young was roughed up a bit by the Lady Cardinals, but showed some promise for the future.

“This was Riley’s first start against a quality hitting team, and I really didn’t think she did that bad,” Leigey said.  “She lost focus because of a couple defensive plays in the third that allowed DuBois Central an opportunity for the big hit.”

Young gave up 12 hits in the game while striking out seven and walking just two batters.  The only real trouble she got into was in the five-run third.  With the score tied 1-1, DCC rattled off five hits including a grand slam by Kylee Schaffer.

Down 6-1, the Lady Tide tried to chip back into the game.  Megan McCartney put things into motion with a one-out single in the fourth.  Young followed with a walk before Melanie Milliron’s double down the third base line scored both runners for a 6-3 margin.

However, Curwensville could manage just three hits the rest of the game while errors on the defensive side of the scorebook helped DCC add two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.

“DCC is a good team,” said Leigey.  “They made plays they had to – that’s what a good team does.  Now we have to decide if we’re going to be a good team.

“Next week’s games are huge.  We still have a chance to make some noise in the districts, and we have to right the ship and get healthy.  We need to go in with some positive momentum with two days to make that happen.”

The Lady Tide will play double-headers on the road Monday and Wednesday next week to close out the regular season.  They will travel to Brockway on Monday and visit Clarion-Limestone on Wednesday. 

DUBOIS CENTRAL — 9

Jordy Frank c 4330, Macey Hanes 2b 4221, Kylee Schaffer ss 3125, Kayla Bittner 1b 4110, Riley Assalone p 4121, Sara McNally DP 4010, Stoddard pr 0000, A. Tomasko lf 3000, Gabby Caruso ph 1000, Liddle 1b 4000, Libby Mauer cf 4111, R Gillespie Flex/rf 0000,  TOTALS –  35 AB 9 R 12 H 8 RBI.

CURWENSVILLE — 3

Abby Dugo ss 4000, Tierra Shope lf 4020, Alaina Stiles c 4120, Nikki Harker 1b 3001, Megan McCartney DP 3100, Riley Young p 1100, Kaylee Harnett pr 0000, Melanie Milliron rf 3011, Bethany Carns 2b 3011, Hannah Dixon cf 2000, Kealy Wassil ph 1000, Jordan Round Flex/3b 0000, TOTALS – 29 AB 3 R 8 H 3 RBI.

SCORES BY INNINGS – R H E

Dubois Central  105 002 1 – 9 12 0

Curwensville  100 200 0 – 3 8 4

ERRORS – Shope Young, Dixon, Dugo.  LOB – Dubois Central 7; Curwensville  6.  2B – Schaffer, Assalone.  3B – Frank.  HR – Schaffer.    WP – Young 2.  HB – Young (Assalone).

PITCHING

Dubois Central –  Assalone 7 IP 8 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 2 K 1 HB

Curwensville –  Young 7 IP 12 H 9 R 4 ER 2 BB 7 K 0 HB

WP – Assalone.  LP -Young (3-1).

Lady Tide Scoreboard: