PHILIPSBURG — The Curwensville Little League 9-and-10 All-Stars couldn\’t hold two early leads, as three big innings added up to a 16-8 victory for Philipsburg-Osceola in their District 5 Northern Tier opener at Homer Maney Memorial Field Monday evening.
Ricky Magnuson\’s two-run double helped Curwensville jump in front 3-0 after one inning and Kyle Sarvis\’ three-run double was the key blow in a rally that made it 7-4 after two, but the winners took command with a seven-run outburst in the third frame and pulled away with five runs in the fifth.
Tanner Elensky and Brett Gardner had two hits apiece for Curwensville. One of Elensky\’s was a double.
Bobby Oeler paced Philipsburg-Osceola with three doubles and a triple. Matt Carpin contributed two doubles and Nick Gray added two singles.
Taylor Golemboski held Curwensville scoreless over the last three and one-third innings to notch the win. Kyle Johns, the first of three pitchers for the visitors, was the loser.
P-O will play Mountain Top at Snow Shoe in the winner\’s bracket semifinal Wednesday, while Curwensville will travel to Stormstown to play Tri-County in a loser\’s bracket quarterfinal Friday. Tri-County was beaten 11-1 in four innings by Milesburg, which visits Four-Leaf Clover in the other winner\’s bracket semi Wednesday.