But Friday afternoon at the Bison Sports Complex, the Lady Tide put one in the win column against Clearfield, shutting out the Lady Bisons, 5-0, behind a complete-game two-hitter from pitcher Holly Lansberry.

"The first thing I said to them (after the game) was, ‘you passed the first test,' " Leigey said. "On our schedule, this is the toughest game for us because of the rivalry. The mental aspect of it is tough.

"We've taken a beating from them. I've been coaching eight years and this is only the second time we've won. I can remember one year we had them 7-0 in the seventh inning and we lost 9-7. We just have this breakdown, and we don't play really well against Clearfield."

Curwensville had eight hits, stole three bases and played errorless defense on the way to its eighth win of the season.

"Our goal was to play well," Leigey said. "If we lost, we wanted to play as well as we possibly could. And everything we did today, we did pretty well. We played good defense. We put the ball in play. We didn't strike out. A couple times (Clearfield) made some good plays on defense."

Clearfield had plenty to be proud of as well, starting with the defense.

The Lady Bisons backed up pitchers B.J. Bowman and Andrea Butler with flawless defense, robbing Curwensville of several hits throughout the game and turning a first-inning double play that kept the Lady Tide off the scoreboard.

Bowman tossed the first four innings, allowing two runs on just one hit before leaving the circle due to injury. Butler relived her and scattered seven hits, giving up three runs.

"I thought this was our best game this year defensively," Clearfield head coach Bob Dixon said. "The two girls threw really well. We had to take B.J. out, but Andrea came in and did a nice job."

After coming away empty-handed in the first inning, the Lady Tide put two runs on the board in the top of the second.

Bowman hit Jenessa Stiles with a pitch on an 0-2 count to start the inning, and Stiles moved around the diamond by stealing second base and using a pair of wild pitches to advance. She scored on the second wild pitch, while Stacey Johnson, who drew a walk and moved to second uncontested, took third on the pitch.

Sara Clark followed with another walk, but was thrown out trying to steal second base by Clearfield catcher Chantel Read. Johnson scored on the double steal.

Bowman kept the Lady Tide at bay after that, giving up just a third-inning double to Lansberry before leaving the circle after the fourth inning.

The Lady Bison freshman took a Lansberry fastball across the knuckles on her pitching hand when she swung at an inside pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning. She tried to come out for the fifth inning, but after one warmup toss, she moved to centerfield and Butler took over the pitching duties.

"You have to pitch her inside," Leigey said of Bowman. "We wanted the ball in on her hands, but we didn't want to hurt her. We just wanted to get the ball inside because if you don't she's going to torch you."

Lansberry, who struck out 12 batters, got some nice support from her defense.

The Lady Bisons tried to bunt their way on four times in the game, but each time Curwensville used textbook coverage to keep Clearfield off the base paths.

"Our girls did some real nice jobs bunting, but Curwensville fielded every one," Dixon said. "We wanted to make them field the ball. We didn't want to go up there and strike out a lot, we wanted to put the ball in play and make Curwensville field it. And they did. They are a good ball team."

"We go over bunt coverage religiously," Leigey said. "We just need people to put the ball in play. The girls can field the ball. Everybody on the team can play. My infield is solid. I'm pleased."

Lansberry also got help from Lady Tide centerfielder Tess Bloom, who turned in a spectacular play in the bottom of the sixth inning. Bloom layed out in shallow center to snare a low line drive off the bat of Janell Zalno.

"My outfield is as good as you can be," Leigey said." I'll put my three (Bloom, Clark and Erin Bressler) against anybody. They'll just go get the ball. Tess made a great play. All three of them will dive to get the ball. That's the toughest thing to teach ... get dirty for the ball."

Curwensville added a run in the fifth inning when Bressler bunted her way on to first base, moved to third on a Lansberry single and scored on Shannon McDonald's sacrifice fly.

The Lady Tide tacked on another run in the sixth as a Jenae Stiles single plated Johnson.

Bloom scored the final run of the game in the top of the seventh. After singling and moving to second on a wild pitch, she advanced to third and then home on consecutive groundouts. Ashley Demchak got the RBI.

Clearfield had its best scoring opportunity in the fifth inning when Megan Butler broke up Lansberry's no-hit bid with a smash to left field.

"I didn't realize that was Megan Butler at the plate," Leigey said. "We didn't want to cut her inside. We wanted to stay outside. But for some reason, we cut her inside and she smacked it."

Butler stood on second with a double, but was stranded there after Lansberry needed just 10 pitches to strike out the side.

"She's an excellent pitcher," Dixon said of Lansberry. "She's one of the better ones we'll see all year. You have to respect her. She's tough. She's always around the plate, moves the ball in and out and up and down, changes speeds ... whatever she wants. She throws strikes. Holly is just an excellent pitcher."

Bowman singled in the seventh off Lansberry, but consecutive fielder's choices and a strikeout ended the game.

"We keep working, and we always want to be better at the end of the year," Dixon said. "And I think if you look at the first game up to now, we've improved a lot and I know we can get better. We have a lot of talent.

"I'm certain my players feel good about their performance, but it's still about winning. There still isn't much to take out of a loss other than we had a good effort against an excellent team."

Clearfield (1-5) is back in action today at noon at Central Mountain.

Curwensville (8-0) travels to Ridgway on Monday.

NOTES: Lansberry extended her scoreless streak to 44 innings. She has given up just seven hits and four walks on the season and hasn't allowed a base runner past second base. She has also fanned 98 batters and now stands 52 strikeouts behind all-time Progressland leader Jen Wagner (Glendale). Lansberry's two hits in the game give her 98 for her career ... McDonald still needs one hit for her 100th.

Curwensville-5

Lansberry p 3020, Bloom cf 3110, McDonald ss 3001, A. Demchak c 3001, Jenessa Stiles 3b 3110, Johnson 1b 3210, Clark lf 2010, Jenea Stiles dp 3011, E. Bressler rf 3110, Mo.Peterman 2b (flex) 0000. Totals: 26-5-8-3.

Clearfield-0

Zalno cf-lf 3000, Owens 2b-ss 3000, Bowman p-cf 3010, J. Colesar 1b 3000, M. Butler 3b 3010, S. Colesar lf-rf 3000, Read c 2000, Morgan rf-2b 1000, A. Butler ss-p 2000. Totals: 23-0-2-0.

Score by Innings

Curwensville                 020            011            1-5    8   0

Clearfield                     000            000            0-0    2   0

LOB-Curwensville 7, Clearfield 3. DP-Clearfield 1. 2B-Lansberry; M. Butler. SF-McDonald. SB-Barrett, Jenessa Stiles, Johnson. CS-Clark 2 (by Read). HBP-Lansberry, Jenessa Stiles (by Bowman). WP-Bowman 4, A. Butler 2. PB-Demchak; Read.

Pitching

Curwensville: Lansberry-7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 SO.

Clearfield: Bowman-4 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO; A. Butler-3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

WP-Lansberry (8-0). LP-Bowman (0-1). Time-1:44.