Joseph Speece reacts to the dugout after a triple.
In an Altoona Curve Classic championship game that wasn’t a work of art, but nonetheless featured a spirited fight put forth by both Altoona and Central, the Mountain Lions captured their third consecutive title in the event by prevailing, 20-12, on a chilly Saturday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
After Central scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to wipe out a 9-6 deficit and take a 10-9 lead, the Mountain Lions put together an 11-run seventh-inning with the help of eight hits, three walks and two Central errors to clinch the victory.
“Winning a game 20-12 is not where we want to be, and we still need to improve in some areas, but I’m very proud of our guys,” said Altoona coach Tom Smith, whose team won three games in two days in the tournament and improved its season record to 6-2. “We came back and answered every time that we were behind tonight against a very good Central team, and that is a good sign.
“This is a great tournament, we always like coming here, and you have to be happy with winning it three years in a row,” Smith said.
Altoona’s heroes were plentiful in Saturday’s championship game, but none stood bigger than senior first baseman Joe Speece, who had three hits — a two-run homer and two triples — and drove in four runs, including two with a triple to dead center field that highlighted Altoona’s 11-run seventh-inning outburst.
Speece shared the tournament’s Most Valuable Player trophy with senior second baseman and Altoona teammate Will Sankey, who scored three runs, walked twice and doubled in the title game.
While Altoona was overcoming adversity as a team Saturday night, Speece was battling through some struggles individually, according to Smith.
“He was facing adversity, he hadn’t been hitting, so he was out of the lineup for two games, and he got back in the lineup for this tournament,” said Smith, whose team advanced to the championship game with a 5-2 semifinal-round win over Hollidaysburg Saturday. “But he never hung his head, he kept battling, and he was clutch today.”
After Altoona had tied the game with a run in the top of the seventh on Eric McAllister’s RBI single, Speece unloaded his second triple of the night to straightaway center field against Central reliever Mason Byler, scoring Nick Kraft from third base and McAllister all the way from first, and giving Altoona the lead for good, 12-10.
The Mountain Lions — who had 16 hits in the game — cemented the victory by scoring eight more runs in the inning, courtesy of Adam Smearman’s RBI single against reliever Lukas Black, Tanner Stroup’s bases-loaded walk, RBI singles by Kraft and Gavin Albright, a run-producing sacrifice fly by McAllister, and two Central errors that allowed two more runs to score.
Altoona sent 14 batters to the plate in the big inning, with Kraft — who had four hits and drove in three runs in the game — collecting a double and single in two plate appearances in the seventh.
“It’s special,” Speece said of Altoona’s third straight Curve Classic championship. “Tonight was a great team effort. It’s always great to win this tournament, but our biggest goal is to win that (District) 6 title.”
Saturday’s title game went back and forth, with Altoona enjoying leads of 3-0, 8-4 and 9-6, but Central (7-2) — which got four hits and three RBIs from infielder Wyatt Dilling — battled back like a true champion itself.
“I’m proud of the way that our kids played,” said Central coach A.J. Hoenstine, whose team punched its way into the championship game with an 8-1 semifinal win over Northern Cambria earlier Saturday. “We played a good Altoona team really tough and we took the lead in the sixth inning before the wheels came off for us in the seventh inning.
“But credit to Altoona for coming back and scoring all those runs in that inning,” Hoenstine said.
ALTOONA (20): LaRocco 3b-22 321, Smearman ss-p 422, Stroup p-cf 220, Kraft c 414, Baer cr 010, McAllister rf-3b-rf 412, Albright 2b 421, Speece 1b 433, Staines 1b 000, Sankey cf-lf 231, Pike lf-p 332. Totals — 30-20-16.
CENTRAL (12): Black ss-p 331, Dilling 3b-ss 414, Mellott p 000, McNichol dh 410, Hoenstine 2b 312, Klotz c 400, Byler 1b-p-1b 301, Sparks 1b 000, Muthler lf 401, Beltz rf 220, Robison rf 000, Loucks cf 241. Totals — 30-12-10.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Altoona 003 501 (11) — 20 16 2
Central 004 204 2 — 12 10 2
E–LaRocco, Smearman, Black, Muthler. 2B–Smearman, Craft, Sankey, Hoenstine. 3B–Speece 2. HR–Speece. RBI–Speece 4, Kraft 3, Smearman 3, Dilliing 3, McNichol 3, McAllister 2, Stroup 2, Albright, Pike. Hoenstine, Klotz, Muthler. SB–Dilling, McNichol, Byler. CS–Kraft (Klotz to Black). SAC–Pike. SF–Smearman, McAllister, Mellott. LOB–Central 7, Altoona 2. HBP–Black (by Young); Dilling (by Pike).
PITCHING
Altoona: Stroup 2+IP, 1H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 3SO; Smearman 3IP, 5H, 3R, 1ER, 1BB, 3SO; Young 2batters, 0H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 0SO; Pike (W) 2IP, 4H, 2BB, 1SO.
Central: Mellott 3+IP, 5H, 6R, 6ER, 4BB, 0SO; Byler (L) 4 1/3IP, 8H, 9R, 9ER, 3BB, 1SO; Black 2/3IP, 5R, 3ER, 4 H, 1BB, 0SO.
Umpires: Matt Cursio (HP); Jim Negri (1b); Bill Wolf (3b).
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