Clearfield 9 and 10s topple Huntingdon at Section 4 Tournament
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
HUNTINGDON - The Clearfield 9- and 10-year-old team has a flare for the dramatic.
Throughout the District 5 tournament, Clearfield rallied in almost every game to finish the bracket undefeated.
And you won't hear manager Brian Barr complain if it keeps yielding the same results.
Clearfield fell behind Huntingdon 7-1 on Tuesday in the Section 4 tournament, and once more Barr's team rose to the occasion.
Hayden Williams' RBI groundout tied the game at 7 in the bottom of the fifth, and Harrison Peacock drove in the deciding runs one hitter later to give Clearfield a 9-7 win in Huntingdon.
Clearfield returns to the same site this evening to face Red Land, a 13-0 winner in five innings over Indiana, in the winner's bracket finals.
"We've had three or four of those already out of our six games," said Barr. "I didn't know if we were going to pull it out, but I knew we'd at least make it a game when it was 7-1."
The bottom of the Clearfield lineup set the tone in the fifth after Williams, Peacock and Andrew Lopez drove in runs to pull their team to within three after four innings.
Matt Pallo walked to open the frame and Jake Lezzer singled to left two hitters later. Hugh Brickley, who was 3-for-3 from his leadoff spot with three runs scored, also walked to load the bases.
Lopez drove in another run with an error, which also plated Lezzer to make it a 1-run game.
Williams and Peacock followed with their heroics to give Clearfield the lead for good.
"He clutched up on that one," said Barr of Peacock, who lined a full count offering to left to plate the winning runs. "Nate (Barr) has been carrying us the first couple of games, but he didn't do much tonight. Harrison and Hayden stepped it up, so it's good that we don't have to rely on the same guys every game.
"That's the way it's been every game - the bottom of the order gets on and then the top hits them in. We've been lucky."
Huntingdon got a pair of runners on with two outs against Lopez in the top of the sixth, and Barr inserted Peacock, who needed just two pitches to induce a fielder's choice to end it to earn a save.
Lopez worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. The Clearfield southpaw allowed one hit and walked one.
In all, Barr used four pitchers, none of whom threw more than two innings.
"I didn't plan on pitching (Harrison)," Barr said, "but I figured he'd be all right for two batters."
After an RBI single from Williams in the first gave Clearfield an early edge, Huntingdon took control with a 6-run spot in the third.
The first five hitters reached in the frame for Huntingdon, which sent 11 hitters to the plate.
After Huntingdon added another run in the fourth, Clearfield's patience at the plate paid dividends as Barr's team drew nine free passes off five different pitchers.
"We usually give the take (sign) until a guy throws a strike," said Barr. "There's only a couple guys on this team that are up there swinging all the time."
In addition to Brickley, Peacock was the only other Clearfield hitter with multiple hits.
Huntingdon got three from Micah Shope, while Nick Gearhart, Izzy Reed and Rece Ritchey each added two.
First pitch for the winner's bracket final is set for 6:30 p.m.
Huntingdon-7
Gearhart ss-2b-p-3b 4120, Shope c-3b-lf-3b-p 4231, J. Ritchey p-3b-ss 2111, Peck rf 3000, Handy 3b 1000, Reed c 3122, Zook cf 3000, Snare 1b 3000, R. Ritchey lf-p-lf 3120, Stratton 2b-p-2b 2100. Totals: 28-7-10-4.
Clearfield-9
Brickley cf 3330, Lopez 1b-p-1b 1102, Barr c-p-1b-ss 3100, Williams p-c 3013, Peacock ss-p 4023, Hipps rf 2000, Ryan rf 2000, Pallo 2b 2100, Kline lf 1110, Wain 3b 1000, Lezzer 3b 1210. Totals: 23-9-8-8.
Score by Innings
Huntingdon 006 100-7 10 2
Clearfield 100 35x-9 8 2
Errors-Gearhart 2; Hipps, Lopez. LOB-Huntingdon 7, Clearfield 9. 2B-Gearhart. SAC-Lopez. SB-J. Ritchey, Reed. WP-J. Ritchey 2; Barr 2. PB-Barr, Williams.
Pitching
Huntingdon: J. Ritchey-2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO; R. Ritchey-1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO; Stratton-1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO; Gearhart-1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO; Shope-1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.
Clearfield: Williams-2+ IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO; Barr-2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO; Lopez-1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO; Peacock-1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.
Williams pitched to two hitters in the third.
WP-Lopez. LP-Gearhart. Sv-Peacock.
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