Shaw pitches Philipsburg-Osceola teeners past Punxsy
Monday, July 16, 2012
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
After Saturday's action at the Area 6 VFW Teener League tournament, Philipsburg-Osceola 13- and 14-year-old manager Nick Croyle knew that he wanted the ball in Derek Shaw's hands for Sunday's championship contest.
Croyle's plan was to only use Shaw, the team's best catcher, for three innings, but his effort on the mound allowed him to finish out the contest and give the rest of an ailing pitching staff time to rest.
P-O fell to Punxsutawney and bested Clearfield on Saturday to reach the finals, where Shaw was sterling in five innings of work in his team's 12-2 win over Punxsy.
While the bracket showed a deciding game, both teams' coaches decided beforehand that only one game was needed with both teams already advancing to the state tournament, which begins on July 27.
P-O qualified as the host team and Punxsy punched its ticket after topping the hosts on Saturday night.
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday's game(s), the teams would have been seeded in the same spot regardless of who won the championship.
"We decided before the game we'd only play one," said Croyle. "I don't know if they didn't have the pitching or if they just figured we're both going to (states), but they just wanted to play a winner-take-all.
"When we came into this tournament we already knew we had a spot, but I told them, ‘we're going to play hard and see what we can do.' My thought from the beginning was to win the area."
Shaw was in cruise control after Punxsy tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the first inning.
The P-O right-hander allowed three of Punxsutawney's five hits in the opening stanza, where Braedon Paulinelli's 2-run single pulled his team even.
Shaw allowed just two more base runners in the final four innings and finished with three strikeouts and one walk. Both runs against Shaw were earned.
"He keeps the ball down," Croyle said of Shaw, who threw just 67 pitches. "He's a great catcher, but I've had him a couple of times throughout his career and he's always thrown for me. When I went home (Saturday), I just set in my mind that he was going to pitch.
"With some of the guys having sore arms, I just let him ride and kept him in there."
The P-O offense was jumpstarted in a decisive second inning with some clutch hitting from Kody Trude.
P-O pulled ahead on a sacrifice fly from Tanner Sinclair and had the bases loaded with Punxsy starter Ryan Jones looking to get out of the jam.
Jones plunked Shaw with an offering to load the bases and bring Trude to the plate.
Trude, who had an RBI single in the first, blasted a shot to the right-center field gap, just out of the reach of a diving Caleb Smith.
The ball rolled to the fence and Trude didn't stop until he strolled into third base.
Brandon Zwick followed with a single to cap the inning with P-O leading 7-2.
"We play an aggressive style," said Croyle, "and I told them from the beginning at practice that we were going to be aggressive. We're going to score runs and that is what matters.
"Kody's hit was clutch, and it really set the tone for the rest of the game."
Paulinelli and Lance Pennington, who doubled, had two hits apiece for Punxsy, while Jake Maines had two hits with a double for P-O.
"The state tournament is going to be a little bigger and it's going to be more pressure," Croyle said. "I was happy with how the kids handled the pressure here."
Philipsburg-Osceola-12
De. Shaw p 2200, Trude ss 4224, Zwick 2b 2211, Winters c 2111, Knepp 1b 3110, Weitoish cf 1100, Maines lf-eh 2120, Da. Shaw eh 1100, N. Conklin 1000, Sinclair 3b 1001, Domblisky 3b 1000, Kitko rf 0100, D. Conklin rf 1000. Totals: 21-12-7-7.
Punxsutawney-2
Huey 3b 2010, Geer rf-p 1000, Jones p-ss-3b 2100, Bender cf 1000, Pennington cf-1b 2120, Stouffer 1b 0000, Ambler 1b-p 2000, Hutton 3b 0000, Perry ss-p-ss 1000, Paulinelli 2b-c 2022, DiPietro c 1000, Greenblatt 2b 1000, Knox lf 2000, Smith rf-cf-rf 2000. Totals: 19-2-5-2.
Score by Innings
Philipsburg-Osceola 251 31-12 7 1
Punxsutawney 200 00-À2 5 4
Errors-De. Shaw; Knox 2, Jones, Paulinelli. LOB-P-O 8, Punxsy 3. 2B-Maines; Pennington. 3B-Trude. SF-Winters, Sinclair. SB-Zwick 2, De. Shaw, Weitoish, Maines. HBP-De. Shaw (by Perry). WP-Geer 2, Jones 1, Perry 1, Ambler 1.
Pitching
P-O: De. Shaw-5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO.
Punxsy: Jones-1 2/3 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 1 SO; Perry-1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO; Ambler-1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO; Geer-1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.
WP-De. Shaw. LP-Jones.
Saturday
Winner's Bracket final
Punxsutawney 11, Philipsburg-Osceola 8
Pennington handcuffed P-O hitters for four innings, as his team jumped out to a 9-0 lead before holding on for a 3-run victory.
The Punxsy southpaw didn't allow a hit in his time on the mound, where he walked one and struck out five. P-O mustered just two baserunners against Pennington, who left with a nine-run cushion.
"We played pretty flat the whole day," said Croyle of his team's effort on Saturday. "I was really unhappy with some of the at-bats. We popped the ball up a lot."
P-O greeted the first two Punxsy relievers rudely, as it plated four runs in the fifth and sixth innings before Punxsy tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
Trude, who was the losing pitcher, sparked the P-O rally with a 2-run double, while Shaw and David Conklin drove in one apiece in the fifth.
Isaac Knepp had an RBI single in the sixth for P-O, which drew five free passes in the inning.
Trude struggled with his control early, which led to Punxsy jumping out to the insurmountable lead.
The P-O starter plunked three and walked three in 2 1/3 innings of work before giving way to Mitch Winters. Winters allowed three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of relief.
"Kody just kept the ball up and they had some pretty good shots on us," Croyle said.
Punxsutawney-11
Huey 3b 2322, Jones cf-p-ss 5342, Pennington p-lf 3011, Ambler 1b 3012, Stouffer 1b 1000, Perry ss-p 2002, Paulinelli 2b 4100, Hutton 2b 1000, DiPeitro c 2100, Knox lf-p-cf 4120, Smith rf 2210, Geer rf 1000. Totals: 30-11-11-9.
Philipsburg-Osceola-8
De. Shaw c 3201, Trude p-ss 3013, Zwick ss-2b 3000, Kerlin cf 4000, Winters 3b-p 2100, Weitoish lf-rf 1000, Kitko rf 0100, Knepp 1b 3121, Da. Shaw ph 1000, Domblisky 2b-3b 2100, Sinclair 3b 1100, N. Conklin rf 1000, D. Conklin lf 3111. Totals: 27-8-4-6.
Score by Innings
Punxsutawney 215 100 2-11 11 3
P-O 000 044 0-8 4 2
Errors-Perry 2, Paulinelli; N. Conklin, Trude. LOB-P-O 10, Punxsy 7. 2B-Pennington; Trude. SF-Perry. SB-Perry, Paulinelli, Smith; De. Shaw 2, Trude, Sinclair, D. Conklin. HBP-Huey, Ambler, DiPietro (by Trude), Perry (by Winters). WP-Perry 1; Winters 1. Balk-Winters.
Pitching
Punxsy: Pennington-4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO; Knox-1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO; Jones-1/3 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO; Perry-1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.
P-O: Trude-2 1/3 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO; Winters-4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO.
WP-Pennington. LP-Trude. Sv-Perry.
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