Clearfield outscores opponents, 57-12, over final three games to win title
Monday, July 23, 2012
By Andy Stine Sports Writer
PUNXSUTAWNEY - It must have been fun for Clearfield 15- and 16-year-old Teener League manager Sid Lansberry to stand on the third base line watching his team collect hit after hit. When you collect hits in bunches, scoring runs is a certainty.
Clearfield's 21 hits led to three big innings on Sunday afternoon at Kuntz Field as Post 1785 crushed Punxsutawney in the Area 6 VFW Teener League tournament, 23-8 in four innings due to the 15-run rule.
Clearfield avenged its loss to Punxsutawney on Friday night, which was a close 7-6 game. It battled back through the elimination bracket on Saturday, beating Curwensville and Philipsburg to earn a spot in the championship.
"On Friday night, we were one game away from being done," said Lansberry. I couldn't be any more proud of these kids. The offense was just relentless all three games."
Despite the huge margin of victory, things didn't go as planned in the top of the first inning.
Clearfield starting pitcher Devin Jones started the game with a strikeout to Anthony Faulk, but three errors on the next three batters kept Punxsutawney at the plate.
With a 2-0 lead, Christian Falgout hit an RBI single to bring in Punxsy's third run. Jones got a flyout for the second out, but a single, walk and another error allowed Punxsutawney to start the game with a 4-0 lead.
The lead proved to be short-lived, however. After two quick groundouts to start the bottom of the first inning, Josh Kennedy ripped a double to the gap and was brought home on a Jon Janocko RBI single.
Punxsutawney starting pitcher Matt Burkett walked two batters to load the bases for Clearfield second baseman Spencer Herrington.
Herrington delivered with a clutch two-run single to center field. The Punxsutawney center fielder threw the ball home, but the throw was errant allowing the runners to move up a base.
Zach Timchak drew another walk to load the bases for catcher Josh Sorbera. Like Herrington, Sorbera came through with another bases-loaded two-run single. Cole Kephart added on with another RBI single to put Clearfield up, 6-4.
Both teams sent 10 hitters to the plate in the opening frame.
"There shouldn't have been any runs scored in that top of the first inning," said Lansberry. "But we bounced back in the bottom of the first and that was the key."
"It's remarkable to have an inning like we did in the top of the first and then get six runs right away. You could see the momentum shift right there."
Jones gave up a leadoff single to Bryson Paulinellie in the second before getting Michael Klingensmith to pop out and Cory Geer to ground into a fielder's choice. But, Falgout and Ruben Taylor both hits ball to the fence for a double and a triple, respectively, to knot the game at 6.
However, Clearfield's biggest rally came in the second inning with a whopping 10 runs put up on the board. For the second inning in a row, Post 1785 batted around and sent 15 men to the plate.
Like the first inning, Clearfield started with two quick outs. Janocko, Sawyer Rowles and Curtis Collins each had two hits in the inning. Sorbera also had his second two-run single in the frame. When the dust settled, the score was 16-6 after two innings.
Dakota Thomas walked with one out in the third inning and advanced to second on a single from Faulk. Thomas stole third base, and on the next pitch from Clearfield reliever Janocko, Faulk and Thomas executed a double steal to score a run. Thomas stole third base before coming home on a sacrifice fly from Paulinellie.
Out of Punxsutawney's eight runs, only four were earned.
"The pitchers did a good job," said Lansberry. "Jonesy deserved a better fate in that first inning. He shouldn't have had any runs scored. But, they pitched well and they picked a good day to do it."
The score stayed at 16-8 until the bottom of the fourth.
For the third time in the game, Clearfield batted around. The only out recorded was on a sacrifice fly from Wyatt Westen. Sorbera added on to his RBI total and earned his fourth single of the day. He was 4-for-4 and knocked in six runs in the contest.
"He had a great game," said Lansberry of Sorbera. "He had a great game defensively, too. To have three clutch hits like he did, that was outstanding for him."
"This is the first year in a long time that we've had a 15- and 16-year-old Teener League entry. To win the district is great for us. The way we won it was kind of anti-climatic being up that far, but it's a good win. I'm proud of them."
Both teams qualified for the state VFW Teener League tournament Aug. 3-6.
Punxsutawney-8
Faulk cf-p 3110, Paulinellie ss 2111, Klingensmith 2b 2100, Little 3b 0000, Geer 3b-c 3200, Falgout rf 3222, Blose lf 0000, Taylor dh 2011, Byers rf-p-cf 0000, Burkett p-rf 3010, Bevak rf 0000, Dale 1b 3000, Ambler 1b 0000, Thomas c-2b 0101. Totals: 21-8-6-5.
Clearfield-23
Kephart ss 4122, Westen 1b 3101, Kennedy 3b 5343, Jones p 0000, Janocko dh-p 3432, Rowles cf 3332, Collins lf 3321, Herrington 2b 2314, Timchak rf 3322, Sorbera c 4246. Totals: 30-23-21-23.
Score by Innings
Punxsutawney 4 22 0-8 6 1
Clearfield 6(10)0 7-23 21 4
One out when winning run scored.
Errors-Faulk; Kephart, Timchak, Herrington, Westen. LOB-Punxsutawney 6, Clearfield 6. 2B-Falgout; Kennedy, Janocko. 3B-Taylor. SF-Paulinellie; Westen. SB-Faulk 2, Thomas 2. CS-Kephart (by Burkett).
Pitching
Punxsutawney: Burkett-1 2/3 IP, 10 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO; Byers-1 1/3 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO; Faulk-1/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO.
Clearfield: Jones-2 1/3 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO; Janocko-1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO.
WP-Jones. LP-Burkett.
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In Saturday's action, Clearfield eliminated Curwensville in the early game and pushed Philipsburg-Osceola out of the tournament in the other loser's bracket game. Punxsutawney dropped P-O to the loser's bracket.
Clearfield 19, Curwensville 2, 5 innings
Clearfield batted around in the first, fourth and fifth innings, and the top five batters in its lineup came to the plate in all five frames as it eliminated Curwensville from the tournament.
Clearfield pushed five runs across in the first inning and never looked back. Collins smacked a two-run double in the frame, while Thomas Summers and Herrington executed a double steal, with Herrington taking home. The other two runs scored via error and wild pitch.
Kephart added a run-scoring double in the fourth inning and ended the contest, going 3-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBIs.
Herrington, Timchak and Janocko each added two hits for Clearfield, which had 12 in the game. Herrington, Timchak and Rowles also scored two runs
Westen tossed all five innings to pick up the win.
After surrendering two runs on three hits on the first inning, Westen completely shut down the Curwensville offense. He limited Curwensville to just two hits and had one walk over the final four innings of play. Westen also struck out nine batters in the win.
Westen also had a hit, scored three runs and added an RBI.
Kyle Johns had an RBI single for Curwensville, which also had hits from Tanner Elensky, Zack Tibbens, A.J. Bloom and Harry Bloom.
Clearfield-19
Kephart ss 5432, Westen p 5311, Kennedy 3b 3010, Janocko 1b 4121, Rowles cf 3201, Collins lf 3112, Jones lf 0100, Herrington 2b 2222, Cline 2b 0100, Kochan c 0000, Summers dh 3000, Taylor pr 0100, Sorbera c 0100, Timchak rf 4221. Totals: 32-19-12-10.
Curwensville-2
Elensky ss 3110, Lansberry lf 1000, J. C. Stiles ph 1000, Tibbens cf-p-2b 3110, Johns p-cf 2011, J. B. Stiles 1b-p 2000, Gardner 2b-1b 2000, Hall 3b 2000, A.J. Bloom eh 2010, H. Bloom rf 2010, Olson c 2000. Totals: 22-2-5-1.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 532 54-19 12 3
Curwensville 200 00-2 5 7
Errors-Janocko, Kephart, Cline; Hall 2, Elensky 2, J.B. Stiles, Olson, Gardner. LOB-Clearfield 6; Curwensville 6. 2B-Collins, Kephart. SB-Rowles, Summers, Herrington, Timchak; Tibbens 2, Johns. WP-Johns 5, Tibbens 3. PB-Olson 3. Balk-Westen.
Pitching
Clearfield: Westen-5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO.
Curwensville: Johns-3 1/3 IP, 10 H, 14 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 1 SO; Tibbens-1 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO; J.B. Stiles-2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.
WP-Westen. LP-Johns.
Time-2:07.
Punxsutawney 13, Philipsburg-Osceola 0
Punxsutawney's Cody Geer and Brandon Blose held Philipsburg-Osceola to just four hits and combined to strike out 13 in a shutout in the winner's bracket final.
Punxsy scored a run in the first inning, before tacking on five more in the second and two in the third off P-O starter Walker Williams. Only two of the eight runs were earned.
Jesse Martin relieved Williams in the fourth and outside of giving up a solo home run to Michael Klingensmith, shut down the Punxsy offense for three innings. He gave up just one run and one hit in those innings before running into some trouble in the seventh.
There, Martin issued six, consecutive full-count walks and gave up a sacrifice fly as Punxsutawney plated four runs without a hit.
Klingensmith was 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Punxsy, which scored 13 runs despite only getting six hits.
Aaron Mason, Nate Kerlin, Lewis Jones and Martin had P-O's hits. Kerlin doubled to lead off the sixth inning, but was left stranded there. Jones was on base all three plate appearances, walking twice and hitting a single.
Punxsutawney-13
Faulk cf 3110, Hickock cf 1001, Paulinellie ss 2111, Ambler 3b 2001, Klingensmith 2b-ss 4124, Dale c 2000, Bevak c 2000, Geer p-2b 3100, Falgout lf 3310, Taylor rf 1200, Byers dh 1201, Blose 1b-3b-ss-p 1100, Thomas 3b 2010, Little 1b 0101. Totals: 27-13-6-9.
Philipsburg-Osceola-0
Mason 2b 2010, Kerlin 1b 3010, Harlow 3b 3000, McDowell rf 2000, Fetters rf 1000, Jones eh 1010, Myers cf 3000, Maines lf 1000, Martin p 2010, Wilson ss 2000, Williams p-lf 1000, Croyle lf 2000, Arnold c 2000, Marshall ph 1000. Totals: 26-0-4-0.
Score by Innings
Punxsutawney 152 100 4-13 6 1
Philipsburg-Osceola 000 000 0-0 4 3
Errors-Klingensmith; Harlow, Maines, McDowell. LOB-Punxsutawney 5, Philipsburg-Osceola 9. DP-Philipsburg-Osceola 1. 2B-Paulinellie, Falgout; Kerlin. 3B-Faulk. HR-Klingensmith (solo, 4th). SF-Klingensmith. SB-Mason. WP-Geer; Williams 3, Martin 2, PB-Dale, Arnold 2.
Pitching
Punxsutawney: Geer-5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 SO; Blose-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 S0.
Philipsburg-Osceola: Williams-3 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO; Martin-4 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 7 BB, 5 SO.
WP-Geer. LP-Williams.
Time-2:13.
Clearfield 15, Philipsburg-Osceola 2, 5 innings
Clearfield knocked Philipsburg-Osceola out of the tournament, jumping out to an 8-1 lead after one inning and cruising from there.
P-O starter Luther Harlow struggled with his control, walking five batters and hitting two more as Clearfield sent 14 batters to the plate in the first inning.
Summers and Westen drew bases-loaded walks to account for two of the runs, while Kennedy had a two-run single and Janocko plated one more with a base hit. Rowles added a sacrifice fly for Clearfield, which also plated a pair on errors.
Janocko added a two-run double in the second inning, while Summers knocked in a pair with a single. Westen's double also scored a run as Clearfield led, 13-2, after two.
Collins, who was 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the contest, collected a two-run single in the fourth to finalize Clearfield's scoring.
Summers notched the win on the mound, pitching all five innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits. He struck out six batters and walked three.
Kerlin was 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored for P-O, which also got an RBI groundout from Tanner Wilson.
Williams and Kevin Croyle had P-O's other hits.
Clearfield-15
Kephart ss 3310, Westen 1b 2212, Taylor ph 1000, Kennedy 3b 4210, Janocko dh 3122, Kochan c 0000, Sorbera ph 0000, Rowles cf 2101, Herrington 2b 3100, Cline 2b 0000, Collins lf 3232, D. Jones lf 0000, Summers p 2213, Timchak rf 2000. Totals: 25-15-9-10.
Philipsburg-Osceola-2
Myers cf 1000, Martin cf 2000, Arnold c 2000, Harlow p-3b 2000, L. Jones 1b 2000, Kerlin rf 2120, McDowell eh-1b 1000, Maines lf 1000, Fetters cf 0000, Williams 3b-lf-p 1110, Mason 2b 1000, Croyle 2b 1010, Wilson ss 2001. Totals: 18-2-4-1.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 850 20-15 9 1
Philipsburg-Osceola 010 01-2 4 4
Errors-Taylor; Mason, Wilson, Kerlin, Harlow. LOB-Clearfield 9, Philipsburg-Osceola 5. 2B-Westen, Janocko, Collins; Kerlin. SF-Rowles. HBP-Westen, Kennedy (by Harlow), Maines (by Summers).
Pitching
Clearfield: Summers-5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO.
Philipsburg-Osceola: Harlow-2/3 IP, 1 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 1 SO; Myers-1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO; Williams-3 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO.
WP-Summers. LP-Harlow.
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