PUNXSUTAWNEY – Brookville stunned regular season champion Punxsutawney 5-4 and 5-3 at Rich Kuntz Memorial Field Wednesday night to win the Jefferson County Legion Baseball League Playoffs championship for the first time in seven years.
The Laurel Eye Clinic team, which played all five of its games on the road after finishing in fourth place, had battled back through the loser\’s bracket with victories over DuBois 10-4 and Clearfield 13-9 after falling to Punxsy 5-4 in the first round.
Brookville had split four games with Punxsy during the regular season and led 4-1 in the playoff opener, so its sweep was not a total surprise, just improbable.
Needing a win to force an extra game in the double-elimination tournament, Brookville got a two-run double from Jeremy Aharrah in the fifth inning to tie the scheduled game and a bases-loaded walk to Jacob Means in the ninth to prevail.
Punxsy threatened to at least tie the score when Mike Smiley led off the bottom of the ninth with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but Means set down the next three batters for a complete-game victory.
The Laurel Eye Clinic right-hander struck out eight and gave up 10 hits, including home runs by Chris Reeseman and Dustin Dubensky that put the hosts in front 4-2 in the third inning.
Reeseman started for Punxsy. Tommy Bush relieved in the eighth and took the loss.
In the seven-inning nightcap, left-hander Greg Sobol went the distance for Brookville. He pitched a seven-hitter and registered nine strikeouts.
Zach Smith got Punxsy on the scoreboard with an RBI-double in the first inning, but Laurel Eye Clinic scored in the next thee frames for a 4-1 lead. Jess McCullough had two RBIs on a single in the second and a bases-loaded walk in the third. Means drove in a run with a double in the third. And an error gave the winners a run in the fourth.
Trailing 5-2, Punxsy picked up a run in the seventh and brought the tying run to the plate before Sobol closed the door.
Manager Korry Lindemuth\’s Laurel Eye Clinic team will take a 13-12 record into the Region 7 Tournament. It will be paired against the Central Penn League champ, either Bellefonte or State College, in Saturday\’s 10:30 a.m. game.
Punxsy, 15-5 in the regular season, finished 17-7.
