BROCKWAY – Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry repeatedly said his Bisons would have to play at a very high level to wrest the District 9 Class AAA baseball championship away from Punxsutawney Wednesday.
The Bisons came up short, unable to deliver the clutch hit in the early going when they could have taken command and failing to make plays that would have kept them in front going to the latter stages of the game.
Punxsy, which pulled off a pair of double plays in the middle innings, got big hits from Braedon Pennington and Dakota Bish to walk off the Brockway Area High School Field with a 9-5 victory and its sixth consecutive D-9-AAA title.
\”We didn\’t bring our \’A\’ game defensively,\” Lansberry said after his 38th Clearfield team lost in the finals for the third time in four years. \”We gave them some runs early on that cost us later, because we did make a comeback.
\”Before the game, I said Punxsy is the type of team that any mistake you make, they capitalize on it. That\’s definitely what they did. We dug a hole early, and it\’s hard to get out.\”
The Bisons had starter Tommy Bush on the ropes but couldn\’t knock him out.
A hit or two away from changing the whole complexion of the game, they instead stranded six runners in the first three innings.
Clearfield did lead on two occasions.
Leadoff batter Jarrin Campman sliced a line single to right, stole second base and scored on the first of three hits by Corey Bookhamer, who later cranked two home runs.
Punxsy got even in the bottom of the first.
Bookhamer, who pitched better than his stat line indicates, whiffed the first two Chucks before surrendering groundball singles to Bush and Tyler Skerkavich and giving up a run on an errant pickoff attempt.
The Bisons posed a mild threat in the second with Derek Danver\’s single and a walk, but Bush escaped via a strikeout and a groundout.
Tanner St. Clair\’s fine running catch on Dylan Voris\’ smash to deep left center prevented the Chucks from notching a go-ahead run in the lower second, for Sean Smith followed with a double to right.
In the third, St. Clair scorched a double to dead center and Danver singled through the left side to give Clearfield a 2-1 edge.
Aaron Sayers reached on catcher\’s obstruction to fill the bases, but Bush handled Kyle Timchak\’s topper for the third out.
\”We were one hit away from building a sizeable lead that would have made a difference, psychologically,\” Lansberry said.
Punxsy\’s defense shined in the top of the fourth.
Matt Lonjin walked, and courtesy runner Andrew Redden broke for second on a full-count pitch to Campman. Bish turned Bush\’s second strikeout into a double play with a strong throw to second. Then, Voris robbed Parker Herrington of a home run with a perfectly-timed leaping catch of his high drive to the right field fence.
\”That was a great play,\” Lansberry said. \”They played well. We didn\’t\”
Trailing by one run, the Chucks grabbed control of the game with a four-run outburst.
After a throwing error on what would have been an inning-ending twinkilling set the score at 2-2, Dylan Kachmar surprised the Bisons with a well-placed bunt for a hit and Bish walked to bring up Pennington, who had been set down twice on strikes.
The junior left fielder redeemed himself by jumping on a high offering from Bookhamer and slugging it to deep right center, clearing the bases and putting the Chucks in front to stay, 5-2.
\”I thought Bookie pitched well,\” Lansberry said. \”He was one pitch away from getting out of that inning. Plus, we made a couple mistakes to get in that situation.
\”Mistakes came back to haunt us.
\”And Punxsy\’s a good team. You\’ve gotta give them credit. They take advantage of every mistake you make.\”
Smith, a Clearfield nemesis in high school and legion ball, came on to save the win for Bush, though he needed some offensive support because Bookhamer whacked a solo homer to right center in the fifth and ended the scoring with a two-run shot in the seventh that carried deeper into the trees.
Bookhamer was relieved by Herrington after Jacob Stumpf rolled a seeing-eye single into left and Voris doubled to left center for a two-out run in the fifth.
Following a walk to Kachmar in the sixth, Bish belted his sixth homer, and 12th extra base blow in 20 hits, to the scoreboard in left center, giving Smith an 8-3 cushion as the Bisons watched the opportunity for their first district crown since 2003 slip away.
Those were the first earned runs Herrington has given up as a late-inning relief specialist.
\”He\’s one of the reasons we were able to win some of those close games,\” Lansberry said.
Pennington doubled and scored on a wild pitch for the final Punxsy run.
After Bookhamer homered in the seventh, Danver walked and, with two outs, Timchak slapped his second hit, this one off the back of second base umpire Kenny Knepp. However, Smith completed his second save by inducing a grounder to shortstop Kachmar for an easy force at second.
The Bisons finished 11-9 and co-champions of the first-year District 9 Northern Allegany League Big School Division with Punxsy and DuBois.
\”I told the kids I\’m proud of them,\” Lansberry said. \”We started out 2-5 and came back and won seven in a row. We won 10 of the last 13 games. I didn\’t think we\’d get to this position where we could be in the district finals.
\”Overall, I\’m going to look back and be fairly pleased with how they came back and how they played.\”
Bookhamer, Campman, Herrington, St. Clair, Sayers and Timchak played their final game for the Red and Black. Michael Moyer, another senior and the team\’s No. 1 starter, has been sidelined since suffering a serious knee injury in April.
\”It\’s a great group of seniors,\” Lansberry said. \”We had a couple of injuries that hurt us, but they hung in and played well throughout most of the season. They\’ll be tough to replace.\”
Punxsy, 14-5 after winning 11 of its last 12 games, opens the state playoffs Monday against the loser of Thursday night\’s District 7 (WPIAL) championship game between Moon (17-4) and Chartiers Valley (13-6).
CLEARFIELD — 5
Jarrin Campman 2b 4110, Parker Herrington ss-p 4000, Tanner St. Clair lf 4210, Corey Bookhamer p-1b 3234, Justin Hoffman rf 4000, Derek Danver 3b 2021, Aaron Sayers cf 2000 Trevor Flanagan 1b-3b 0000, Kyle Timchak dh 3020, Matt Lonjin c 2000, Andrew Redden cr 0000, Chad Zurat ph 1000. TOTALS: 29 5 9 5.
Sayers reached base on catcher\’s obstruction.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 9
Dakota Bish c 3212, Braedon Pennington lf 4123, Tommy Bush p-3b 3110, Tyler Skerkavich 1b 3010, Kyle Neal 2b 0000, Tyler Wingard dh 3000, Jacob Stumpf cf 3220, Dylan Voris rf 3021, Sean Smith 3b-p 3110, Dylan Kachmar ss 2210. TOTALS: 27 9 11 6.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 101 010 2 – 5 9 3
Punxsutawney 100 413 x – 9 11 3
Errors – Campman, Herrington, St. Clair; Bish, Neal, Kachmar. DP – Punxsutawney 2 (Bish and Neal; Neal and Kachmar). LOB – Clearfield 10; Punxsutawney 5. 2B -St. Clair; Pennington 2, Voris, Smith. HR – Bookhamer 2 (3); Bish. Sac – Sayers. SB – Campman. Caught Stealing – Redden (by Bish); Bush (by Bookhamer). Picked Off – Skerkavich (by Herrington).
Pitching
Clearfield – Bookhamer 4-2/3, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; Herrington 1-1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
Punxsutawney – Bush 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; Smith 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
WP – Herrington 1.
W – Bush (4-1). L – Bookhamer (3-1). Save – Smith (2).
Umpires – Mike Campbell (plate); Rob Murphy (first base); Kenny Knepp (second base), Bob Boyer (third base).
