BIGLER – Robby Carns came through with a two-out single to snap a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning, and the Clearfield Little League 11-and-12 All-Stars went on to down homestanding Four-Leaf Clover 7-3 in a District 5 Northern Tier winner\’s bracket semifinal on the Bigler Little League Field Monday evening.
Clearfield (2-0), off to its best start in more than a decade, will entertain Philipsburg-Osceola (1-0) Friday in the winner\’s bracket final. P-O edged Tri-County 8-6 in the other semi.
Carns\’ game-winning hit chased home Jon Janocko, who walked and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Winning pitcher C.J. Gathagan aided his own cause by capping a three-run sixth with a two-run double down the first base line.
Gathagan went into the bottom of the final inning just shy of the 85-pitch limit and departed after Cole Kephart looped a single to right and Nate Kerlin bounced his third consecutive hit through the left side.
Wyatt Westen relieved and registered the save with three strikeouts, but not before walking Erik Sellers to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs.
Gathagan fanned 10, walked two and gave up six hits.
He was staked to a 3-0 lead as Clearfield scored in the second and third without benefit of a hit.
An error and four free passes gave the visitors two runs in the second, Curtis Collins and Josh Sorbera picking up the RBIs. Two more walks around a Four-Leaf Clover miscue loaded the bases again in the third, and Spencer Herrington scored on Timchak\’s groundout.
Four-Leaf Clover got on the board in the lower third when Walker Williams walked, stole second and came around on two throwing errors.
The hosts tied it up in the fourth, with Logan Puit driving in Kerlin with a single to left, and advancing all the way to third on the throw to the plate and sprinting home on a wild pitch.
Sorbera singled twice for Clearfield, which was held to four hits and wound up stranding 10 runners.
CLEARFIELD — 7
Josh Sorbera c 3021, Wyatt Westen 3b-p 3100, Spencer Herrington ss 3100, Jon Janocko 1b-3b 2200, Nate Brady rf 2100, Austin Luzier lf 1000, Zach Timchak cf 2101, C.J. Gathagan p-1b 3112, Sawyer Rowles lf 1000, Robby Carns rf-lf 2011, Curtis Collins 2b 2000. TOTALS: 24 7 4 6.
FOUR-LEAF CLOVER — 3
Walker Williams p-3b 2110, Kody Trude ss-p 3000, Cole Kephart 2b-ss 3010, Nate Kerlin 3b-p-1b 3130, Logan Puit c 3111, Taggert Meek lf 2000, Skyler Krise lf 1000, Erik Sellers 1b-2b 1000, Connor Myers rf 1000, Nick Fenush ph-rf 2000, Austin Krise cf 2000. TOTALS: 23 3 6 1.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 021 013 – 7 4 2
Four-Leaf Clover 001 200 – 3 6 2
Errors – Sorbera, Timchak; Williams, Meek. PB – Puit 1. LOB – Clearfield 10; Four-Leaf Clover 5. 2B – Gathagan; Kerlin. SB – Westen. CS – Williams (by Sorbera).
Pitching
Clearfield – Gathagan 5+ IP (faced 2 batters in 6th), 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K; Westen 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
Four-Leaf Clover – Williams 2+ IP (faced 3 batters in 3rd), 0 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 6 BB, 2 K; Kerlin 3-2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 7 K; Trude 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
WP – Gathagan 2, Westen 1; Williams 2, Kerlin 3.
W – Gathagan (1-0). L – Kerlin (0-1). Save – Westen (1).
Umpires – Chris Rubbe (plate); Bob Coble (bases).
