PHILIPSBURG – The Clearfield Little League 11-12 All-Stars turned Homer Maney Memorial Field into a launching pad Monday evening, rocketing four long home runs to soar past Philipsburg-Osceola 7-2 and force an extra game for the District 5 Northern Tier championship.
The tier title will be on the line Thursday when the two teams tangle again at Clearfield\’s McNamee Field, where Philipsburg-Osceola triumphed 9-1 in the winner\’s bracket final Friday.
Jon Janocko cranked two homers for the second game in a row and also handled the pitching chores for Clearfield.
C.J. Gathagan and Wyatt Westen joined in the home run derby, while Spencer Herrington drilled a two-run single for what proved to be the game-winning hit.
That key blow came in the third inning for a 3-0 lead that really was all Janocko needed.
The big right-hander scattered nine hits in handing the hosts their first loss after two wins.
Philipsburg-Osceola had at least one hit in every inning, but never more than two, and wound up leaving nine runners on base.
A third of Janocko\’s 81 pitches were logged in the bottom of the third, when Tanner Wilson beat out an infield single and Caleb Pepperday belted a two-out homer to left center for Philipsburg-Osceola\’s runs.
Then, Janocko issued his lone walk to Lewis Jones and hit Tim Eason.
However, he recovered to register his third, and last, strikeout.
Clearfield won going away with Gathagan crushing a solo homer to very deep left center in the fourth, Janocko hammering his second solo shot to straightaway center in the fifth and Westen whacking a long two-run homer to center in the sixth.
Janocko\’s first circuit blow off Tanner Lamb was a high drive down the left field line in the second frame.
Zach Timchak\’s infield single and Curtis Collins\’ liner over third baseman Ben Johnson led to the two Clearfield runs in the third. Lamb grabbed Josh Sorbera\’s come-backer for a forceout at third, but another attempt for a force at the hot corner on Westen\’s grounder was thrown away, setting the stage for Herrington\’s clutch line single to center. Janocko walked to re-load the bases, but Lamb wiggled off the hook with a forceout at the plate and a strikeout.
The Philipsburg-Osceola hurler struck out six and gave up nine of Clearfield\’s 10 hits before reaching the pitch-count limit (85) in the sixth. Pepperday was the victim of Westen\’s homer.
Pepperday and Wilson each had two safeties for Philipsburg-Osceola.
Both teams played solid defense all over the field.
Clearfield reserve center fielder Jared Williams made the most important catch, a running, backhanded grab of Jones\’ fly to short right center after Lamb and Pepperday opened the lower fifth with singles.
Right fielder Sawyer Rowles ended the game with a knee-high grab of Lamb\’s sinking liner with two runners aboard.
The most outstanding defensive gem, though, was Pepperday\’s sliding catch of Nate Brady\’s liner to center in the fifth.
Clearfield also pulled off a double play on Lowman Pryde\’s grounder to short in the second inning. First baseman Gathagan fired to Westen to nail Will Granville trying to advance to third base.
CLEARFIELD — 7
Josh Sorbera c 4110, Wyatt Westen 3b 4112, Spencer Herrington ss 4012, Jon Janocko p 2222, Sawyer Rowles rf 1000, Nate Brady ph-rf 2000, Kyle Kushner lf 1000, Robby Carns ph-lf 2010, C.J. Gathagan 1b 3111, Zach Timchak cf 1010, Jared Williams cf 2010, Curtis Collins 2b 3210. TOTALS: 29 7 10 17.
PHILIPBSBURG-OSCEOLA — 2
Chris Thompson 2b 4010, Tanner Lamb p-ss 4010, Caleb Pepperday cf-p 3122, Lewis Jones c 2010, Tim Eason rf 1000, Ryan Kost rf 0000, Will Granville 1b 2010, Ben Sinclair ph-1b 1000, Ben Johnson 3b 1000, Denny Myers 3b-lf 2000, Lowman Pryde lf-cf 2000, Mitch Winters lf 1010, Tanner Wilson ss-3b 3120. TOTALS: 26 2 9 2.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 012 112 – 7 10 7
Philipsburg-Osceola 002 000 – 2 9 1
Errors – Collins; Wilson. DP – Clearfield 1 (Herrington, Gathagan and Westen). LOB – Clearfield 5; Philipsburg-Osceola 9. 2B – Sorbera. HR – Westen, Janocko 2, Gathagan; Pepperday. Sac – Kost.
Pitching
Clearfield – 6 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
Philipsburg-Osceola – Lamb 5-1/3 IP, 9 H, 6 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 6 K; Pepperday 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
HB – Janocko 1 (Eason). WP – Janocko 2.
W – Janocko (2-1). L – Lamb (1-1).
Umpires – Scott Viehdorfer (plate); Jay Siegel (bases).
