PUNXSUTAWNEY – Punxsutawney got a strong pitching performance from Dylan Kachmar and pulled away in the late innings to turn back Clearfield 9-3 in their Jefferson County Legion League Playoffs opener at Rich Kuntz Memorial Field Thursday evening.
Kachmar lost a shutout in the ninth inning, when the Chiefs collected three of their nine hits.
Corey Bookhamer kept the Chiefs in the game until surrendering three runs in the seventh inning that left manager Sid Lansberry\’s team in a 6-0 hole.
Punxsy, which was runner-up to DuBois in the regular season, added three runs off reliever Justin Hoffman in the eighth.
Both teams play again Friday, Punxsy going on the road to challenge regular season champion DuBois while Clearfield (14-15) welcomes Curwensville to the Bison Sports Complex for an elimination game at 5:30. The Haymakers were beaten 18-5 in seven innings in the other opening round game.
The loser\’s bracket final is set for Sunday at 2 p.m., with the winner advancing to the potential title game Tuesday.
Clearfield never put much pressure on Kachmar, who had only three strikeouts but didn\’t walk a batter.
No Chief reached third base and only three made it as far as second until the last inning, when Aaron Sayers doubled and Andrew Redden singled to end the left-hander\’s shutout bid.
After Chad Zurat\’s fly ball was misplayed, Luke Peterson doubled home Redden and Jarrin Campman followed with an RBI-groundout.
Punxsy (15-6) pecked away at Bookhamer in building a 3-0 lead.
Dakota Bish walked, Braedon Pennington doubled and courtesy runner Zak Dickey scored on a wild pitch in the first inning.
In the fourth, Tyler Wingard doubled home Jacob Stumpf, who had singled and stolen second base.
Stumpf doubled in the third run in the sixth.
Pennington\’s two-run triple and Tommy Bush\’s sacrifice fly made it 6-0 in the seventh.
In pinch-hitting roles, Dom Bevak singled for an RBI and Brodi Lowmaster singled for the final two runs against Hoffman.
Pennington had three hits for the winners.
In defeat, Bookhamer whiffed seven, walked six and gave up eight hits and six runs, all earned.
CLEARFIELD — 3
Jarrin Campman 2b 5011, Trevor Flanagan 1b 0000, Kyle Timchak dh 4011, Shane Harper rf 1000, Justin Hoffman rf-p 4010, Corey Bookhamer p-1b 4010, Derek Danver ss 3000, Aaron Sayers cf 4110, Andrew Redden c 4111, Chad Zurat lf 4110, Tyler Jacobson 3b 3010, Luke Peterson 3b 1011. TOTALS: 37 3 9 3.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 9
Dakota Bish c 2200, Brodi Lowmaster ph 1012, Braedon Pennington lf 5132, Tommy Bush ss 3101, Jacob Stumpf cf 4121, Tyler Wingard 1b 2011, Tyler Skerkavich ph-1b 0100, Taylor Neal rf 1010, Spencer Levy dh 2010, Sean Smith 3b 4000, Zak Dickey 3b 0000, Dylan Kachmar p 3010, Dom Bevak ph 1111, Kyle Neal 2b 3010, Devan Neal pr 0100, Jordan Mesoraco ph-2b 1110. TOTALS: 32 9 13 8.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 000 003 – 3 9 1
Punxsutawney 100 101 33x – 9 13 2
Errors – Flanagan; Bush, T. Neal. PB – Redden 1. DP – Clearfield 2 (Sayers, Bookhamer and Jacobson; Hoffman, Danver and Bookhamer); Punxsutawney 1 (K. Neal and Wingard). LOB – Clearfield 8; Punxsutawney 6. 2B – Sayers, Zurat, Jacobson, Peterson; Pennington, Stumpf, Wingard. 3B – Pennington. SF – Bush. SB – Stumpf 2, Wingard, K. Neal.
Pitching
Clearfield – Bookhamer 7 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 7 K; Hoffman 1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER< 1 BB, 0 K.
Punxsutawney – Kachmar 9 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
HB – Kachmar 1 (Danver). WP – Bookhamer 1.
W – Kachmar. L – Bookhamer.
