CLEARFIELD – The Four-Leaf Clover Little League 11-and-12 All-Stars rode an overpowering pitching performance by Walker Williams to a 5-0 win over Clearfield in a District 5 Northern Tier opener at McNamee Field Friday evening.
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Mixing a blazing fastball with an occasional curve, the right-hander struck out 13 and no-hit the home team until reaching the pitch-count limit with two outs in the sixth inning.
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Zach Krise came on to complete the no-hitter with a comebacker on his second pitch, stranding two of the three Clearfield batters who reached base.
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Only a two-out walk to Hunter Lancaster in the first inning prevented Williams from taking a perfect game into the sixth, when he hit Dan Collins and, one out later, walked Harley Rothrock.
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Three of Clearfield’s first four outs were ground balls, but Williams then became dominant. The only other batter to put a ball in play was Thomas Summers with a grounder to short for the final out of the fourth inning.
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Summers kept it very interesting through four frames, giving up one run in the third when Kody Trude’s high-hopper over third base rolled to the fence for a triple that scored Krise, who had rammed a single into left field.
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The game got away from Clearfield in the fifth after Summers issued his only two free passes to Four-Leaf Clover reserves Mark Glace and Josh Lannen.
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Krise rapped the second of his three hits to center for an RBI, and Trude’s groundout made it 3-0.
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Summers, a southpaw, registered his ninth strikeout, but Vince McDowell roped a double to the base of the right field fence for an RBI.
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Hunter Lancaster relieved, and Jon Trimpey greeted him with a two-bagger to deep center that ended the scoring.
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Logan Puit followed with his second hit, but McDowell was nipped at the plate on a strong relay from shortstop Brandon Orsich to Logan Lykens.
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Orsich also made an outstanding defensive play with two runners aboard in the second inning, backhanding Brandon Zwick’s sharp grounder in the hole and making the long throw for the third out.
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Clearfield drops into Tuesday’s elimination bracket quarterfinal and will go on the road to play the loser of Sunday’s game involving Philipsburg-Osceola and Tri-County or Milesburg.
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Four-Leaf Clover will host Curwensville in a winner’s bracket semifinal Sunday at 6 p.m.
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FOUR-LEAF CLOVER — 5
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Austin Krise cf 3000, Josh Lannen ph-lf 0100, Zach Krise 2b-p 4231, Kody Trude ss 4012, Walker Williams p-2b 4000, Vince McDowell 1b 3111, Jon Trimpey rf-cf 2011, Isaac Guenot lf 1000, Logan Puit 3b 3020, Brandon Zwick c 3000, Josh Kerlin lf 2010, Mark Glace rf 0100. TOTALS: 29 5 9 5.
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CLEARIFLED — 0
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Noah Cline 2b-pr 2000, Harley Rothrock rf 0000, Evan Brown cf-2b 2000, Matt Jones ph-rf 1000, Hunter Lancaster lf-3b-p-ss 2000, Thomas Summers p-1b 2000, Jacob Wingate rf-cf 2000, Logan Lykens 1b-c 2000, Jake Lansberry c 1000, Wil Myers 1b-3b1000, Travis Ogden 3b 1000, Dan Collins lf 0000, Brandon Orsich ss-p 2000. TOTALS: 18 0 0 0.
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Score by Innings
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Four-Leaf Clover 001 040 – 5 9 0
Clearfield           000 000 – 0 0 3
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Errors – Lancaster, Summers, Ogden. LOB – Four-Leaf Clover 8; Clearfield 3. 2B – McDowell, Trimpey. 3B – Trude.
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Pitching
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Four-Leaf Clover – Williams 5-2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 13 K; Z. Krise 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Summers 4-2/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 9 K; Lancaster 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Orsich 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
HB – Williams 1 (Collins). WP – Williams 2.
W – Williams (1-0). L – Summers (0-1).
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Umpires – Bill Guenot (plate), J.R. Rosselli (first), Sean Rockmore (third).
