PUNXSUTAWNEY – One night after sweeping a doubleheader from Brookville to assure Clearfield of at least third place in the Jefferson County Legion League, Punxsutawney locked up second place by defeating the Chiefs 13-6 under the Kuntz Memorial Field lights Thursday night.
The John J. Fisher Post 62 team pounded a home run and six doubles among its dozen hits in quashing Clearfield’s hopes of gaining home-field advantage for the first round of the JCL Playoffs that get under way late next week.
Punxsy is 14-3 with three games to play, while Clearfield is 9-7 with four games remaining.
Winning pitcher Tommy Bush and Tyler Skerkavich led Punxsy with three hits, including a double, and three runs batted in apiece.
Bush limited the Chiefs to three hits and two runs, one unearned, through five innings. He struck out six and walked three.
Clearfield got to Kyle Neal for four runs but left the bases loaded in both of the last two frames.
Andrew Redden, Derek Danver and Tyler Jacobson each had two singles and Corey Bookhamer drove in two runs for the Chiefs, who led 2-0 behind Derrick Snyder until the bottom of the third.
Two hits, a walk and two errors put Punxsy in front 3-2, and the winners tagged Snyder and Kyle Timchak for six runs in the fourth. The big blows were Tyler Wingard’s two-run homer and Bush’s two-run double.
The Chiefs, 11-10 overall, will welcome Reynoldsville to the Bison Sports Complex Friday for a 6 p.m. game.
Then, they will host the sixth annual Clearfield Legion Independence Day Invitational Saturday and Sunday at the Lawrence Township Park Recreation Field.
The Clearfield Babe Ruth League All-Stars, Philipsburg Legion and Bradford Legion will be the other teams in the round-robin wood bat tournament that has games at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 both days.
Clearfield is matched against the Bradford Legion in the middle game Saturday and the Philipsburg Legion in the opener and the BRL All-Stars in the nightcap Sunday.
CLEARFIELD — 4
Jarrett Fulmer ss 4100, Kyle Timchak rf-p 2110, Corey Bookhamer lf 3112, Andrew Redden c 3112, Derek Danver 2b 3221, Kyler Kephart 1b-rf 3000, Tyler Jacobson 3b 4020, Shane Harper cf 3011, Derrick Snyder p 2000, Steve Miller 1b 1000. TOTALS: 27 6 9 5.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 9
Braedon Pennington cf 3210, Tommy Bush p-2b 4333, Brodi Lowmaster lf 0000, Taylor Neal lf 0100, Jacob Stumpf dh 3111, Tyler Skerkavich 1b-c 4131, Dane Kopas rf 3111, Tyler Wingard 3b 3212, Dom Bevak c 3000, Spencer Levy 1b 0000, Zak Dickey ss 4120, Dylan Kachmar 2b 3100, Kyle Neal p 0000. TOTALS: 30 13 12 10.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 200 001 3 – 6 9 3
Punxsutawney 003 613 x – 13 12 0
Errors – Timchak, Redden, Jacobson. PB – Bevak 2, Skerkavich 1. DP – Clearfield 1 (Fulmer and Kephart). LOB – Clearfield 10, Punxsutawney 4. 2B – Bookhamer; Bush, Stumpf, Skerkavich, Kopas, Dickey. HR – Wingard. Sac – Timchak. SF – Bookhamer, Redden; Kopas. SB – Bookhamer, Redden, Harper; Pennington, Wingard.
Pitching
Clearfield – Snyder 3-2/3 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Timchak 2-1/3 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.
Punxsutawney – Bush 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K; K. Neal 2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
HB – K. Neal 2 (Kephart, Miller). WP – K. Neal 1.
W – Bush. L – Snyder (0-3).
