COUDERSPORT – Unable to hold on to a lead for the second game in a row, the Clearfield Babe Ruth League 13-15 All-Stars were eliminated from the District 8 Tournament by West End of Williamsport at the Coudersport Area Recreation Park Field Sunday morning.
Clearfield, which lost 9-7 after having Potter-McKean down 7-1 through two innings Saturday, saw leads of 3-0 and 5-4 go by the boards in a 10-6 setback.
West End (2-1) and Potter-McKean (1-1) will tangle Monday at 11 a.m. for the right to challenge State College (2-0) at 2 p.m. for the championship of the double-elimination tourney. If State College is beaten, the same teams will meet again Tuesday for a berth in the state tourney.
Despite having a runner thrown out at the plate, Clearfield made West End pay for committing four errors in the first inning when Dale Confer singled across two runs and scored on Coleman Kubala’s hit.
West End answered with a four-spot, two of the runs unearned because of a miscue. Steven Moon singled for two RBIs, and two runs scored on wild pitches.
Clearfield tied the game in the fourth on pinch-hitter Christian Flood’s groundout after Matt Kushner reached base on an error and was doubled to third by Ben Panebianco.
Nate Bumbarger was hit by a pitch, stole second, was balked to third and put Clearfield back in front 5-4 on an RBI-groundout by Devin Jones in the fifth.
However, Jeff Bartholomew’s two-out home run got West End even, Aaron Weber doubled home the go-ahead run off of starter Christian Lezzer, who struck out five but walked six and gave up six hits.
Bumbarger relieved in the sixth, and the winners got to him for three hits and two runs. Two more relief hurlers each walked in a run before Matt Kushner retired two batters on fly balls.
Lezzer accounted for Clearfield’s final run with a homer in the seventh.
He and Panebianco had two hits apiece.
While Clearfield exited with a 1-2 record, head coach Sid Lansberry noted his team was competitive in every game.
CLEARFIELD — 6
Christian Stone 2b 4000, Nate Bumbarger cf-p-lf 3210, Christian Lezzer p-cf 4221, Mason Root 1b 3000, Devin Jones 1b 1001, Dale Confer lf-3b-p-ss 3112, Coleman Kubala 3b-p-3b 4011, Matt Kushner ss-p 3100, Ben Panebianco c 2020, Matt Josephson rf 1000, Christian Flood ph 1001, Tanner Ogden ph 0000, Seth Ford rf 0000. TOTALS: 29 6 7 6.
WEST END — 10
Alex Worthington ss-p 5120, Evan Kern 2b 4120, Austin Robinson 3b-p-ss 3210, Steven Moon 1b 3112, Ben Myers rf 3201, Neal Salvatori c 0000, Jim Appleman c 3111, Jeff Bartholomew cf 0000, Sadig Burkholder cf 2111, Dylan Bennett cf 1000, Jake McClain lf 0101, Aaron Weber p 1000, Zach Staver 3b 2011. TOTALS: 2710 9 7.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 300 110 1 – 6 7 4
West End 400 024 x – 10 9 6
Errors – Lezzer 2, Root, Kushner; Worthington 3, Kern 2, Weber. LOB – Clearfield 6; West End 10. 2B – Bumbarger, Lezzer, Panebianco; Staver. HR – Lezzer; Burkholder. SB – Bumbarger; Worthington, Kern, Robinson, Appleman, Bartholomew. CS – Moon (by Panebianco).
Pitching
Clearfield – Lezzer 5 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 5 K; Bumbarger 1/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Kubala 0 IP (faced 2 batters in 6th), 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K; Confer 0 IP (faced 1 batter in 6th), 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Kushner 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
West End – Weber 3-2/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; Robinson 2-1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Worthington 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
HB – Lezzer 1 (Myers); Robinson 1 (Bumbarger), Worthington 1 (Confer). WP – Lezzer 3. Balk – Robinson. PO – Weber 2 (Kubala, Panebianco).
W – Robinson (1-1). L – Lezzer (0-2).
