STORMSTOWN – The playoff trail came to a disappointing end for the Clearfield Little League 11-and-12 All-Stars with a second consecutive shutout loss in the District 5 Northern Tier elimination bracket final Sunday evening.
Host Tri-County pretty much settled matters with seven runs in the first inning of the 9-0 victory at the Community Park Field.
Joe Johnston did the rest, scattering five hits before reach the 85-pitch limit in the bottom of the sixth. Coy Focht got the final out.
Avenging a 6-2 first-round defeat by Clearfield on the Halfmoon Township team’s diamond June 25 pits Tri-County (3-1) against Philipsburg-Osceola (2-0) for the tier championship. Tri-County must win at Philipsburg Tuesday evening and at home Wednesday to advance to district finals against either Bellefonte (3-0) or State College American (3-1) of the Southern Tier.
Clearfield pitcher Matt Collins got into early trouble when he hit Kody Hamer after Frank Scott singled and Justin Beck followed with a bad-hop hit for the first run. Johnston then doubled for two RBIs.
The gap widened to 6-0 via another hit batsman, a walk, a single by Kayla Hawbaker and a double by Tyler Simpson before Will Myers relieved and put out the fire with a grounder the produced the final run and a strikeout.
Myers continued to pitch well to keep the winners in check. He retired nine batters in a row and wound up with five strikeouts over the final 5-2/3 innings.
Tri-County did add single runs in the last two frames, but both were unearned.
However, Clearfield never had more than baserunner in any inning against Johnston, who struck out five and walked only one.
The lone extra base hit was a fifth-inning double by Christian Leigey.
Clearfield, which had only two other runners advance into scoring position, finished with a 2-2 record.
Collins registered one win and saved the other for Brandon Orsich.
TRI-COUNTY — 9
Frank Scott rf 2211, Larry VanAllman rf 1000, Kody Hamer ss 3110, Justin Beck c 4111, Joe Johnston p-3b 2212, Coy Focht 3b-p 3111, Mason Mellott 1b 3011, Gary Weaver cf 1100, Grant King cf ph-cf 1000, Kayla Hawbaker 2b 1110, Tyler Heimbaugh ph-2b 2000, Tyler Simpson lf 2011, Luke Gray lf 1000. TOTALS: 26 9 8 6.
CLEARFIELD — 0
Christian Leigey ss 3010, Will Myers 1b-p 3010, Brandon Orsich cf 3010, Marcus Luzier 3b 3010, Matt Collins p 2000, Mike Ternoway 2b 2010, Max Lohman 2b 0000, Jake Sorbera c 1000, Reese Wilson c 0000, Gavin Starr lf 1000, Noah Rumsky lf 1000, Wilson rf 1000, Matt Ryan rf 1000. TOTALS: 21 0 5 0.
Score by Innings
Tri-County 700 011 – 9 8 0
Clearfield 000 000 – 0 5 4
DP – Clearfield 1 (Orsich and Sorbera). LOB – Tri-County 5; Clearfield 5. 2B – Johnston, Simpson; Leigey. Sac – Lohman, Sorbera.
Pitching
Tri-County – Johnston 5-2/3 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Focht 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB , 0 K.
Clearfield – Collins 1/3 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Myers 5-2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.
HB – Collins 2 (Hamer, Focht). WP – Johnston 1; Collins 2, Myers 2.
W – Johnston. L – Collins (1-1).
