CURWENSVILLE — With their state tournament berth already secured after their 4-2 win over Philipsburg on Wednesday, the Jim’s Sports Center sponsored 13-14 year-old teener league all-star team from Clearfield needed a win over rival Curwensville to have a shot at the Area 6 title outright.
Coupled with Punxsutawney’s loss to Philipsburg on Friday evening, Clearfield earned that title with a not so easy 9-4 victory. It was Clearfield’s fifth consecutive win after beginning the double round-robin tournament with a 6-2 loss to Punxsutawney.
After the first two Clearfield batters walked to open the game, the inning went downhill for the visiting Clearfield squad. They stranded the two runners without any advancement, then proceeded to commit six errors in the bottom of the inning to find themselves in a 3-0 deficit.
All three Curwensville runs scored via Clearfield errors, as five different players contributed miscues to their gracious hosts.
Clearfield started to chip away at the lead by plating two runs in the second inning, then scored three runs in the third inning to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Logan Puit, who was four for four on the night, knocked in Josh Sorbera with Clearfield’s first run. Then Eric Sellers picked up an easy RBI with his bases loaded walk to set the score at 3-2.
Puit delivered the big blow in Clearfield’s three-run third inning when he singled to score Sorbera again and Noah Cline, who had also singled.
Starting pitcher Tommy Summers settled down and threw nothing but goose eggs through the middle five innings as Clearfield needed a three-run seventh inning to salt the game away. Summers picked up seven strikeouts along the way, but also issued seven free passes to make it interesting.
It was Summers’ third win against no losses in the two-week long tourney.
It was Puit, once again, in the middle of things in the last inning. After an inning-opening backwards “K”, Puit singled to start the late rally.
Consecutive singles by Zach Krise and Sellers set the table for Sawyer Rowles to provide the insurance to ice the win, as Rowles delivered a two-run single then came around to score the final run on Kyle Kushner’s second hit of the game.
Curwensville managed their first run since the opening frame when Tanner Elensky opened the final at-bat with a single, then scored on an RBI single by Jake Terry. Summers then reared back and struck out the final two Curwenville batters to end the game, both times needing batterymate Sorbera to squeeze the final strike.
Clearfield will now advance to the state tournament which begins July 29 in Punxsutawney.
Final Area 6 standings: Jim’s Sports Center of Clearfield (5-1), Punxsutawney (4-2), Philipsburg (3-3), Curwensville (0-6).
CLEARFIELD — 9
Logan Puit ss 4143, Zach Krise cf 4110, Eric Sellers 1b 3011, Josh Kennedy 3b 2000, Sawyer Rowles lf 2222, Kyle Kushner lf-3b 3121, Dan Collins dh 1000, Tommy Summers p 0000, Josh Sorbera c 3221, Noah Cline 2b 2210, Logan Lykens ph 1000, Jake Lansberry rf 2011, CJ Gathagan rf 1000, TOTALS 28 9 14 9.
CURWENSVILLE — 4
Noah Strickland 3b 3000, Tanner Elensky p-1b 2220, Jake Stiles 1b-p 3110, N. Hall c 4100, Jake Terry ss 3011, Harrison Bloom cf 2000, A.J. Bloom EH 4010, Johnathan Miller rf 3010, J. Peters lf 3000, Trevor Anderson 2b 1000, TOTALS 28 4 6 1.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 023 001 3 9 14 10
Curwensville 300 000 1 4 6 2
Errors – Summers 3, Puit 2, Kennedy 2, Cline, Sorbera, Kushner; Elensky, Terry. LOB – Clearfield 10; Curwensville 12. SAC – Kennedy, Kushner, Collins; H. Bloom.
Pitching
Clearfield – Summers 7 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 7 BB, 7 K.
Curwensville – Elensky 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 8 BB, 4 K. Stiles 1 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K.
HB – Collins, Sellers (by Elensky).
W – Summers (3-0). L – Elensky.
Umpires – JR Rosselli (plate) and Jay Siegel (bases).