FRENCHVILLE — After losing to Philipsburg 15-13 in the winner’s bracket semifinals, the Four-Leaf Clover 11-12 All-stars had the unenviable task of having to win five games in a row to claim the District 5 Northern Tier Title; but they did just that after beating the Clearfield All-stars for the second night in a row.
Despite falling behind 3-0 after one inning, Four-Leaf managed to hold on for a 6-5 win that advances them to the District 5 title game against host Bellefonte, winner of the Southern Tier, Saturday night. A win there would force a winner-take-all game Sunday night in Frenchville. A loss would propel Bellefonte to the title and sectional play next week.
The star of the game turned out to be Jesse Thompson who threw five and a third innings in picking up the win in relief, had two hits, and scored twice.
Clearfield had taken a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning off of starter Ty Bender on RBI singles by Noah Rumsky and Eli Glass and a Jeremy Learish fielder’s choice. Bender only lasted 2/3 of an inning and was replaced by Thompson, who allowed no earned runs over the rest of the game to pick up the win.
Four-Leaf scored two runs each in the second and third innings to lead Clearfield 4-3 after three complete innings. Zane Morgan picked up RBIs in both innings to lead the comeback.
Clearfield knotted the score at 4-4 in the top of the fourth inning when Josh Serena hit one under the glove of a diving Kyle Myers in rightfield and scampered all the way to third for a triple, and then scored when the throw from the outfield was mishandled.
Four-Leaf wasted no time in taking the lead in the bottom of the fourth when they plated two runs for the third inning in a row. Luke McGonigal led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch from Clearfield ace Matt Collins. Thane Morgan then stroked one up the middle that Collins managed to get a handle on, but threw it away at first that scored McGonigal. Morgan also scored on the play after the ball was misplayed by the Clearfield defense.
Slugger Noah Rumskey worked a one-out walk in the top of the fifth inning, but was later stranded at third when the inning ended.
Rumsky then struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth to leave the score at 6-4 Four-Leaf heading to the final inning.
With one out, Noah Bloom walked and advanced to scoring postion on Serena’s single, his second hit of the game. Matt Ryan then lined one up the middle that looked like a sure-fire hit, but second baseman Micah Heichel made a diving catch, his second defensive gem in the two games versus Clearfield. A Thompson wild pitch and Four-Leaf miscue allowed Bloom to score from second, cutting the lead to one, 6-5. That is where the game ended after Thompson made a nice play on a “comebacker” off the bat of Jake Sorbera.
CLEARFIELD — 5
Jake Sorbera ss 4-0-0-0, Matt Collins p-cf 2-1-0-0, Noah Rumsky cf-p 2-1-2-1, Michael Ternoway 1b 2-1-0-0, Jeremy Learish lf 2-0-0-1, Wyatt Porter lf 1-0-0-0, Eli Glass 3b 3-0-1-1, Ethan McGinnis rf 0-0-0-0, Noah Bloom rf 1-1-0-0, Josh Serena c 3-1-2-0, Matt Ryan 2b 2-0-0-0, Alex Coval 2b 1-0-0-0, TOTALS: 23-5-5-3.
FOUR-LEAF CLOVER — 6
Luke McGonigal 3b 3-1-2-0, Thayne Morgan cf-1b-2b-1b 3-1-0-0, Ty Bender p-1b-rf-1b-rf 2-0-1-0, Jimmy Pilosky rf-cf 3-1-1-0, Jesse Thompson 1b-p 3-2-2-0, Dylan Confer ss 2-1-1-0, Zane Morgan c 2-0-0-2, Micah Heichel 2b 1-0-0-1, Kyle Myers rf 1-0-0-0, Malachi Dixson lf 2-0-0-0, Kyle Emigh lf 1-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-6-7-3.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 300 101 – 5 5 3
Four-Leaf 022 20x – 6 7 2
Errors – Sorbera, McGinnis, Ternoway; Myers, Z Morgan. LOB – Clearfield 5; Four-Leaf 6. 3B – Serena. SB – Thompson 2, Pilosky, Confer. SF – Z Morgan.
Pitching
Clearfield – Collins 4 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 HB, 1 K; Rumsky 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
Four-Leaf – Bender 2/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 HB, 0 K; Thompson 5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K.
W – Thompson. L – Collins.
Umpires – Jeff Aveni (plate), Tom Janocko (1st base), and Al Fricke (3rd base).