Clearfield LL 11-12 All-Stars Nipped 3-2 by P-O

PHILIPSBURG — A clutch hit by Keegan Soltis in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted the Philipsburg-Osceola Little League 11-and-12 All-Stars to a thrilling 3-2 win over Clearfield in a well-played, two-day District 5 Tournament winner’s bracket quarterfinal at Homer Maney Memorial Field Wednesday evening.

After Clearfield averted defeat with a run in the top of the inning, Soltis looped a single to shallow left field to drive in Micah Martin, who had received a four-pitch walk and advanced to second on Trey Shaw’s groundout.

Martin steamed around third base and slide across the plate well ahead of the throw to send P-O into a winner’s bracket semifinal against Tri-County Saturday.

The Clearfield All-Stars will have to regroup in a hurry after the tough setback.

They’ll make the short trip to Bigler Thursday to meet Four-Leaf Clover in the second round of the elimination bracket.

Clearfield and P-O continued to get solid pitching and flawless defense when the game, suspended because of lightning and heavy rains Tuesday evening, was resumed with two outs in the bottom of the third inning and P-O leading 2-1, courtesy of Martin’s two-run homer in the first frame.

Neither starter, Wyatt Porter for Clearfield and Martin for P-O, was able to toe the rubber because of the Little League pitch-count rules, but relievers Harrison Peacock and Zach Wagner were  just as effective.

Peacock struck out the first batter he faced to strand P-O runners at second and third and then matched goose eggs with Wagner in the next two innings.

In the top of the sixth, Clearfield was down to its last out when Porter came through with a big hit, ripping a double past third base and all the way to the fence to chase home Jeremy Learish from second. Learish had reached base when his high fly to deep left field fell just inside the foul line and then beat Wagner’s throw to second on a slow grounder by Eli Glass.

Glass was waved around third base, too, but Daniel Slogosky’s throw that sailed over two of his teammates bounced right to catcher Trey Shaw, just beating the sliding Clearfield runner for the inning-ending putout.

Both teams had five hits and no errors.

Clearfield’s Nathan Barr was the only player with more than one safety, his double and single the only hits off Martin.

Wagner got the win after almost notching a save. He struck out one, walked one and allowed three hits in three innings.

Peacock, tagged with the loss, had identical stats for 2-2/3 innings.

CLEARFIELD — 2

Nathan Barr 1b 3120, Harrison Peacock ss-p 2000, Jeremy Learish c-cf 3110, Eli Glass 3b 3000, Caleb Freeland lf-2b-lf 3010, Wyatt Porter p-c 3011, Jude Pallo cf-ss 2000, Hayden Williams 2b 1000, Andrew Lopez rf 0000, Ryan Chew rf 1000, Trae Kitko lf 1000.  TOTALS: 22  2  5  1.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 3

Carson Jones 2b 2100, Landon McDonald ss 3010, Micah Martin p-cf 1212, Trey Shaw c 3000, Keegan Soltis 1b 3011, Zach Wagner 3b-p 1000, Quentin Moslak ph 1000, Daniel Slogosky lf 1000, Thomas Webster ph 1010, Trevin Hampton rf 1000, Jordan Webster rf 1000, Ryan Kephart cf-3b 1000, Tyson Lamb ph 1010.  TOTALS: 20  3  5  3.

Score by Innings

Clearfield     100 001 – 2  5  0
P-O              200 001 – 3  5  0
DP – Clearfield 1 (Pallo and Barr). LOB – Clearfield 4; Philipsburg-Osceola 4. 2B – Barr, Porter. HR – Martin. SB – Martin.

Pitching

Clearfield – Porter 2-2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Peacock 2-2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Philipsburg-Osceola – Martin 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K; Wagner 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
W – Wagner (1-0). L – Peacock (0-1).

Umpires – Tyler Arnold (plate) and Danny Clark (bases).