PHILIPSBURG — The Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team’s hopes of advancing to Sunday’s semifinals of the 32nd annual Pennsylvania Open Wood Bat Tournament were dashed by Albion of the Erie County League and the NorChester Bulldogs of the Berks County League Saturday afternoon.
The Chiefs, one of only two teams to win both games Friday, were held to nine hits while falling 6-1 to Albion and 10-2 to NorChester at the Don Womer Baseball Complex.
Their lone run against Albion resulted from two hit batsmen by reliever Jay Clinger and two forceouts, with Zach Timchak registering the RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The winners solved starter and loser Thomas Summers for five hits and four runs, two of them unearned, through five innings and tacked on singletons off reliever Sawyer Rowles with five more hits in the sixth and seventh frames. They received six free passes, and three of those runners scored, as did one who was hit by a pitch.
Curt Collins singled and doubled for Clearfield, which couldn’t take advantage of three walks by starter and winner Nate Noe in the fourth inning when Albion owned a 4-0 lead.
Against NorChester, the Berks County League East Division leader at 12-2, Tanner Elensky tripled and scored on Josh Sorbera’s two-out single to get the Chiefs close, 2-1, in the top of the third inning.
However, the Bulldogs exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the frame, the big blows a two-run double by Alex Condello and a two-run single by Jeff Zebrowski.
Only one of the runs was earned because of two Clearfield misplays.
Josh Kennedy was tagged with the loss in his first start for the Chiefs. He allowed six hits and issued four walks before Rowles again moved in from center field to finish the game, halted after 5½ innings because of the tourney’s eight-run Mercy Rule.
Clearfield picked up its second run in the sixth when singles by Summers and Rowles around a walk to Sorbera loaded the bases for Cole Kephart, who got the RBI with a sacrifice fly.
Elensky had two of the five hits off winner Kutter Endy, who worked five innings with six strikeouts, and Grant Fitzsimmons.
Both of the Clearfield’s conquerors finished 3-0-1 and will meet in a rematch of Friday’s 4-4 tie in one of Sunday’s 10 a.m. semifinals at the Shaner Sports Complex east of State College.
The other semi between Hampden Township Legion (4-0) and State College Legion (3-1) also will be a rematch. Hampden Township won 4-1 on Friday.
The championship game is set for 1 p.m.
The Chiefs (7-7) will return to Central Penn League action with a home game against Altoona Monday. They’ll continue the busy week with road trips to Altoona Tuesday and Mifflin County Wednesday before hosting Bellefonte Thursday.
ALBION LEGION — 6
Matt Hanson ss 3132, Jay Clinger 2b-p 3010, Nate Noe p 3110, Chris Hites 2b 1000, Dawson Scotch 1b 4000, Cody Ballay rf 3220, Vinnie Carrone 3b 3000, Taylor Russell c 2210, Sam Yochim cf 1000, Greg Depalma cf 2020, Dylan Bird lf 3001. TOTALS: 28 6 10 3.
CLEARFIELD LEGION — 1
Curt Collins 2b 4020, Sawyer Rowles cf-p 3010, Cole Kephart ss 3100, Jon Janocko 1b 2000, Brandon Orsich 3b 2000, Zach Timchak rf 2001, Josh Sorbera c 3010, Thomas Summers p 3000, Josh Kennedy lf 3000. TOTALS: 25 1 4 1.
Score by Innings
Albion Legion 101 201 1 – 6 10 0
Clearfield Legion 000 001 0 – 1 4 4
E – Kephart, Orsich, Timchak, Summers. PB – Russell 1. DP – Clearfield Legion 2 (Kephart and Collins; Collins, Kephart and Janocko). LOB – Albion Legion 8; Clearfield 9. 2B – Collins. Sac – Carrone. SB – Hanson, Scotch, Russell.
Pitching
Albion Legion – Noe 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Clinger 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
Clearfield Legion – Summers 5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; Rowles 2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
HB – Clinger 2 (Kephart, Janocko); Summers 1 (Zeigler). WP – Noe 1; Summers 1. PO – Summers 1 (Hanson).
W – Noe. L – Summers (2-2).
* * * * *
CLEARFIELD LEGION — 2
Collins 2b-cf 3000, Rowles cf-p 3010, Kephart 3b 2001, Janocko 1b 3000, Orsich eh-2b 2000, Timchak rf-c 2000, Tanner Elensky ss 2120, Kennedy p-lf 2000, Summers lf-cf 2110, Sorbera c-rf 1011. TOTALS: 22 2 5 2.
NORCHESTER BULLDOGS — 10
Jeff Zebrowski cf 2222, Troy Salerno 2b 2000, David Clay c 2011, Noah Beebe dh 2100, Dylan Gallagher 1b 3220, Alex Condello eh 2122, Blake McCourt 3b 2110, Drew Lewis ph 1010, Collin McCourt ss 1100, Dylan Wisen ph 1000, Bobby Himes rf 2101, Tyler Frazier lf 1100. TOTALS: 21 10 9 6.
Score by Innings
Clearfield Legion 001 001 – 2 5 2
NorChester Bulldogs 118 00x – 10 9 1
E – Kephart, Elensky; B. McCourt. DP – Clearfield Legion 2 (Kephart and Janocko; Elensky, Orsich and Janocko); NorChester Bulldogs 1 (C. McCourt, Salerno and Gallagher). LOB – Clearfield Legion 4; NorChester Bulldogs 4. 2B – Gallagher, Condello. 3B – Elensky. Sac – Salerno. SF – Kephart; Clay. SB – Zebrowski, B. McCourt 2.
Pitching
Clearfield Legion – Kennedy 2-2/3 IP, 6 H, 10 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 K; Rowles 2-1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K.
NorChester Bulldogs – Kutter Endy 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K; Grant Fitzsimmons 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
WP – Endy 1.
W – Endy. L – Kennedy (0-1).