CLEARFIELD — With big Casen Wolinsky authoring the first nine-inning complete game of the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 7 Tournament, Murrysville ended the season for the Clearfield Chiefs by prevailing 8-4 in one of two elimination bracket games at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Field Monday.
Earlier, Central Penn League champion Beech Creek rallied to oust Unity by the same score to advance to the Final Four.
In the nightcap of the tripleheader, in an all-Cambria County League winner’s bracket final, Claysburg came from behind to top Bedford for the fifth time in seven meetings this summer, 11-8.
Tuesday’s doubleheader will pit Beech Creek against Bedford at noon and Claysburg against Murrysville at 3 p.m. The latter will be a rematch of a first-round game which Claysburg won 9-5.
Clearfield isn’t moving on because of Wolinsky’s six-hit pitching and pairs of runs batted in by Matt Frey and Ben Ramey.
The Post 6 Chiefs did tally the first run on Curt Collins’ groundout that scored Sawyer Rowles, who led off the bottom of the first inning with a free pass and sprinted to third base on a Murrysville misplay.
They didn’t break through against Wolinsky again until the team of Franklin Regional High School players had built a 7-1 cushion.
The 6-5, 235-pounder was on the junior varsity staff in the spring but pitched more like a varsity mainstay against the Chiefs. He struck out three and walked two while keeping the Chiefs off balance most of the way.
“I thought he pitched well,” Clearfield manager Sid Lansberry said. “Great curve ball. A little bit of giddy-up once in a while, but he didn’t throw that hard overall.”
Brett Myers doubled to deep right center and Bryce Halleck singled to right to get Murrysville (25-8) even in the second frame, and the Westmoreland County League representatives went on to break it open with pairs of runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings.
The winners collected 14 hits off Brandon Orsich, Jon Janocko and Thomas Summers with Myers, Halleck and Frey banging out three apiece and Ramey adding two.
Summers and Orsich had teamed for a four-hitter in Clearfield’s 5-4 win over Blairsville Saturday, and Janocko had worked four innings in relief against Bedford Sunday.
Only three of the seven runs Orsich allowed were earned due to three of the Chiefs’ six errors. He had four strikeouts and gave up seven hits before Janocko relieved in the sixth and kept Murrysville off the board in 2-1/3 innings. Summers pitched the ninth, yielding one run on two hits and two walks.
“Brandon gave us all he had after one day’s rest,” Lansberry said. “He threw 100 pitches and only gave up two earned runs. Same with Jon and Thomas. They didn’t have much left either.
“Those nine-inning games will kill you.”
The Chiefs did push across singletons in three of the last four innings.
“Our kids never quit,” Lansberry said. “That game could have turned ugly the way it was looking, but they hung in there.
Summers continued his hot streak in the tourney with a run-scoring triple to deep center in the sixth inning and two singles.
He was 9-for-13 with five extra base hits and three RBIs in three games.
“He’s a different hitter now than he was a month ago,” Lansberry said. “I asked him what was the difference and he said it was confidence.”
Clearfield was 1-2 in the tourney.
“We came in here with the worst record and still competed very well,” Lansberry said. “I think we represented our league (Central Penn) pretty well. That’s all you can do.”
The Chiefs finished 11-15, a step forward after going 6-18-1 with a .196 batting average in 2013.
“We showed definite improvement over last year and we don’t have any 19-year-olds on this team,” Lansberry said. “We had a lot of close games and our batting average was almost 60 points higher than last year.”
Unity got the jump on Beech Creek with four unearned runs in the second inning, two scoring on Nick Palumbo’s dunker into short center, but couldn‘t solve Ken Heverly and Evan Kinley after that.
The Crickets took Heverly off the hook after he fanned five and walked seven through five innings by finally getting to Alex Powell for a one run in the fourth and three in the fifth.
Two Unity relievers couldn’t hold off the Beech Creek charge in the sixth. Jake Stemmerich issued three walks, and Nick Palumbo forced in the winning run when he hit Clayton Butler. Toner Corl singled for another run.
That was enough for Kinley, who notched the win with four scoreless innings. He allowed only three hits and struck out three.
Ethan McGill and Bryce Hanley had three hits apiece and Butler chipped in with two for Beech Creek (21-6).
Claysburg (26-3) trailed Bedford (23-6) 4-0 and 7-6 before taking the lead for good at 10-7 with three runs in the top of the eighth inning.
After two infield singles and a walk loaded the bases, Jay Stern was hit by a pitch to break the tie, Mike Mock’s fourth hit drove in what would be the winning run and Zach Cox plated another run with a hard grounder that was turned into a 3-9-3 out by Bedford right fielder Travis Hickey.
Bedford responded against winner McKnight with two hits but was limited to one run when Claysburg shortstop Mock turned Eric Grace’s grounder into a double play.
McKnight worked 5-1/3 innings in relief of Cox, giving up three runs on six hits while striking out three and walking two.
Mock’s perfect game at the plate included a three-run home run that punctuated a five-run rally in the third inning when Claysburg erased Bedford’s 4-0 start.
Austin Montgomery and Grace had back-to-back home runs in the first inning for Bedford, which got pairs of hits from those two as well as Spencer McInroy, Isaac Kline and Luke Waugerman.
The Cambria County League counterparts were separated by one game at the end of the regular season and met again in the playoff championship game with Claysburg triumphing 15-5.
GAME 10
MURRYSVILLE — 8
John Bondi ss 4000, Ryan Grieco rf 3210, Matt Frey 2b 6232, Ben Ramey 3b 5022, Anthony Falce c 4001, Brett Myers dh 5230, Bryce Halleck 1b 3031, Jordan Kestler cf 3000, Levi Trapanotto ph-cf 1000, Harrison Thatcher lf 3211. TOTALS: 38 8 13 7.
CLEARFIELD — 4
Sawyer Rowles cf 4100, Spencer Herrington ss 4000, Curt Collins 2b 4211, Thomas Summers 1b-p 4031, Logan Puit lf 3011, Jake Sorbera lf 0000, Jon Janocko dh-p-1b 4000, Josh Sorbera c 4010, Josh Kennedy 3b 4000, Zach Timchak rf 4100. TOTALS: 35 4 6 3.
Score by Innings
Murrysville 012 022 001 – 8 13 4
Clearfield 100 001 011 – 4 6 6
E – Bondi 2, Halleck, Thatcher; Herrington 2, Summers, Jake Sorbera, Janocko 2. DP – Murrysville 2 (Ramey, Frey and Halleck 2). LOB – Murrysville 13, Clearfield 6. 2B – Myers 2. 3B – Summers. Sac – Bondi, Thatcher. SF – Falce. SB – Grieco, Frey, Thatcher 2.
Pitching
Murrysville – Casen Wolinsky 9 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Blairsville – Ratkus 8 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Schultz 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
HB – Ratkus 2 (Rowles, Sorbera). WP – Wolinsky 2.
W – Wolinsky. L – Orsich (3-6).
Umpires – Mark Michelucci (plate) and Dave Neal (bases).
* * * * * * * * * *
GAME 9
UNITY — 4
Ryan Torrance rf 5000, Nick Palumbo 2b-p 4112, Ray Sowinski cf 4020, Eli Imbrogno c 3001, Luke Ferlin ss 5010, Rick Ross 1b 5010, Alex Powell p 3110, Jake Stemmerich p 0000, Ray Harr 2b 1000, Nick Aiello ph 1000, Doug Cengia 3b 1100, Vince Guerrieri lf 4120. TOTALS: 36 4 8 3.
BEECH CREEK — 8
Trapper Kuhns 2b-cf 4100, Cole Hanley 3b-2b 2211, Chuck Probst dh 3000, Caleb Seyler 3b 1000, Clayton Butler lf-rf 3322, Toner Corl ss-lf 5012, Ethan McGill c 4031, Bryce Hanley 1b 5131, Drew Nyman cf-rf 2000, Talon Falls ph-ss 1100. TOTALS: 33 8 10 7.
Score by Innings
Unity 040 000 000 – 4 8 2
Beech Creek 000 132 11x – 8 10 1
E – Palumbo, Ross; B. Hanley. LOB – Unity 12; Beech Creek 12. 2B – Sowinski, Ferlin, Guerrieri; Butler, B. Hanley. Sac – Kinley. SF – McGee. SB – Palumbo 2, Sowinski 2; Corl.
Pitching
Unity – Powell 4-1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; Stemmerich 1-1/3 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 0 K; Palumbo 2-1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
Beech Creek – Heverly 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 7 BB, 5 K; Kinley 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
HB – Palumbo (Butler). WP – Palumbo 1.
W – Kinley. L – Stemmerich.
Umpires – Neal (plate) and Sam Bevak (bases).
* * * * * * * * * *
GAME 11
CLAYSBURG — 11
Ethan Lewis rf 5330, Nick Hoenstine 2b 4131, Austin McMonagle ss-3b 4211, Jay Stern 1b 5112, Mike Mock c-ss 4144, Zach Cox p-c 5001, Mike Runk cf 3000, Cam Streyer 3b 2000, Josh McKnight p 2000, Zach Slagenweit lf 5320. TOTALS: 39 11 14 9.
BEDFORD — 8
Zach Shaffer ss 1000, Braden Hengst lf 1111, Kyle Miller c 1000, Spencer McInroy cf-ss 3222, Austin Montgomery 3b-1b 5122, Eric Grace 1b-p 5121, Dylan Downs dh-lf 5010, Isaac Kline 2b 3220, Travis Hickey rf 5121, Jake Stover c-3b 5000, Luke Waugerman lf-cf 5020. TOTALS: 39 8 14 7.
Score by Innings
Claysburg 005 101 031 – 11 14 0
Bedford 400 120 010 – 8 14 1
E – McInroy. DP – Claysburg 1 (Mock and Stern). LOB – Claysburg 11; Bedford 10. 2B – Hickey. HR – Mock. Sac – Hoenstine, Runk; McInroy. SB – Lewis, Hoenstine, Mock, Slagenweit.
Pitching
Claysburg – Cox 3-2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; McKnight 5-1/3 IP,
Bedford – Hernandez 6 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 K; Grace 3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
HB – Grace 2 (Stern, McKnight). WP – Cox 2, McKnight 1; Hernandez 3, Grace 1.
W – McKnight. L – Hernandez.
Umpires – Paul Taylor (plate), Joe Rose (first base) and Michelucci (third base).
Region 7 Tournament Scoreboard:
SATURDAY, JULY 19
First Round Game 1 – Beech Creek 3, Indiana 2 Game 2 – Bedford 14, Unity 1 (7 innings) Game 3 – Claysburg 9, Murrysville 5 Game 4 – Clearfield 5, Blairsville 4
SUNDAY, JULY 20
Elimination Bracket First Round Game 5 – Murrysville 14, Indiana 4 (7 innings) Game 6 – Unity 9, Blairsville 3
Winner’s Bracket Semifinals Game 7 – Claysburg 7, Beech Creek 6 Game 8 – Bedford 9, Clearfield 6
MONDAY, JULY 21
Elimination Bracket Second Round Game 9 – Beech Creek 8, Unity 4 Game 10 – Murrysville 8, Clearfield 4
Winner’s Bracket Final Game 11 – Claysburg 11, Bedford 8
TUESDAY, JULY 22
Semifinals Game 12 – Beech Creek vs. Bedford, noon Game 13 – Murrysville vs. Claysburg, 3 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23
Championship Game 14 – Game 12 Winner vs. Game 13 Winner, noon Game 15 (if necessary) – TBA, 30 minutes after Game 14