BELLEFONTE — The Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team finished undefeated in the 35th annual Bellefonte Bandits Wood Bat Tournament round-robin games with a 7-0 win over the St. Mary’s (Md.) American Legion Post 255 at John Montgomery Ward Field in Governors Park Saturday evening.
Bryce Hanley, a pickup from the Beech Creek American Legion team, pitched a five-hitter with 10 strikeouts and two walks to send the Chiefs (3-0) to Sunday’s 11 a.m. semifinal against TBW Select (1-2) of Maryland, a team they edged 6-5 Friday.
St. Mary’s (2-1) and Clarence (0-3) will meet in the 9 a.m. semi.
The winners will move to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the Penn State campus for the championship game at 2 p.m.
Clearfield couldn’t put St. Mary’s away until the sixth inning as Hanley and St. Mary‘s Zack Bock were hooked up in a tight mound duel.
After five, Hanley had allowed three singles while Bock had given up only one hit.
That was a double by Ty Bender that helped the Chiefs take a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Justin Fedder, running for Hanley after he had drawn a walk, advanced to third on Bender’s hit and scored on a sacrifice fly by Reese Wilson.
Bock worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth inning, but the Chiefs broke it open in the their next at-bat.
Thayne and Zane Morgan singled, prompting at St. Mary’s pitching change.
Zack Stanford relieved and, after Josh Sorbera pushed both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, Hanley came through with a double to make it 3-0.
The Chiefs tacked on four more runs, all unearned because of two St. Mary’s errors. Bender and Will Myers drove in runs with a sacrifice fly and single, respectively.
Thayne Morgan had two of Clearfield’s six hits.
In earlier games Saturday, Clarence was nipped 7-6 in eight innings by TBW and 6-5 by St. Mary’s.
CLEARFIELD LEGION — 7
Thayne Morgan ss 4120, Zane Morgan ss 4110, Josh Sorbera c 2000, Bryce Hanley p 2212, Ty Bender rf 1011, Reese Wilson cf 0101, Jake Sorbera lf 2100, Will Myers 2b-eh 111, Bryce Timko 1b 2000, Alec Graham ph 1000, Jarrit Wagner eh 2000, Wyatt Porter ph-2b 1000. TOTALS: 24 7 6 5.
ST. MARY’S LEGION — 0
Zack Stanford 2b-p 2010, Chris Reed cf 3010, Hunter Rooney 1b 2000, Ryan Rothman 3b 3010, Anthony Martinez ss 3000, Brad Beckman c 3010, Zack Bock p-2b 3020, Nolan Wood rf 3000, Chris Gunter lf 3000.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 010 006 0 – 7 6 1
St. Mary’s 000 000 0 – 0 5 3
E – T. Morgan; Rothman, Martinez 2. PB – Beckman. DP – St. Mary’s 2 (Bock, Martinez and Rooney; Stanford and Rooney). LOB – Clearfield 5; St. Mary’s 6. 2B – Hanley, Bender. Sac – Jo. Sorbera, Wilson. SF – Bender, Wilson. CS – Bock (by Jo. Sorbera).
Pitching
Clearfield – Hanley 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K.
St. Mary’s – Bock 5+ IP (faced 2 batters in 6th), 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K; Stanford 2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
WP – Stanford 1.
W – Hanley (1-0). L – Bock.