EVERETT — The Clearfield American Legion baseball team’s best season in six years ended Monday afternoon at the Everett Area High School Field with an 11-5 loss to Bedford in the elimination bracket quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Region 7 Tournament.
The Chiefs, who bowed out of the Central Penn League Playoffs in the elimination bracket final but advanced to the region tourney when State College was disqualified for using ineligible players, wound up 15-10 for the most wins since the 2010 club posted a 20-15 record.
Their downfall was failure to solve the pitching of Joel Colledge, who allowed only three hits and one unearned run over seven innings. He struck out five and walked five.
Colledge departed with a 4-1 lead as Bedford (21-2) registered pairs of runs off Bryce Timko in back-to-back innings early.
The Cambria-Somerset County regular season champs struck with two outs in the second frame. Nick Semanek singled, Reece Waugerman walked and Luke Waugerman whacked a triple.
Jake Cherry tripled and scored on the first of three Clearfield errors that gave the tourney hosts another run in the third.
Timko retired 11 of the next 13 batters to give the Chiefs a chance before a hit, two walks and two errors led to three runs in the bottom of the seventh that made it 7-1.
Both teams put up crooked numbers in the eighth inning.
Clearfield closed the gap to 7-4 against reliever Chaz Fatula on doubles by Ty Bender and Timko around a single by Zane Morgan and a two-out error.
Bedford responded with four hits and four runs off Justin Fedder, two-run doubles by Dylan Downs and Jake Cherry the big blows.
Zane Morgan’s third single drove in Clearfield’s final run for the Chiefs in the ninth inning.
Bender had two hits and Reese Wilson also doubled for the Chiefs.
Luke Waugerman, Downs, Cherry and Zach Shaffer had two hits apiece for Bedford, which will play Kiski Valley in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader at Bedford High School.
The nightcap pits Central Penn League champion Beech Creek, the only team left without a loss, against Claysburg.
Bedford defeated Kiski Valley 13-1 in the winner’s bracket final while Claysburg eliminated Indiana County League champion Punxsutawney 11-8.
CLEARFIELD — 5
Thayne Morgan ss 4100, Justin Fedder 2b-p 4000, Ty Bender rf 3220, Zane Morgan c 4131, Will Myers 3b 5000, Jarrit Wagner dh 2000, Bryce Timko p-lf 2111, Wyatt Porter lf-2b 2000, Alec Graham 2b 0000, Brandon Orsich 1b 3010, Seth Bumbarger 1b 1000, Reese Wilson cf 4010. TOTALS: 34 5 8 2.
BEDFORD — 11
Zach Shaffer ss 4220, Dylan Downs lf 4222, Jake Cherry c 4222, Austin Montgomery 1b 4101, Davis Kline dh-rf 5011, Chaz Fatula 3b-p 4011, Nick Semanek rf-3b 5110, Reece Waugerman 2b 2100, Jared Colledge 2b 1100, Luke Waugerman cf 4120. TOTALS: 37 11 12 7.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 001 031 – 5 8 6
Bedford 022 000 34x – 11 12 3
E – T. Morgan 2, Myers, Timko, Porter, Orsich; Cherry, Fatula, R. Waugerman. LOB – Clearfield 10; Bedford 8. 2B – Bender, Timko, Wilson; Downs, Cherry. 3B – Shaffer, Cherry, L. Waugerman. Sac – Porter. SF – Montgomery. SB – Shaffer. CS – Z. Morgan (by Cherry).
Pitching
Clearfield – Timko 6+ IP (faced 3 batters in 7th), 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Fedder 2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Bedford – Joel Colledge 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 5 K; Fatula 2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
HB – Fedder 1 (Fatula). Bk – Jo. Colledge.
W – Jo. Colledge. L – Timko (1-3).