CLEARFIELD — Cambria County League champion Claysburg and District 31 (Westmoreland County) runner-up Hempfield East remained alive in the elimination bracket of the Pennsylvania American Legion Division I Region 7 Tournament with narrow wins at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Monday.
Claysburg (26-2) trailed District 31 king Bushy Run 2-0 through three innings and 3-1 before drawing even with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and going on to triumph 5-3.
Winning pitcher Casey Winter walloped a home run to tie the game and singled home the insurance run in the seventh after Josh McKnight had delivered the game-winning hit, a sharp grounder into right field with Alex Hoenstine sliding around a tag attempt at the plate.
Winters was three-for-three at the plate and worked seven innings, striking out two while allowing five hits and two walks.
Sidewinder Aden McMonagle earned a save by retiring all six batters he faced, one via a strikeout.
Cory Houck and Larry Corle added two singles apiece for Claysburg.
Andrew Giesey had two hits for Bushy Run (21-5), which lost starter Max Pici because of a leg injury after he had blanked Claysburg for 2-1/3 innings.
Claysburg moves on to meet Clearfield in another elimination game Tuesday at 11 a.m.
Bushy Run 200 010 000 – 3 5 0
Claysburg 000 111 20x – 5 11 2
WP – Casey Winters (7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K), relieved by Aden McMonagle (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K). Save – McMonagle.
LP – Colin Pratt (5-2/3 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K), in relief of Max Pici (2-1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K).
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Drew Brannon hammered a double to center field to send Garrett Stevenson sprinting home from first base and lift Hempfield East (20-5) to a dramatic 6-5 victory over Cambria County League runner-up Bedford (22-6).
Down 2-0, Bedford knotted the score on RBI singles by Austin Brown and Chaz Fatula in the sixth inning and then grabbed a 5-2 lead in the seventh with a go-ahead single by Jared Colledge and sacrifice flies by Austin Price and Jake Cherry.
Hempfield East came right back to forge another tie with RBI doubles by Stevenson and Brannon bracketing Branson Auckerman’s run-scoring single.
Andrew Rosenberg picked up the win after relieving starter Zayne Zalich in the top of the ninth and striking out two after issuing a walk. Zalich had run up against the 120-pitch limit.
Brannon paced Hempfield East with three hits. Stevenson, Auckerman, Rosenberg, Harrison Boyle and Robert Borbonus had two apiece.
For the Hurricanes, Cory Ullman cracked three singles and Brown, Reece Waugerman and Rob Hernandez each had two hits.
Hempfield East is paired against undefeated Beech Creek at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Bedford 000 002 300 – 5 13 2
Hempfield East 010 010 301 – 6 14 1
WP – Andrew Rosenberg (1 IP, 0 H,0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K), in relief of Zayne Zalich (8+ IP, 13 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K).
LP – Chaz Fatula (2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K), in relief of Joel Colledge (6-2/3 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 HB, 5 K).
