DUBOIS — For many schools in the area, the week of Memorial Day is a signal that final exams have arrived, and graduation is drawing near. Many of the local schools are seeing graduation ceremonies this week. That doesn’t mean the sports season is quite over, as playoff baseball is still happening, and for the Clearfield Bison they were eager to be on the diamond. After stunning St. Marys one week earlier for a District IX championship, they entered into the District 5/8/9 Subregional bracket to take on the Somerset Eagles.
Fans of both schools made their way to Showers Field in DuBois, the same venue Clearfield got that championship victory one week earlier. This game, unlike last week’s thriller with back-to-back home runs, came down to a pitching duel between Clearfield’s Kyle Elensky and Somerset’s Aiden Vanlenten.
That win ultimately went to the Eagles, as Vanlenten only gave up two hits in a complete-game shutout, as Clearfield fell 3-0 to see its season come to a conclusion.
Both schools went toe-to-toe for a majority of the game, as between the two only seven hits were captured the entire game.
But, the Eagles managed to get the better of Elensky in the top of the third, where ultimately all three runs were scored.
Vanlenten got things going when he blasted the ball to the left-field wall, enough for a lead-off triple to ignite the Eagles’ dugout. Nolan Riggs struck out during the next at-bat, but the third strike was dropped, and Riggs beat the throw to first to put runners on the corners. Ethan Hemminger dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt to get the scoring started.
Bryce Mullhollen then added an RBI-single to his tally, and then Spencer Marteeny contributed with a fly ball to the outfield. Normally this would be a quick fly out, but in the afternoon sun Ty Troxell couldn’t pull it down. The error plated the final run of the inning.
That was not to say that the game was not exciting to watch as despite giving up five hits, Elensky pitched a solid outing in his final day in a Bison uniform. He would go six and one-third innings in the loss, striking out four and walking two. Elensky got the start last week against the Flying Dutchmen, but he would be pulled after five innings as he was getting tired. With him only meeting the threshold for a three-day rest, he got his second consecutive start, a fitting way to end his high school career.
When on offense, it was hard for Clearfield to get anything going against Vanlenten. If it wasn’t for a single by Cole Bloom and a double by Elensky, the Eagles’ junior starter would’ve tossed a perfect game. Vanlenten went the complete seven innings, giving up only the two hits but did not walk one batter, and struck out five of the 22 batters he saw.
Somerset moves into the PIAA playoffs for 4A action, as Clearfield’s season came to an end with a 10-12 record and with nine seniors playing their final game.
SCORE BY INNING
Somerset 003 000 0 – 3 5 0
Clearfield 000 000 0 – 0 2 2
Somerset – 3
Ethan Hemminger-CF 1001, Bryce Mulhollen-LF 4111, Bradley Bruner-SS 2010, Spencer Marteeny-3B 3010, Zane Hagans-1B 3000, Owen Miller-DH 2, Callen Miller-C 3000, Aiden Vanlenten-P 3010, Robert James-CR 0100, Nolan Riggs-CF 3110. TOTALS 24 3-5-2.
Clearfield – 0
Kyle Elensky-P/SS 3010, Nolan Barr-2B/1B 3000, Morgen Billotte-CF 3000, Blake Prestash-1B/P 3000, Cole Bloom-C 2010, Elijah Quick-CR 0000, Ryan Gearhart-SS/2B 2000, Ty Troxell-RF 2000, Hunter Rumsky-DH 2000, Mike Fester-3B 1000, Hayden Bumbarger-PH 1000. TOTALS 22 0 2 0.
- LOB: 6/1
- E: Troxell, Gearhart
- ROE: Marteeny, Vanlenten
- 2B: Elensky
- 3B: Vanlenten
- SF: Marteeny
- SAC: Hemminger
- DP: Foltz, Bruner, Hagans
- HBP: Hemminger
PITCHING
Somerset: Vanlenten-7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 SO, 0 BB.
Clearfield: Elensky-6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB; Prestash-0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB.
W-Vanlenten
L-Elensky
